Brunei has enacted laws that will put the LGBT community in the Asian country at risk despite international outrage.
Staying true to the country’s determination to enact sharia law, a law has taken effect that will stone anyone caught engaging in gay sex. The same penalty follows for adultery and the limbs of anyone that steals will be amputated.
Under the new law, lesbian sex carries a different penalty of 40 strokes of the cane with a maximum of 10 years in jail.
In his speech on Wednesday, the Sultan of Brunei said the country’s political system “preserves and guarantees the rights of all the people regardless of their race and faith” and pushed for stronger and visible Islamic teachings in the country.
Spokesman for the United Nations Stephane Dujarric said the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes human rights of individuals should be held without discrimination.
“The legislation approved is in clear violation with the principles expressed,” he said. “So long as people face criminalisation, bias and violence based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, we must redouble our efforts to end these violations.”
Stephen Cockburn, Deputy Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International has condemned the law in a statement adding that “the international community must continue to condemn Brunei’s decision to put these cruel penalties into practice.”
Phil Robertson who is the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch have also condemned the law and stating that the country’s new penal code “is barbaric to the core, imposing archaic punishments for acts that shouldn’t even be crimes.” They have also called for the law to be suspended.
Alan Lowenthal along with Ed Markey have reintroduced legislation in the United States Congress called the International Human Rights Defense Act to help protect the human rights of LGBTQ people around the globe.
The repression of LGBTQ people in Brunei is an outrageous violation of basic human rights. I joined my colleagues to urge Sec. Pompeo to intervene—but we must pass the International Human Rights Defense Act, which I am proud to lead with @SenMarkey.
— Rep. Alan Lowenthal (@RepLowenthal) April 3, 2019
Influential people have called for a boycott of businesses and investments of the Sultan of Brunei including the Dorchester in London and the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.
It is 2019 and Brunei is stoning people to death because of who they love – this world has lost it’s glory. https://t.co/PvczXkIGjO
— Dr. Frank Mugisha (@frankmugisha) April 4, 2019
Whatever your views, we should be grieved and outspoken that gay sex and adultery can be punishable by stoning to death in Brunei. Even as Christians hold their respective convictions, may we remember that we all follow Jesus that commands us to drop our stones.
— Eugene Cho (@EugeneCho) April 3, 2019
Boycott must happen and is happening we need to send a clear signal and that religious beliefs NEVER are cause for death and alienation of human rights. https://t.co/v9izfyVvh8
— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) April 3, 2019
Tomorrow, the country of #Brunei will start stoning gay people to death. We need to do something now. Please boycott these hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Raise your voices now. Spread the word. Rise up. pic.twitter.com/24KJsemPGH
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 2, 2019
We must send a message, however we can, that such treatment is unacceptable. That’s why David and I have long refused to stay at these hotels and will continue to do so.
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) March 30, 2019
We hope you will join us in solidarity.
Hollywood actor, George Clooney has also asked for a boycott in an opinion piece for Deadline called, ‘Boycott Sultan Of Brunei’s Hotels Over Cruel Anti-Gay Laws.’ The hotels in question told CNN that they value LGBTQ rights.
I stand with George Clooney, a good man doing the right thing, fighting an unjust and barbaric law. George Clooney: Boycott Sultan Of Brunei’s Hotels Laws Against LGBTQs | Deadline https://t.co/fjR2hv1sTb
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) March 28, 2019
In a statement last Saturday signed by the Prime Minister’s Office, the country maintains that it is a sovereign Islamic country and will fully implement the law to maintain peace and order in the country.