The eyes of much of the world have been on Glasgow over the last week as the Commonwealth Games bring together 74 countries and territories from around the globe.
Alongside the sporting events, a simple protest is highlighting the fact that many countries within the Commonwealth still have laws criminalising same-sex activity, with some imposing severe penalties.
A collaboration between Zero Flags and Pride House Glasgow has seen the flags of Commonwealth nations that still outlaw same-sex activity displayed together, each marked with a black ribbon.
Hugh Torrance, executive director of LEAP Sports Scotland, said people hoped for a world where no flags qualified. His organisation is a partner in the presentation.
“This is an exhibition that should ultimately cease to exist.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, at a future Commonwealth Games, there were no flags left to display?
“Zero Flags Commonwealth shines a light on the uncomfortable reality that many Commonwealth nations still criminalise consensual same-sex intimacy.” he said.
Across the world there are 63 countries which still have laws against homosexuality, including some who have the death penalty. Twenty nine are also members of The Commonwealth, and for most of those countries their laws were adopted from Britain. In 2018 Britain’s Prime Minister Thera May apologised for the raft of colonial era laws against homosexuality that had been left around the world – and urged country’s to decriminalize.
Conservative politicians and right-wing media pundits, including many in Australia, have criticised the display saying it is inappropriate and demeaning to the visiting nations, but rights advocates from some of the countries featured have praised the move.
Speaking to Sports Media LGBT+ activists from Malaysian, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda praised the exhibition.
Numan Afifi, a Malaysian LGBTQ activist and community organiser who is the President of JEJAKA, a grassroots organisation supporting queer communities questioned why people were opposed to the display.
“The people calling this display disrespectful should ask who is actually being disrespected. In Malaysia, being queer still means living under laws that can put you in prison. That isn’t an abstract political argument to us; it’s the reason LGBTQ+ people have left the country, and others have stopped being honest with their own families.” he said.
Frank Mugisha, a prominent advocate for LGBTQ rights and respected human rights champion in Uganda also voiced support. Mugisha is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). He said acts of international solidarity like the Zero Flags display are vital.
“Across many Commonwealth countries, LGBTQ+ people still live under colonial-era laws that criminalise who we are, forcing us to hide, to live in fear, and too often, to lose hope.
“That is why acts of solidarity matter. They remind people who are too often silenced, isolated or made to feel invisible that they are not alone and that their lives matter.” Mugisha said.
