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UN Recognizes that Criminalizing Female Same-sex Activity is Anti-Human Rights

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera (right), the lesbian who proposed the UN review lesbophobic law.

You would think this title is common sense. Nevertheless, in March 2022, a United Nations committee recognized that criminalizing female same-sex activity is a breach of human rights. The landmark decision was made by the first international law body to rule that anti-lesbian sex laws are anti-human rights. 

What does the decision mean? Well, all countries that criminalize sex between women are advised to immediately repeal their lesbophobic laws. 

Currently, seventy-one countries criminalize homosexual conduct. Forty-three countries specify that lesbian sex is a crime. That’s essentially a quarter of the world’s countries. The majority of these countries are Commonwealth members, meaning their homophobic laws were largely introduced by the British Empire. 

While Britain only criminalized male homosexual activity, some countries have included lesbian sexual activity in the anti-homosexual laws in recent history. Ten jurisdictions that previously only criminalized male homosexual behaviour have included sanctions on lesbian and bisexual women in the last 35 years. 

Despite the fearmongering that we’re taking the straights’ rights away, lesbophobia has been on the rise in much of the world. A couple of years ago, two Malaysian women were caned six times for attempting to sleep with one another. Soon after, an Iranian, lesbian activist was arrested while attempting to seek asylum in Turkey.

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera

The case to end legal lesbophobia was proposed to the UN by a brave lesbian: Rosanna Flamer-Caldera of Sri Lanka. According to Human Dignity Trust, “The author is a lesbian. She dresses in what is considered “masculine” attire and wears her hair short. She is open about her sexuality and is a prominent activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex rights in Sri Lanka. She founded and is the Executive Director of Equal Ground, the only organization in Sri Lanka that represents the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community on issues of non-discrimination. 

“The author has suffered discrimination and abuse due to being a lesbian. As a teenager, she suffered from stigma associated with her sexual orientation and attempted to commit suicide when she was 17 years old. Not long after, she left Sri Lanka for the United States of America, where she could be open about her sexuality. She returned to Sri Lanka permanently in 1990. However, she found it difficult to find a job and to run her business being and dressing as who she is.

“In 1997, the author discovered that same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults was a criminal offence under section 365A of the Penal Code of 1883. Previously encompassing only men, it was amended by the Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995 to include sexual conduct between women, replacing the previous wording “male person” with “person”.

“​​In 1999, the author co-founded a support group for lesbian and bisexual women, the Women’s Support Group. She has since been threatened frequently and has faced abuse from the media and the public. When the members of the Women’s Support Group spoke about organizing a lesbian conference in 1999, a letter was published in the press calling on the police to release convicted rapists so that lesbians “might get a taste of the real thing”. A complaint about this to the Press Council by a non-governmental organization proved fruitless. During this time, the Press Council published a ruling denouncing lesbianism.”

Law conditions culture. When a lesbian is dehumanized by the explicit, legal rule that they aren’t allowed to have sex with one another, it shapes and legitimizes that country’s lesbophobic culture. While pressure to change these laws will be met with resistance–lesbian lives won’t change overnight–it’s a step in the right direction. If these countries are forced to change legal attitudes towards lesbians then, eventually, sociocultural attitudes towards us will change, too.

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