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Kuala
Lumpur. Malaysian gay rights activists on Tuesday mounted a court challenge to
a police ban on an annual gay festival in the conservative Muslim-majority
nation.
The third
“Seksualiti Merdeka” (Sexuality Freedom) festival featuring gay-themed films,
concerts and forums on homosexual issues was banned by police before it could
go ahead in November last year after Muslims cried foul.
Festival
organizer and activist Pang Khee Teik said the decision to submit a request for
a court review of the ban was to end “the ongoing discrimination in the
country.”
“It’s
important to make a stand. The police are clearly wrong in this instance and as
Malaysians we must challenge any unjust act,” he told AFP.
“That’s one
of the reasons why Sexuality Merdeka organized this festival because we have
realized staying silent has allowed more injustice.
“By keeping
quiet, we have also condoned the fear we are living in.”
The request
was submitted earlier but a judge began hearing it on Tuesday.
However,
government prosecutors quickly lodged an objection to the challenge.
The judge
is expected to rule on the objection on Feb. 21 before deciding later on the
challenge to the police ban, Pang said.
Homosexuality
remains a taboo subject in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where sodomy is punishable
by up to 20 years in prison.
Amnesty
International on Tuesday issued a statement calling on the Malaysian government
to repeal the law criminalizing sodomy, calling it “repressive.”
The
statement came after a judge acquitted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on
sodomy charges that he has denounced as a fabrication by the government aimed
at ending his political career.
The ban on
the gay festival followed Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement in
September that he would expand civil liberties and break with the country’s
authoritarian past.
Agence France-Presse
Related Articles:
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
Equality now!
The Jakarta Post | Sat, 12/03/2011
 |
A group of participants march in front of their gay pride flag during the annual
Pride March in Manila, Philippines, Saturday. Lesbians, gays, bisexual and
transgenders called for the urgent need to pass the anti-discrimination bill
and for government protection from hate crimes committed against them.
(AP/Pat Roque)
|
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