2013 in gay rights

During my last run, I was thinking of the year that will soon be over. I thought about where I was last year and where I am now. I thought of how grateful I should be about everything that’s been happening in my life. Especially compared to other parts of the world, which got me thinking: Was 2013 a good year for gay people around the globe?

As far as I can tell, the world has been making some steps forwards when it came to LGBT rights. If I remember correctly more USA states made civil unions legal. France agreed to legalise same sex marriages and adoptions. Same sex marriages became legal in England and Wales as well. If I’m not mistaken the first marriage will take place at the end of March next year. More and more countries agree to legalise same sex civil unions and support legislation opposing discrimination against LGBT people.

There were some headlines made by celebrities coming out to the public. The most recent example I can remember is of course the English diver Tom Daley. In the same category of people we have people like Wentworth Miller, Jodie Foster, Anderson Cooper and Jason Collins. It will be even better when people are coming out and no one will really care. But till then, positive and successful gay role models being introduced to the public is always a good thing. Gay closeted teenagers should know that there are people out there, good at what they do, with perfectly normal lives.

 Can you see more blues or yellows?

Unfortunately however, steps have been made in the opposite direction. Nigeria passed a law against same sex marriage. The Supreme Court in Australia ruled against same sex marriages as well, cancelling all weddings that had already taken place. What’s more infuriating is the fact that in India homosexuality is banned as illegal, in Uganda the anti-homosexuality billed passed and in Russia there’s a new law on “gay propaganda”. There was minor protest against Russia and the fact that they’re hosting this year’s Winter Olympics. People like Steven Fry were trying to make their countries boycott the event. There are some articles here and there, but to be honest I don’t think anything positive will come to that.

Overall, to answer my question, I'd say that 2013 was not a good year for LGBT people. In general, the so called Western civilisation is moving forward, when at the same time lots of gay people in some areas of the world are left to suffer. I fear though that the steps made backwards are greater than the steps made forwards. I've seen documentaries on how gay people live in Uganda or India. It's estimated that in India alone there are around 2.5 million gay people. The constant threat and fear is something which I can only imagine, but thankfully not see. I’m grateful of all these people that came before me, making the society I live in, not perfect, but accepting of me. I hope that 2014 might be a better year with only positive news on the matter.