RIGHTS-KYRGYZSTAN/GAY Kyrgyzstan's parliament overwhelmingly votes for anti-gay law

Record ID: 278192

  • Title: RIGHTS-KYRGYZSTAN/GAY Kyrgyzstan's parliament overwhelmingly votes for anti-gay law
  • Date: 15th October 2014
  • Summary: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET EXTERIOR OF KYRGYZSTAN GOVERNMENT BUILDING MEMBER OF KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT KURMANBEK DYKANBAYEV SITTING AT TABLE IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MEMBER OF KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT KURMANBEK DYKANBAYEV, SAYING: "We do not impinge upon the rights of citizens of our Kyrgyzstan. We do not interfere with their
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA769XOAPRNZNTAERRD838IX28L
  • Story Text: Kyrgyzstan's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday (October 15) to pass a bill banning "gay propaganda" in the first reading, ignoring a call by the United States to oppose discriminating changes to the Central Asian state's legislation.
    The bill, condemned by human rights bodies as homophobic and allowing police to take arbitrary action against sexual minorities, was passed by a 79-7 vote. It has to be approved in three readings and be signed by the president to become a law.
    Kurmanbek Dykanbayev, Kyrgyztan's parliament member and one of the initiators of the document, said that the bill is meant to protect the traditional family.
    "We do not impinge upon the rights of citizens of our Kyrgyzstan. We do not interfere with their personal life, what they do in their own houses, their own apartments, what kind of love they make and with whom. That is their right. What we protect is what's contained here in an international pact on civil and political rights, so to say, here we defend a traditional family," he said, adding that there would be 'no more possibility to arrange gay clubs, gay cafes or to hold gay rallies'.
    The draft law proposes to slap fines or prison terms of up to one year on those "forming a positive attitude to untraditional sexual relations" among minors or in mass media. Dykanbayev said did not exclude that penalties could be toughened in the following readings.
    The anti-gay law was strongly supported by the country's religious officials. Maksat Hajji Toktomushev, the head of Kyrgyzstan's spiritual board, said that gay people were psychologically ill and suggested that they should receive special medical treatment.
    "They should not be treated harshly, but rather, how it is called, we should slowly explain this to them, we should do the explanatory work and provide them with the medical treatment. They require some spiritual treatment , but the body treatment is mandatory as well along with the spiritual treatment," he said.
    Critics say the bill resembles a law banning "gay propaganda" which was passed by Russia's parliament in June last year. Russia, Kyrgyzstan's close ally which provides financial assistance and keeps a military airbase in the country, came under a barrage of Western criticism after it adopted that law.
    Central Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch Mihra Rittmann said if the law is adopted, it will give vent to various violations and pose threat not only to the LGBT community, but also to journalists and activists of human rights organisations.
    "Human Rights Watch released a report earlier this year which documented incidents when gay and bisexual men were... their rights were impinged upon by law enforcements. They were subject to arbitrary arrest, to extortion, they suffered physical and psychological violence at the hands of the police. And this law because of the way it is drafted, it is vague in its drafting and therefore opens the door for possible further abuses by law enforcement in Kyrgyzstan," she said.
    Aybek, a 25-year old gay Kyrgyz living in the capital Bishkek who agreed to speak only sitting back to the camera, said that violence on the part of police and hostility of fellow citizens towards the LGBT community were commonplace in Kyrgyzstan, and that he feared the new law will make the situation worse.
    "There is violence and extortion coming from police - there are group rapes, rapes of different kinds. And with the adoption of this law naturally violence is likely to grow two times, three times, multiple times," Aybek said
    "You know, the majority in our country does not know that we have a secular state. Most people think we are an Islamic country. And a large part of homophobic comments are followed with something like, have fear of Allah, of God," he added.
    The U.S. embassy in Kyrgzystan has criticised the new bill, saying that no one should be silenced or jailed because of who they are or who they love. It said that laws discriminating against one group threaten the fundamental rights of all people.
    The parliament retorted with a statement, saying that the new bill was in line with the country's constitution and its international commitments, and that the rights of those practising "untraditional sexual ties" would not be violated.
    Bishkek residents polled by Reuters mostly agreed with the new law.
    "To let this exist in Kyrgyztan - no, we, the young people of Kyrgyzstan, will simply not let it happen in Kyrgyzstan. First, our traditions and mentality will not allow for this. Second, of course we also have religion, Islam, and it is not welcomed in Islam," a young man who gave his name as Kubanychbek said.
    "Let them live their life on their own, but they should not expose it on public, that they adopt children, that is stupid, when a child has two fathers or two mothers, all those movies - that will not lead to anything good," added Yevgeniya who went for a stroll along with her husband a little daughter.
    Kyrgyzstan is a mainly Muslim nation of 5.5 million which borders China and lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan.
    It is struggling to build the first parliamentary democracy in authoritarian Central Asia, but remains volatile after two popular revolts which have toppled two presidents since 2005 and amid its widespread poverty and regional and ethnic divisions.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register