Tag: Gambia

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Father Cut Off His Gay Son’s Earlobe To Mark Him As ‘Abomination’

A gay teen from The Gambia says his father sliced off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination.
(image via Modou/GSN)

A gay teen from The Gambia says his father sliced off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination.

Nineteen-year-old Modou is currently living in The Netherlands seeking asylum having fled his west African home country where being gay is illegal.

Until October 2014, people found to have had consensual same-sex relations were sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2014, the laws were made even more severe upping the punishment to a life prison sentence.

Modou told Gay Star News he was caught in bed with another boy when he was 15-years-old. The boy, out of fear for his own life, told his family Modou had attacked him.

Calling it “the biggest mistake” he ever made, Modou came out to his family thinking, “Maybe my family will accept me because I am their family. This is who I am.”

Instead, his family reported him to the local police in his western Gambia village.

Additionally, Modou says his father took him into a locked room and cut off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination.

“It was the most painful thing in my life,” Modou told Gay Star News. “The worst thing is they didn’t take me to the hospital or give me medication. They just locked me inside a room as I tried to stop the bleeding.”

There is a history in The Gambia among certain ethnic groups of marking children, sometimes around the eyes or on the cheek, for the purpose of identification.

However, slicing off an earlobe is a practice used only on pedophiles and LGBTQ people.

Once marked, Modou says he thought he would have to spend his life at home, as a recluse.

“Everyone could see it – I could be beaten to death and I would not be missed,” says the 19-year-old.

The teen fled three years ago to the southern part of The Netherlands where he has an uncle. But Modou says he hasn’t shared his sexuality with his uncle because he is Muslim and being gay is not accepted.

He’s currently receiving legal help in applying for asylum, but lives each day in fear that he will be deported to his native country.

“I just want to finish school and live a free life.”

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HRC To President Obama: Call Out Gambian President Over LGBT Crimes

“We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively.” — Gambian President Yahya Jammeh

In response to Gambia’s hideous treatment of gays and lesbians, the Human Rights Campaign calls on President Obama to restrict Gambian President Jammeh’s access to the United States and freeze his assets:

We know that President Jammeh has close connections to the United States. In fact, he owns a $3.5 million dollar home in Potomac, Maryland, and visits the US regularly. We also know that he cares about his international image and being part of the international community. So we believe that calling him out for his actions, and making it difficult for him to move around the world freely, might have an impact.

Therefore, HRC is calling on the U.S. government urgently to restrict entry to the U.S. for him and his associates, and to freeze any assets he may be holding here. It is essential that the U.S. deliver a strong message that human rights violators will not be welcome in the US, and that they must be held accountable for their crimes. Please join us in this action, and help protect LGBT Gambians. You can read and sign the petition here.

Read more at Human Rights Campaign.

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Gambian President Signs “Life In Prison For Gays” Into Law

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has signed into law legislation which makes being gay punishable by life in prison:

The law targets those with a previous conviction for homosexuality, those living with HIV, and same-sex partners of people with disabilities – all of whom could be imprisoned for life.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Thursday the law violates fundamental human rights – among them the right to privacy, to freedom from discrimination and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.

“I call on The Gambia to fulfil its international obligations to promote and protect the human rights of all persons without discrimination, to repeal all provisions of the Criminal Code that criminalise relations between consenting adults and to put in place an immediate moratorium on arrests on the basis of such laws,” he said in a statement.

Our good friend Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association cheered the passage of the bill via Twitter when it was passed in September.

But remember – Mr. Fischer says he has no animus towards the gays at all…

Right.

(h/t JMG)

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Gambia passes legislation imposing life in prison for gays and lesbians

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh

The West African nation of Gambia has passed a bill which would impose life sentences for “aggravated homosexuality.” Under the new legislation, charges could be brought against those who are “repeat offenders” or people living with HIV/AIDS.

Previously, the country sanctioned punishment for homosexuals with up to 14 years in prison. In 2005 the laws were amended to include lesbians as well as gays.

The bill currently awaits President Jammeh’s signature.

Jammeh has a documented anti-gay past. In February, while addressing the nation on television, Jemmeh said, “We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively.”

In 2008, Jammeh “instructed” gays and lesbians to leave the country or risk being beheaded.

(source)