Brunei is on the brink of enacting new Sharia laws to render adultery and homosexual sex punishable by death by stoning. The barbaric law goes into effect on April 3.
The move comes as no shock to anyone who’s been paying attention to the tiny Asian nation. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, a multibillionaire famous for throwing sex parties with “harems composed of underage girls,” announced the imposition of Sharia back in 2014. The move prompted a boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel, one of the sultan’s many properties, but this year, celebrities like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus have returned to party at the Hollywood haunt.
Brunei’s final cross into medieval horror shouldn’t just draw international condemnation but global action. Richard Grenell, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, has spent months attempting to push for an American-led effort to strongarm the end of criminalized homosexuality in 71 countries across the globe. The effort comes in the face of state-sanctioned hangings in Iran and torture in Chechnya. The brutality about to unfold in Brunei ought to serve as a wake-up call to the West.
Grenell, who is himself gay, has been met with outright opposition from domestic gay rights organizations. Last month, top bosses at the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, LGBTQ Victory Institute, and the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project all either denounced or refused to endorse Grenell’s call to prioritize decriminalizing homosexuality worldwide. All of these groups cited their opposition to President Trump, the first person to enter the Oval Office supportive of same-sex marriage.
This isn’t a political issue. It’s a human rights crisis, and it’s shameful that these organizations would take such a stand out of mere spite for Trump.
As the leader of the free world and one who notably called out the Clintons for their cozy relationship with the sultan, who donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, Trump ought to call on our chief allies to cease legitimizing the sultan and his hypocritical, sinful governance. Brunei gained independence from the U.K. more than three decades ago; there’s no reason for British troops to continue their presence in propping up the sultan’s regime, and there’s certainly no moral justification for the royal family to legitimize a murderous dictator.
The Sultan of Brunei was then received in audience by The Duke of Cambridge. ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/3Db1sl5Y62
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) December 14, 2017
Trump can lead the charge to combat global crimes against humanity if he heeds Grenell’s call. He’s capable of directing our closest allies to distance themselves as much as we have from the likes of Venezuela, and with innocent lives on the line en masse, it’s a moral imperative. Why not start in Brunei?
