─ Respect gay rights, UN's Ban tells African leaders ─

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an unusually outspoken declaration on Sunday, told African leaders they must respect gay rights, an issue that is controversial in many African states. 

“One form of discrimination ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long has been discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Ban said at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital.

“It prompted governments to treat people as second-class citizens or even criminals,” he added.

Homosexuality is outlawed in most African countries and discrimination against gays and lesbians is rife on the continent, with South Africa being the only country that recognises gay rights and same-sex marriage, at least on paper.

However, previous external criticism of restrictions imposed on homosexuals has attracted angry responses from African leaders, who claim it is alien to their culture.

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(Source: caraobrien)

─ Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope ─

somewhere2begin:

Excuse me?! Could you tell me exactly how my marriage would be a threat to the future of humanity itself?! Yeah, I cannot have biological children, but I will give a kid or two the chance to have a loving family instead of getting stuck in a system without one. My love does not threaten society, or human dignity or anything else. I know I keep saying this, but I am truly disgusted.

Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths. They are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes. And whether we know it, or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Being gay is not a western invention. It is a human reality.

Part of Hillary Clinton’s speech to the UN on LGBT rights ( gay .org.uk)