You wouldn’t be very likely to visit any of these places during your hard-earned vacation days even before reading this. But it’s important to know that there are still corners of the world that punish LGBTs as if they were capital offenders. It’s amazing to think someone could equate being gay with committing treason or first-degree murder.
It’s also interesting that countries we think of as having horrible official policies towards LGBT people like Russia seem if not evolved then at least humane compared with this terrible list. Though in Russia, as with many places, it’s not the government you have to be most afraid of, it’s the gang of armed neanderthals.
Here are ten places in the world that can put people to death for being gay, as compiled by the Washington Post:
Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.
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Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.
Iraq: The penal code does not expressly prohibit homosexual acts, but people have been killed by militias and sentenced to death by judges citing sharia law.
Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law. Women face prison.
Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.
Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.
Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.
Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed Sharia law and the death penalty.
Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.
United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law prescribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.
Leonard Woodrow
Shun them and show them up for their archaic laws and culture. They should be boycotted by all the intelligent world, until they educate themselves.
Mark
So basically stay the fuck out of Africa and the Middle-East. As if Ebola and bombings weren’t enough reason to do so already.
Ottoman
And in the US they can kill you for being black.
ThatKidDarren
I’m from South Africa and it’s sad to see what still happens in other African countries. We were one of the first countries to legalize same-sex marriage, and discrimination on grounds of sexuality is prohibited. @Mark You’re always welcome here!
vive
What was the invasion of Iraq for again?
jd2222248
I am a Black Gay American living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Majority of people in the UAE are gay or Bi. Or for the right price gay. hmmmmm 🙂
BJ McFrisky
Isn’t it “islamophobic” for liberals to show disrespect for Muslim countries? What happened to all the progressivism from the tolerant left?
Oh that’s right—they suddenly realized that Muslims are beheading people on camera, and hey, that’s just a little TOO radical. I guess that’s what it takes to trump false ideology.
If our president would simply tap into our own natural gas resources and stop kowtowing to environmental radicals, we’d have no reason to deal with these murderous barbarians and the oil they hold over our heads.
Paul Nadolski
Exactly why I would never fly Emirates Airlines.
A few months ago, when they started service from Dubai to O’Hare, I remember seeing Chicago Union Station plastered with advertisements for Emirates and their “friendly” service to the world. Not so friendly though in my opinion!
Chevelter
Some of these countries are heavily invested in the West and there’s absolutely no way you can boycott them, sorry. From twitter and Apple to hotel chains and business complexes…. they have a LOT of oil money (money they get from you when you gas up your car) to invest.
Desert Boy
But Islam is a religion of love and peace. Bush says so and Obama says so. Wonder why they lie?
NoCagada
@BJ McFrisky: Oh…it’s just so simple, isn’t it…It’s not all as simple as what’s between your ears.
NoCagada
@Desert Boy: It’s not like the christians have such a great history…
NoCagada
I’m more worried about christians in the US who would like to do the same thing to gays.
KM201
@BJ McFrisky: No, we need to invest in renewable energy sources. Fracking is a temporary financial source and one that has long term environmental, economic and health consequences for the US as a whole. Ask the people in Pennsylvania and other already effected states if they like their polluted water supply. Don’t cut off our nose to spite their shitty face.
roald
According to me, there’s something important that Queerty forgets to say here about Iran. Homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death that’s true but transexualism is legal too in Iran. (Iran is the second country worldwide for sex reassignement after Thailand) Shortly after the iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeiny first refused it and rapidly changed his mind and accepted to legalize sex reassignement surgery in Iran. And it is widely supposed that many gays and lesbians in Iran prefer the surgery than death even if it is very dangerous as such a surgery on someone who doesn’t want it may fall in a deep depression.
Stache99
@Ottoman: Yeah, because one rogue cop and a vigilante really are the same as a country with a death penalty. Go peddle your stupidly somewhere else.
Stache99
@Chevelter: That’s why my next car’s going to be electric. We all need to do that eventually so these barbarian savages can go back to killing themselves over who’s the most devout.
Stache99
@roald: There so damn stone age that they refuse to understand that human sexuality is varied and not black and white.
Saint Law
@BJ McFrisky: Your post reads like a cut-and-paste of rightwing chitter-chatter randomly generated by some dysfunctional piece of software.
Ottoman
@Stache99: One rogue cop? Perhaps you should leave your parents basement sometime and take a look around at reality, dumbass.
Stache99
@Ottoman: I didn’t say it was a perfect country. We still have a long ways to go for racial equality. However, equating that to death penalties laws for just being yourself is not only factually incorrect but a truly a “dumbass” thing to say. You sound really angry today. Maybe step away from the computer and go for a walk..
vive
@roald, so the choices is between death or having your penis cut off? I am not sure which outcome is worse or more barbaric.
money718
@Ottoman: That’s way off topic and nothing compared to what’s happening in those countries.
Ottoman
@Stache99: It’s okay if you have such little empathy for the plight of black people in America that you ignore pretty much everything they’re talking about and protesting against. People ignored the murder of blacks in America during the height of lynching too. Guess you’ve learned nothing.
Ottoman
@money718: In other words, black lives are worth less than gay lives. And my comment is completely relevant when the U.S. engages in murder on equal footing to most if not all of these countries listed. And, many of those countries listed are US allies.
DuMaurier
@NoCagada: “I’m more worried about christians in the US who would like to do the same thing to gays”
I assume you mean you’re ‘more worried’ because your hypothetical is about you and people you know, and not unimportant strangers in other countries. Because it would be plainly irrational to worry more about a possibility than a current reality.
tjr101
If right-wing christian Republicans had their way, America would most certainly be on that list. America already guns down young black men anyway.
money718
@Ottoman: C’mon dude. You are being ridiculous and your statement is a lie. However, to my point, this an article about gays in those countries. We all know the history of blacks in America, no need to hijack the comment section. I’m black and equating our current situation to that of gays in these countries is stupid.
Daniel-Reader
So these governments are guilty of genocide. Remember that when deciding how best to deal with them.
Cobalt Blue
Europe, North America, Australia and New Zeland are ‘ safe ‘ the rest is a pile of sh*t. People who lives in the First World never would think to go to all these mandingolands to begin with.
Cobalt Blue
@Cobalt Blue: New Zealand.
stadacona
You forgot Brunei has recently instituted the death penalty for gay sex. One might include the brand new Islamic State. Plus at least 70 more countries ban homosexuality with more on the way. I’ll throw PC liberalism out the window to point out that they are all Muslim, asian, and African countries.
ouragannyc
The list should have included Jamaica too.
vive
@Cobalt Blue, don’t be r@cist.
By the way, most Latin American countries/cities are quite safe, including Cuba, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, and Venezuela, several of which have gay marriage or civil unions. South Africa is generally safe and has gay marriage. Israel is safe for gays, as are Turkey and Lebanon, which have thriving gay communities. Japan has a thriving gay community and is safe. I am told Hong Kong as well as China are pretty safe. Taiwan is safe. South Korea is safe.
As for North America, there are places that are not safe for gay people, including some of the U.S. and some areas of Mexico. Some regions in Mexico are safe and/or have gay marriage and thriving gay communities.