In late February, the Trump administration announced a global initiative to end the criminalization of homosexuality around the world. The move is, at least in part, a response to a series of state-sanctioned killings of gays and lesbians, mostly by theocratic regimes in the Middle East.
Only this January, a gay Iranian man was publicly hanged, representing but one of an estimated 5,000 such killings committed by the Islamic Republic in recent years. That same month, authorities in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia, killed at least two gay individuals and detained more than 40 others on suspicion of being gay. This all comes after Chechen authorities arrested and tortured more than 100 gay men back in 2017.
The criminalization of homosexuality is nothing new. It wasn’t long ago that sexual acts between consenting same-sex adults were illegal in the United States. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in the 6-3 decision Lawrence v. Texas that a Texas sodomy law was unconstitutional because the state lacked a legitimate interest in regulating the private conduct of consenting adults. Such conduct, the court concluded, is protected by the “liberty” interest found under the due process clause of the Constitution. Lawrence effectively nullified laws in the 14 states that still had penalties for homosexual acts on their books. And at that time some of these laws were especially harsh. Idaho, for example, imposed a life sentence for homosexual acts, and in Michigan, a violation of the state’s sodomy laws could on paper earn a person up to 15 years of prison time.
Ever since the Lawrence decision decriminalized homosexual conduct nearly 16 years ago, we as a nation have come a long way in our search for equal treatment of homosexuals. But we must remember that there are still parts of the world where your sexual orientation can mean countless years in prison, or even death.
According to an analysis of foreign sexual orientation laws, there are still 72 countries where homosexual acts between consenting adults are illegal. Fifty-seven of these countries incarcerate gay and lesbians for up to 14 years if they are found guilty of homosexual conduct. Over a dozen countries, most in the Middle East, sentence gay individuals to life imprisonment. In eight of these countries (Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Syria, and Iraq) homosexuality is even punishable by death.
Tragic stories of gay persecutions, like those in Iran and Chechnya last month, make headlines far too often. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last year on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, “too many governments continue to arrest and abuse their citizens simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex.” We, as Americans, must speak out against human rights abuses wherever they may occur, both at home and abroad. It is our moral imperative as a nation to condemn rogue foreign governments that continue to persecute, punish, and execute individuals merely for their sexual orientation.
Our nation was founded on the idea that we are all created equal under God, and that every person — gay, straight, or otherwise — is equally entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Imprisoning gay individuals or sentencing them to death is not only contrary to basic human decency, it plainly violates the bedrock principles that animate us as a people. The Trump administration’s leadership on the issue of global decriminalization of homosexuality is unquestionably a step in the right direction and should be commended by anyone who respects the sanctity of human life. Whatever your own political, religious, or moral philosophy, there is one thing we can surely all agree on: No one deserves to die for being gay.
Nathan Harvey is a civil rights attorney at a Washington, D.C., think tank. He writes about the law and liberty and is licensed to practice law in Florida.
