(CNN) -- The president of Malawi has pardoned two gay men who were sentenced to 14 years in prison this month for gross indecency and unnatural acts, the country's solicitor general, Anthony Kamanga, said Saturday.

I'm so angry and sad about this news:

Veertien jaar cel voor homopaar Malawi

BLANTYRE - Een rechtbank in Malawi heeft donderdag een homopaar tot de maximale straf van veertien jaar cel veroordeeld. De rechtbank verklaarde het tweetal twee dagen geleden schuldig aan 'grove obsceniteit en onnatuurlijke daden'.

Its from a dutch newspaper...it says a court in Malawi has convicted a cay couple for 14 years prison because of "unnatural behaviour".

There was a campagne for the two guys, but apparently it didn't work.

Sometimes i feel so powerless....
[Edited 5/29/10 10:27am]

Not the least bit surprised.
At least they weren't condemned to death.

Mad World

you can write them:

http://www.cedepmalawi.org/

As sad as this is it's quite progressive because I would have expected death.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

It's still wrong. They shouldn't have been sentenced. Love shouldn't be jailed.

Timmy84 said:

Oh I want to drop a nuclear bomb on Malawi, trust

I spent half a year in Trinidad recently and homosexuality is illegal there too and the maximum sentence is 25 years in prison. And people are really homophobic there .

Serious said:

kimrachell said:

It shows how much the culture you grow up in influences your way of thinking .

I'm not surprised they got sentenced. Frankly, who actually thought they would win the case? The outcome is shocking but surely not surprising and these fellas probably knew this would happen.

I hope the international media will write about this. There will also hopefully be debates and discussions of this. Amnesty International is of course already preparing a statement.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

It's a catholic nation. I would assume it would be a stain on the Pope's reputation if it were death?

Not sure how that works, honestly.

How can homosexuality be illegal? WTF!! That has to be one of the stupidist things I've ever heard in my life.

It's been around since the beginning of time. What a bunch of damn hypocrites these people are to make someone's sexual preference illegal. If your sexual preference is little girls or dogs, that is very different, but otherwise, it makes me sick to hear things like this.

Madonna responds to Malawi court decision

Madonna has issued a statement over the Malawi court ruling handed down to a gay couple in the country - for more information on the story visit news.bbc.co.uk
'I am shocked and saddened by the decision made today by the Malawian court, which sentenced two innocent men to prison.
As a matter of principle, I believe in equal rights for all people, no matter what their gender, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation.
Today, Malawi took a giant step backward. The world is filled with pain and suffering; therefore, we must support our basic human right to love and be loved.
I call upon the progressive men and women of Malawi - and around the world - to challenge this decision in the name of human dignity and equal rights for all.'

Fans can add their name to a petition to support Madonna's stand for equal rights in Malawi at www.raisingmalawi.org/statement



New York Times Article

Gay Couple in Malawi Get Maximum Sentence of 14 Years in Prison
By BARRY BEARAK
Published: May 20, 2010


JOHANNESBURG — Two gay men in Malawi, convicted this week of unnatural acts and gross indecency, were sentenced Thursday to the maximum penalty allowed by law, 14 years of hard labor in prison.

The harsh sentence was immediately deplored by human rights groups around the world, but Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, in reading his judgment, seemed adamant in his ruling. He said he was especially offended that the two lovers celebrated their relationship in public with an engagement party.

“I do not believe Malawi is ready at this point in time to see its sons getting married to other sons, or cohabitating, or conducting engagement ceremonies,” the magistrate said. “Malawi is not ready to smile at her daughters marrying each other. Let posterity judge this judgment.”

The couple — Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, and Steven Monjeza, 26 — remained still as they heard the sentence, though Mr. Monjeza was seen weeping after the two were handcuffed and led away. As with earlier court appearances, a sizable crowd was outside, mostly to ridicule the men and rejoice at the spectacle.

Homosexuality is regarded as detestable by most people in Malawi, an impoverished nation of 15 million in southern Africa. Gays, lesbians and transgender people do not dare demonstrate their affections in public.

This custom of concealment is what made the engagement party — called a chinkhoswe in the Chichewa language — held at a lodge in Blantyre so exceptional. A newspaper reported the event on its front page, and two days later, on Dec. 28, the couple was arrested. They were refused bail.

“I cannot imagine more aggravated sodomy than where perpetrators go on to seek heroism without any remorse, in public with a chinkhoswe ceremony,” the magistrate said Thursday in a small, overcrowded courtroom in Blantyre, Malawi’s largest city.

But the two have denied that any heroics were intended. Their actions were not planned as any assertion of gay rights, they said. They were simply naïve about the possible repercussions.

“I just wanted people to know we were in love,” Mr. Chimbalanga said in an interview earlier this year. He said he considered himself a woman and had been eager to dress as a bride.

Their conviction is likely to be appealed, though their lawyer, Mauya Msuku, said he would have to confer with his clients.

Human rights activists not only encouraged such an appeal but also asked for widespread protests around the world. “We are calling for our government in South Africa to denounce what was done and call on the Malawian government to quash the court’s decision,” said Mark Heywood, director of the Johannesburg-based AIDS Law Project.

Michel Sidibé, executive director of Unaids, the United Nations AIDS agency, said, “We’re calling strongly for the government to revisit this issue as a matter of dignity and human rights.” He added that Malawi was only one of 80 countries with “homophobic laws,” and said that even before the verdict, he had planned to go to Malawi next week, where “I will use the opportunity to raise the issue with the president.”

This week, the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said at a news briefing that the United States government was “deeply disappointed” with the verdict and called for “the decriminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity” in Malawi and elsewhere.

About 40 percent of Malawi’s budget comes from foreign aid, but Leckford Thotho, the minister of information and civic affairs, insisted that the government would not be cowed by the indignation of donors. “You must understand the culture and traditions of Malawi, and what these two did is taboo,” he said.

The nation’s clergy have been united in condemning the gay couple. “God calls homosexuality an abomination, which is greater than a simple sin,” the Rev. Felix Zalimba, pastor of the All for Jesus Church in Blantyre, said Thursday. He said church and state were aligned in agreement: “These two must repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Otherwise, they will surely go to hell.”


Caroline Somanje contributed reporting from Blantyre, Malawi.

Empress said:

CLick on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w...y_laws.svg



All the regions in orange and red are areas where it is illegal, the darker the color, the more likely it means the death penalty.

TheVoid said:

There is still a lot of work to do, and this mape indicates only the law...doesn't mean that if the law says it's legal, gays are save. Poland is grey for example, but their last gaypride got attacked.

To quote Dan Savage:

"Malawi is dependent on foreign aidmost of it from Britain and the US and that aid should be withdrawn. The government of Malawi should be told that it can have its rabid anti-gay bigotry or it can it can have foreign aid. But it can't have both."

But there is good news too:

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.
The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence".
Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h...129836.stm

robertlove said:

About fucking time. 148 years?! Damn.

Nothing shocks me anymore. If you want to be depressed on a (near) regular basis, bookmark the Direland blog:

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/

Even Britain gets it wrong at times... There was a story in The Independent today, about a report by U.K. gay rights group, Stonewall, which highlights how most gay asylum seekers are sent back to persecution:

http://www.independent.co...80486.html

The full report is here:

http://www.stonewall.org....y/2874.asp

Slovakia's first Gay Pride march yesterday, ended in violence incited by neo-Nazis:

http://spectator.sme.sk/a...arade.html

The problem is us. We're blinkered. Our friends, family, co-workers and neighbours may be gracious to our faces, but could be completely hateful behind our backs. It's not all rainbows and glitter. We've allowed ourselves to be too comfortable with the crumbs from the table.

These videos from ABC'S "What Would You Do?" show upset me a lot...

http://abcnews.go.com/Wha...984&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/Wha...siteplayer

Every queer person in the Western World just needs to go on strike for a day; the same day across the world.

They are free!!!

TheVoid said:

no just marriage!