Pakistan's gays in dark after Muslim nation's first gay website blocked
The rainbow flag is one of the best known symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community pride around the world.
- Pakistan has blocked country's first and only gay resources website
- Queer Pakistan, which went online in July, confirmed block via Twitter
- Human Rights Watch: "government block of Queerpk.com violates rights"
- Pakistan Penal Code details up to life in prison for gay sex acts
Queer Pakistan, which just went online in July, confirmed it had been blocked September 24 with a Twitter post saying, "It's official! QueerPK is banned from viewership in Pakistan."
Netizens attempting to
access the site inside the country are greeted with the note, "Surf
Safely! This website is not accessible. The site you are trying to
access contains content that is prohibited for viewership from within
Pakistan."
Outside the country, however, Queer Pakistan can still be reached via a redirect.
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"#QueerPK is now
accessible on new domain name http://humjins.com! We are determined to
fight #censorship if we have your support!" said Queer Pakistan in a
follow-up Twitter post.
"The government's
blocking of Queerpk.com clearly violates internationally recognized
rights to freedom of expression and non-discrimination, and should be
lifted immediately," Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of Human Rights
Watch's Asia division, told CNN.
Queer Pakistan's last entry on its homepage,
dated September 4, detailed religious, political and social reactions
to its existence -- including a call for the government "to control
them" and a statement that the "West should not try to impose their
values on us."
"Pakistan's shuttering of
this news portal shows how incredibly out of step Pakistan is with
growing efforts by the United Nations to ensure rights protections for
LGBT persons, including the strong public endorsement of LGBT rights
given by none other than the U.N. Secretary-General himself," added
Robertson.
"Pakistan's donors should
get off the sidelines and publicly press the government to reverse this
internet censorship and permit discussions of sexual orientation and
gender identity to proceed unhindered."
Homosexuality is illegal in Pakistan, a country of more than 193 million people, nearly 97% of which are Muslim.
According to IRIN, a U.N. humanitarian news and analysis service,
"under section 377 of the PCC (Pakistan Penal Code), whoever
voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any
man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or
with imprisonment of either description for a term which [shall not be
less than two years nor more than] 10 years, and shall also be liable to
a fine."
Pakistan is also one of
just several countries in the world that still reserve the death penalty
for homosexuals, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Association, or ILGA.
This past June, the Pew Research Center released the results of its survey on the "Global Divide on Homosexuality."
Of 39 countries studied, Pakistan was found to be one of the least
gay-tolerant, with 87% of those surveyed saying homosexuality should be
rejected.
In Asia, only Indonesia
-- the world's most populous Muslim country -- scored higher with 93%
disapproval. Spain and Germany were found to be the world's most- and
second-most tolerant countries respectively.
In a separate survey, Spartacus World's Gay Travel Index
ranked Pakistan 124th of 138 nations surveyed for gay tolerance. The
country received an overall score of "-5" for the high degree of
religious influence, anti-gay laws, local hostility and the risk of
prosecution.
Vatican City, Egypt, and Russia scored even lower -- with Iran bottoming out the list with a score of "-13."
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