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Violence against LGBT people

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people can face violence motivated by hateful attitudes towards their sexuality or gender identity.[1] Violence may be executed by the state, as in laws prescribing corporal punishment for homosexual acts (see homosexuality laws), or by individuals engaging in intimidation, mobbing, assault, or lynching (see gay bashing, trans bashing). Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be psychological or physical and can extend to murder. These actions may be motivated by homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and may be influenced by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.
Currently, homosexual acts are legal in almost all Western countries, and in many of these countries violence against LGBT people is classified as a hate crime,[2] with such violence being often connected with conservative or religious leaning ideologies which condemn homosexuality, or being perpetrated by individuals who associate homosexuality to being weak, ill, feminine, or immoral. Outside the West, many countries, particularly those where the dominant religion is Islam, but also many countries in the Commonwealth (e.g. Uganda, Nigeria, Malaysia and Jamaica), most African (excluding South Africa) and some Asian countries (excluding Japan and Taiwan), and some former-Communist countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, such as Russia and Serbia, are currently very dangerous for LGBT people because of discrimination against homosexuals which influences both discriminatory legislation and physical violence.[3]
In Europe, the European Union's Employment Equality Framework Directive and Charter of Fundamental Rights offer some protection against sexuality-based discrimination.
Historically, state-sanctioned persecution of homosexuals was mostly limited to male homosexuality, termed "sodomy". During the medieval and early modern period, the penalty for sodomy was usually death. During the modern period (from the 19th century to the mid-20th century) in the Western world, the penalty was usually a fine or imprisonment.
As of 2009, there remain under 80 countries worldwide where homosexual acts remain illegal (notably throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and in most of Africa, but also in some of the Caribbean and Oceania) including five that carry the death penalty.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 State-sanctioned violence 1.1 Historic 1.1.1 The Middle East
1.1.2 Europe
1.2 Contemporary
2 Criminal assault 2.1 Legislation against homophobic hate crimes
2.2 Alleged judicative bias
2.3 Attacks on gay pride parades
2.4 Advocacy in song lyrics
3 Motivations 3.1 Macho culture and social homophobia
3.2 Religious 3.2.1 Religious texts
3.2.2 Christianity
3.2.3 Islam
3.2.4 Judaism

4 See also
5 References
6 External links

State-sanctioned violence[edit]
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Historic[edit]



 The knight von Hohenberg and his squire, being burned at the stake for sodomy, Zurich 1482 (Zurich Central Library)
The Middle East[edit]
An early law against sexual intercourse between men is recorded in Leviticus by the Hebrew people, prescribing the death penalty. A violent law regarding homosexual rape is prescribed in the Middle Assyrian Law Codes (1075 BCE), stating: "If a man lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted him, they shall lie with him (and) turn him into a eunuch". This misinterpreted code doesn't condemn homosexuality;[5] it describes a situation where a man has forced sex upon another person, who then has the option of bringing a charge against him. The perpetrator is punished while the victim is not, therefore the crime is homosexual rape.[6]
In the account given in Tacitus Germania, the death penalty was reserved for two kinds of capital offenses: military treason or desertion was punished by hanging, and moral infamy (cowardice and homosexuality: ignavos et imbelles at corpore infames); Gordon translates corpore infames as "unnatural prostitutes"; Tacitus refers to male homosexuality, see David F. Greenberg, The construction of homosexuality, p. 242 f. Scholarship compares the later Germanic concept of Old Norse argr, Langobardic arga, which combines the meanings "effeminate, cowardly, homosexual", see Jaan Puhvel, 'Who were the Hittite hurkilas pesnes?' in: A. Etter (eds.), O-o-pe-ro-si (FS Risch), Walter de Gruyter, 1986, p. 154.
Europe[edit]
In Republican Rome, the poorly attested Lex Scantinia penalized an adult male for committing a sex crime (stuprum) against an underage male citizen (ingenuus). It is unclear whether the penalty was death or a fine. The law may also have been used to prosecute adult male citizens who willingly took a pathic role in same-sex acts, but prosecutions are rarely recorded and the provisions of the law are vague; as John Boswell has noted, "if there was a law against homosexual relations, no one in Cicero's day knew anything about it."[7] When the Roman Empire came under Christian rule, all male homosexual activity was increasingly repressed, often on pain of death.[8] In 342 CE, the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans declared same-sex marriage to be illegal.[9] Shortly after, in the year 390 CE, emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be publicly burned alive.[8] Emperor Justinian I (527–565 CE) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences."[10]
Laws and codes prohibiting homosexual practice were in force in Europe from the fourth[8] to the twentieth centuries, and Muslim countries have had similar laws from the beginnings of Islam in the seventh century up to and including the present day. Abbasid Baghdad, under the Caliph Al-Hadi (785–786 CE), punished homosexuality with death.
During the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of France and the City of Florence also instated the death penalty. In Florence, a young boy named Giovanni di Giovanni (1350–1365?) was castrated and burned between the thighs with a red-hot iron by court order under this law.[11][12] These punishments continued into the Renaissance, and spread to the Swiss canton of Zürich. Knight Richard von Hohenberg (died 1482) was burned at the stake together with his lover, his young squire, during this time. In France, French writer Jacques Chausson (1618–1661) was also burned alive for attempting to seduce the son of a nobleman.
In England, the Buggery Act of 1534 made sodomy and bestiality punishable by death. This act was replaced in 1828, but sodomy remained punishable by death under the new act until 1861. The last executions were in 1835.
In Nazi Germany, homosexuals were among the groups targeted by the Holocaust (See Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust). (In 1936, the homosexual Federico García Lorca was executed by right-wing rebels who became Franco's dictatorship in Spain, Hitler's ally.) Modern allies in Neonazis generally oppose homosexuality to the extent of supporting a renewed persecution the way it took place in Nazi Germany. Being homosexual is equated with being unmasculine and the German word ″Schwul″ ('gay') is used by German Neonazis as a curse word.[13]
Contemporary[edit]
Main article: LGBT rights by country or territory



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Worldwide laws regarding homosexual
 relationships and expression
     Same-sex marriage      Restricted freedom of expression
     Other type of partnership or unregistered cohabitation      Unenforced penalty
     Marriage recognized but not performed      Imprisonment
     Marriage recognized federally but not performed      Up to life in prison
     Same-sex unions not recognized      Death penalty
Click on map to view an enlarged version where rings in various locations become visible. These indicate places with local and/or case-by-case applications of law.



Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni being prepared for execution by hanging, in Iran
As of May 2011, 75 countries criminalize consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex.[14] They are punishable by death in eight countries:
Brunei
Iran:[15] Since 1979, the government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts.[16]
Mauritania
Qatar
Saudi Arabia: Although the maximum punishment for homosexuality is execution, the government tends to use other punishments (fines, prison sentence, and whipping), unless it feels that homosexuals have challenged state authority by engaging in LGBT social movements.[17]
Sudan
Yemen
Parts of Nigeria and Somalia[14]
Countries where homosexual acts are criminalized but not punished by death, by region, include:[18]
Africa
Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria (death penalty in some states), Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia (death penalty in some states), South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Asia
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Gaza Strip under Palestinian Authority
Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
Oceania
Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands[19]
Afghanistan, where such acts remain punishable with fines and a prison sentence, dropped the death penalty after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, who had mandated it from 1996. India criminalized homosexuality until June 2, 2009, when the High Court of Delhi declared section 377 of the Indian Penal Code invalid.[19] India has reinstated its ban on homosexuality on December 11, 2013, making it a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment up to a life time.
Jamaica has some of the toughest sodomy laws in the world, with homosexual activity carrying a 10-year jail sentence.[20][20][21][22]
International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime.[23][24] Since 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[25][26][27]
See also: Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni
Criminal assault[edit]
Main articles: gay bashing and trans bashing
Further information: List of unlawfully killed transgender people
Even in countries where homosexuality is legal (most countries outside of Africa and the Middle East), there are reports of homosexual people being targeted with bullying or physical assault or even homicide.


Further information: Homophobic violence in Brazil
According to the Grupo Gay da Bahia, Brazil's oldest gay rights NGO, the rate of murders of homosexuals in Brazil is particularly high, with a reported 3,196 cases over the 30-year period of 1980 to 2009 (or about 0.7 cases per 100,000 population per annum).[28] Brazilian gay group Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) reported 190 documented alleged homophobic murders in Brazil in 2008, accounting for about 0.5% of intentional homicides in Brazil (homicide rate 22 per 100,000 population as of 2008). 64% of the victims were gay men, 32% were transvestites, and 4% were lesbians.[29] By comparison, the FBI reported five homophobic murders in the United States during 2008, corresponding to 0.03% of intentional homicides (homicide rate 5.4 per 100,000 population as of 2008). Homophobic murders in Brazil are sometimes referred to as homocausto or "homocaust", a portmanteau of homosexual and holocaust.
The numbers produced by the Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) have occasionally been contested on the grounds that they include all murders of LGBT people reported in the media — that is, not only those motivated by bias against homosexuals. Reinaldo de Azevedo, columnist of the right-wing Veja magazine, Brazil's most read weekly publication, called the GGB's methodology "unscientific" based on the above objection: that they make no distinction between murders motivated by bias and those that were not.[30] On the high level of murders of transsexuals, he suggested transsexuals' allegedly high involvement with the drug trade may expose them to higher levels of violence as compared to non-transgender homosexuals and heterosexuals. A Brazilian gay blog has investigated a sample of 30 murders of gay people reported on the media in 2009 — including some of those used by the GGB in its national statistic report. It determined that the "large majority" of them were committed by the homosexual partners of the victims or those who were otherwise in a relationship with them (e.g., male prostitutes), with some others being killed due to unpaid debts with gangs involved in drug trafficking.[31]
In many parts of the world, including much of the European Union and United States, acts of violence are legally classified as hate crimes, which entail harsher sentences if convicted. In some countries, this form of legislation extends to verbal abuse as well as physical violence.
Violent hate crimes against LGBT people tend to be especially brutal, even compared to other hate crimes: "an intense rage is present in nearly all homicide cases involving gay male victims". It is rare for a victim to just be shot; he is more likely to be stabbed multiple times, mutilated, and strangled. "They frequently involved torture, cutting, mutilation... showing the absolute intent to rub out the human being because of his (sexual) preference".[32] In a particularly brutal case in the United States, on March 14, 2007, in Wahneta, Florida, 25-year-old Ryan Keith Skipper was found dead from 20 stab wounds and a slit throat. His body had been dumped on a dark, rural road less than 2 miles from his home. His two alleged attackers, William David Brown, Jr., 20, and Joseph Eli Bearden, 21, were indicted for robbery and first-degree murder. Highlighting their malice and contempt for the victim, the accused killers allegedly drove around in Skipper's blood-soaked car and bragged of killing him. According to a sheriff's department affidavit, one of the men stated that Skipper was targeted because "he was a faggot."[33]
In Canada in 2008, police-reported data found that approximately 10% of all hate crimes in the country were motivated by sexual orientation. Of these, 56% were of a violent nature. In comparison, 38% of all racially motivated offenses were of a violent nature.[33]
In the same year in the United States, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data, though 4,704 crimes were committed due to racial bias and 1,617 were committed due to sexual orientation, only one murder and one forcible rape were committed due to racial bias, whereas five murders and six rapes were committed based on sexual orientation.[34] In Northern Ireland in 2008, 160 homophobic incidents and 7 transphobic incidents were reported. Of those incidents, 68.4% were violent crimes; significantly higher than for any other bias category. By contrast, 37.4% of racially motivated crimes were of a violent nature.[33]
Legislation against homophobic hate crimes[edit]

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 This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2013)
In the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, twelve have legislation specifically designed for bias based on sexual orientation (as opposed to generic anti-discrimination legislation) to be counted as aggravating circumstance in the commission of a crime.[citation needed]
The United States does not have federal legislation marking sexual orientation as criteria for hate crimes, but several states, including the District of Columbia, enforce harsher penalties for crimes where real or perceived sexual orientation may have been a motivator. Among these 12 countries as well, only the United States has criminal law that specifically mentions gender identity, and even then only in 11 states and the District of Colombia.[33] In November 2010, the United Nations General Assembly voted 79-70 to remove "sexual orientation" from the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, a list of unjustified reasons for executions, replacing it with "discriminatory reasons on any basis".[35] The resolution specifically mentions a large number of groups, including race, religion, linguistic differences, refugees, street children and indigenous peoples.[36]
Legal and police response to these types of hate crimes is hard to gauge, however. Lack of reporting by authorities on the statistics of these crimes and under-reporting by the victims themselves are factors for this difficulty.[33] Often a victim will not report a crime as it will shed unwelcome light on their orientation and invite more victimization.[37]
Alleged judicative bias[edit]
Further information: Gay Panic Defense and Provocation (legal)
Legal defenses like the Gay Panic Defense allow for more lenient punishments for people accused of beating, torturing, or killing homosexuals because of their orientation. These arguments posit that the attacker was so enraged by their victim's advances as to cause temporary insanity, leaving them unable to stop themselves or tell right from wrong. In these cases, if the loss of faculties is proven, or sympathized to the jury, an initially severe sentence may be significantly reduced. In several common law countries, the mitigatory defense of provocation has been used in violent attacks against LGBT persons, which has led several Australian states and territories to modify their legislation, in order to prevent or reduce the using of this legal defense in cases of violent responses to non-violent homosexual advances.



"It's pretty disturbing that somebody that [kills] a person in cold blood gets out very quickly…."
Spencer Herbert, New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly[37]
There have been several highly publicized cases where people convicted of violence against LGBT people have received shorter sentences. One such case is that of Kenneth Brewer. On 30 September 1997, he met Stephen Bright at a local gay bar. He bought the younger man drinks and they later went back to Brewer's apartment. While there, Brewer made a sexual advance toward Bright, and Bright beat him to death. Bright was initially charged with second-degree murder, but he was eventually convicted of third-degree assault and was sentenced to one year in prison.[38][39] Cases like Bright's are not isolated. In 2001, Aaron Webster was beaten to death by a group of youths armed with baseball bats and a pool cue while hanging around an area of Stanley Park frequented by gay men. Ryan Cran was convicted of manslaughter in the case in 2004 and released on parole in 2009 after serving only 4 years of his six-year sentence.[37] Two youths were tried under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act and sentenced to three years after pleading guilty. A fourth assailant was acquitted.[37]
Judges are not immune to letting their own prejudices affect their judgment either. In 1988, Texas Judge Jack Hampton gave a man 30 years for killing two gay men, instead of the life sentence requested by the prosecutor. After handing down his judgment, he said: "I don't much care for queers cruising the streets picking up teenage boys ...[I] put prostitutes and gays at about the same level ... and I'd be hard put to give somebody life for killing a prostitute."[38]
In 1987, a Florida judge trying a case concerning the beating to death of a gay man asked the prosecutor, "That's a crime now, to beat up a homosexual?" The prosecutor responded, "Yes, sir. And it's also a crime to kill them." "Times have really changed," the judge replied. The judge, Daniel Futch, maintained that he was joking, but was removed from the case.[32][38]
Attacks on gay pride parades[edit]
LGBT Pride Parades often attract violence because of their public nature. Though many countries where such events take place attempt to provide police protection to participants, some would prefer that the parades not happen, and police either ignore or encourage violent protesters. The country of Moldova has shown particular contempt to marchers, shutting down official requests to hold parades and allowing protesters to intimidate and harm any who try to march anyway. In 2007, after being denied a request to hold a parade, a small group of LGBT people tried to hold a small gathering. They were surrounded by a group twice their size who shouted derogatory things at them and pelted them with eggs. The gathering proceeded even so, and they tried to lay flowers at the Monument to the Victims of Repression. They were denied the opportunity, however, by a large group of police claiming they needed permission from city hall.[33]
The following year, a parade was again attempted. A bus carried approximately 60 participants to the capital, but before they could disembark, an angry crowd surrounded the bus. They shouted things like "let's get them out and beat them up," and "beat them to death, don't let them escape" at the frightened passengers. The mob told the activists that if they wanted to leave the bus unharmed, they would have to destroy all of their pride materials. The passengers complied and the march was called off. All the while, police stood passively about 100 meters away, taking no action even though passengers claimed at least nine emergency calls were made to police while on the bus.[33][40][41]



"No one needs lesbians, no one will ever get you out of here."
Moscow police to women arrested at a demonstration[33]
Russia's officials are similarly adverse to Pride Parades. Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov has repeatedly banned marches, calling them "satanic".[42] Pride participants instead tried to peacefully assemble and deliver a petition to city hall regarding the right of assembly and freedom of expression. They were met by skinheads and other protesters, and police who had closed off the square and immediately arrested activists as they entered. As some were being arrested, other participants were attacked by protesters. Police did nothing. Around eleven women and two men were arrested and left in the heat, denied medical attention, and verbally abused by police officers. The officers told the women, "No one needs lesbians, no one will ever get you out of here." When participants were released from custody hours later, they were pelted by eggs and shouted at by protesters who had been waiting.[33][43]
Hungary, on the other hand, has tried to afford the best protection they can to marchers, but cannot stem the flow of violence. In 2008, hundreds of people participated in the Budapest Dignity March. Police, on alert due to attacks on two LGBT-affiliated businesses earlier in the week, erected high metal barriers on either side of the street the march was to take place on. Hundreds of angry protesters threw petrol bombs and rocks at police in retaliation. A police van was set on fire and two police officers were injured in the attacks. During the parade itself, protesters threw Molotov cocktails, eggs and firecrackers at marchers. At least eight participants were injured.[44] Forty-five people were detained in connection with the attacks, and observers called the spectacle "the worst violence during the dozen years the Gay Pride Parade has taken place in Budapest."[33][45]
Advocacy in song lyrics[edit]



Buju Banton, a Jamaican musician, performing in 2007.
As a result of the strong anti-homosexual culture in Jamaica, many reggae and dancehall artists, such as Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Sizzla, have published song lyrics advocating violence against homosexuals. Similarly, hip-hop music occasionally includes aggressively homophobic lyrics,[46] but has since appeared to reform.
Banton wrote a song when he was 15 years old that became a hit when he released it years later in 1992 called "Boom Bye Bye". The song is about violently murdering homosexuals and "advocated the shooting of gay men, pouring acid on them and burning them alive."[21] A song by Elephant Man proclaims: "When you hear a lesbian getting raped/It's not our fault ... Two women in bed/That's two sodomites who should be dead."[20]
Due to the violent, homophobic nature of some of their songs, several reggae artists have been investigated by police for promoting anti-gay violence. Some lyrics have been investigated by Scotland Yard, and Sizzla was barred from entering the United Kingdom in 2004 while being investigated for promoting murder through his music.[21][47]
Gay rights advocates have started the group Stop Murder Music to combat the promotion of hate and violence by artists. The group organized protests, causing some venues to refuse to allow the targeted artists to perform, and the loss of sponsors. In 2007, Stop Murder Music introduced the Reggae Compassionate Act, which states that "the artists promise not to produce music or make public statements inciting hatred against gay people. Neither can they authorise the re-release of previous homophobic songs." Several artists have signed the Act, including Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton,[21] but have later denied making any commitment to stop promoting homophobia.[20][48]
During the 1980s, North America's skinhead scene saw the development of viciously anti-gay music and the advocacy of anti-gay violence. This occurred with the ascendancy of neo-Nazi pop culture and racist hate-rock.
The lyrics to the song, "Tooling for Anus", by 80s Detroit hardcore band, The Meatmen, explicitly states "I'm not a fag and I'll never be, afraid to hit the can to take a pee, afraid some sissy'll grab my ass, I'll stick his face with broken glass" [49]
Today, fans of the Meatmen try to play down their legendary anti-gay activity, saying that it was all, purportedly, meant as a "joke".[50]
Michael Jackman, writer for Detroit's "Metro Times," did an interview with Meatmen singer Tesco Vee, who said that the song's origins dated to the late 1970s and early 1980s in Detroit, when hardcore punk bands, unable to get booked in bars and in a city lacking all-ages clubs, would do "punk nights" at gay men's bars, creating what Vee called a "worlds collide" sort of thing.[51]
However, Vee's story is belied by the fact that the band not only promoted hatred against gay men, but more aggressively against lesbians. The lyrics to the Meatmen's song "Lesbian Death Dirge" read, "Twisted women in a line. Emotionally traumatized, Mom and pop think you're slime, We'll steamroll you. You'll eat our poop. Look at those tracks, I'm gonna drive my motorcycle up those saggy glad bags, get your sh*t together, sucking a good stiff will do you good" [52] Despite all this, as well as the fact that Tesco Vee had performed a song called "Morrissey Must Die" about the Smiths' self-identified asexual frontman and referred to him as a "fag," they later contributed a cover of the song "How Soon Is Now?" on a Smiths tribute album.
Motivations[edit]
Main article: Homophobia
Macho culture and social homophobia[edit]


 This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (April 2013)
The vast majority of homophobic criminal assault is perpetrated by male aggressors on male victims, and is connected to aggressive heterosexual machismo or male chauvinism. Theorists including Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler have suggested that homophobia can be rooted in an individual's fear of being identified as gay. Homophobia in men is correlated with insecurity about masculinity.[46][53][54] For this reason, allegedly homophobia is rampant in sports, and in the subculture of its supporters, that are considered stereotypically "male", such as football and rugby.[55]
These theorists have argued that a person who expresses homophobia does so not only to communicate their beliefs about the class of gay people, but also to distance themselves from this class and its social status. Thus, by distancing themselves from gay people, they are reaffirming their role as a heterosexual in a heteronormative culture, thereby attempting to prevent themselves from being labeled and treated as a gay person.
Various psychoanalytic theories explain homophobia as a threat to an individual's own same-sex impulses, whether those impulses are imminent or merely hypothetical. This threat causes repression, denial or reaction formation.[56]
Religious[edit]
See also: Religion and homosexuality and Religion and sexuality
Religious texts[edit]
Some verses of the Bible are often interpreted as forbidding homosexual relations.

And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
—Leviticus 20:13

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
—Leviticus 18:22
The above verses are the cause of tension between the devout of the Abrahamic religions and members of the LGBT community. It is viewed by many as an outright condemnation of homosexual acts between men, and, more commonly in ancient times than today, justification for violence.
In Religion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge argues that the six or so verses that are often cited to condemn LGBT people are referring instead to "abusive sex." She states that the Bible has no condemnation for "loving, committed, gay and lesbian relationships" and that Jesus was silent on the subject.[57]
Christianity[edit]
See also: Christianity and homosexuality
In today's society, most Christian denominations welcome people attracted to the same sex, but teach that same sex relationships and homosexual sex are sinful.[58][59] These denominations include the Roman Catholic Church,[59][60] the Eastern Orthodox church,[61] the Methodist Church,[58][62][63][64] and many other mainline denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America[65] and the American Baptist Church,[66] as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance,[67] and the Southern Baptist Convention.[68][69][70] Likewise, Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God,[71] as well as Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and LDS Church, also take the position that homosexual activity is immoral.[72][73]
Some Christian groups advocate conversion therapy and promote ex-gay groups. One such group, Exodus International, argued that conversion therapy may be a useful tool for decreasing same-sex desires,[74] and, while former affiliates of Exodus continue with such views, Exodus has since repudiated the organization's mission [75] and apologised for the pain and hurt and promoting "sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents."[76][77] The medical and scientific consensus in the United States is that conversion therapy is likely harmful and should be avoided because it may exploit guilt and anxiety, thereby damaging self-esteem and leading to depression and even suicide.[78][79][80] There is a broad concern in the mental health community that the advancement of conversion therapy itself causes social harm by disseminating inaccurate views about sexual orientation and the ability of gay, lesbian and bisexual people to lead happy, healthy lives.[78] This promotion of the idea that homosexuality is immoral and can be corrected may make would-be attackers of homosexuals feel justified in that they are "doing God's work" by ridding the world of LGBT people.[81]
Pope Benedict XVI, then the leader of the Roman Catholic Church stoked this sentiment as well, when he stated that "protecting" humanity from homosexuality was just as important as saving the world from climate change and that all relationships beyond traditional heterosexual ones are a "destruction of God's work".[81] Further, a Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound".[81] While the Catholic Church teaches that same-sex attraction itself is not sinful, homosexual acts are "acts of grave depravity". Homosexual congregation members are to be accepted and not discriminated against, but are asked to remain celibate.[82]
Evangelicals in Africa sometimes use religion to justify violence against LGBT people and criminalizing homosexual behavior. Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Henry Orombi of Uganda would not condemn violence against gays and lesbians when questioned on the issue at the Global Anglican Future Conference.[83] Mark Russell, Chief Executive of Church Army, expressed outrage over their resistance, stating "Quite honestly [refusal to condemn violence against gay people in their home countries] is disgraceful, it sullies their cause, and is totally un-Christian. You cannot justify violence in God's name. Period. [...] Those who perpetrate violence against gay people in Africa now can use this silence to justify their behaviour. Christians must speak up and say this is wrong."[83]
Islam[edit]
See also: Islam and homosexuality
The Qur'an, the book of Islam, cites the story of the "people of Lot" (also known as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah), destroyed by the wrath of Allah because they engaged in lustful carnal acts between men.
Scholars of Islam, such as Shaykh al-Islām Imam Malik, and Imam Shafi amongst others, ruled that Islam disallowed homosexuality and ordained capital punishment for a person guilty of it.[84]
The legal punishment for sodomy has varied among juristic schools: some prescribe capital punishment; while other prescribe a milder discretionary punishment. Homosexual activity is a crime and forbidden in most Muslim-majority countries. In some relatively secular Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia,[85] Jordan and Turkey, this is not the case.
The Qur'an, much like the Bible and Torah, has a vague condemnation of homosexuality and how it should be dealt with, leaving it open to interpretation. For this reason, Islamic jurists have turned to the collections of the hadith (sayings of Muhammad) and akhbar (accounts of his life). These, on the other hand, are perfectly clear and particularly harsh.[86] Ibn al-Jawzi[disambiguation needed] records Muhammad as cursing sodomites in several hadith, and recommending the death penalty for both the active and passive partners in same-sex acts.[87]
Sunan al-Tirmidhi again reports Muhammad as having prescribed the death penalty for both the active and the passive partner: "Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lot, kill them, both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done."[84] The overall moral or theological principle is that a person who performs such actions challenges the harmony of God's creation, and is therefore a revolt against God.[88]
Some imams still preach their views, stating that homosexuals and "women who act like men" should be executed under the Islamic law. Abu Usamah at Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham defended his words to followers by saying "If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that's my freedom of speech, isn't it?"[89] Other leaders decry this sort of preaching.
Other contemporary Islamic views are that the ″crime of homosexuality is one of the greatest of crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds″.[90]
Judaism[edit]
See also: Judaism and homosexuality
In Judaism, the death penalty has not been used in practice for more than 2000 years, though many movements still view homosexual acts as sinful. Orthodox Judaism generally prohibits homosexual conduct. While there is disagreement about which acts come under core prohibitions, all of Orthodox Judaism puts certain core homosexual acts, including male-male anal sex in the category of yehareg ve'al ya'avor—"die rather than transgress"—the small category of Biblically-prohibited acts (also including murder, idolatry, adultery, and incest) which an Orthodox Jew is obligated under the laws of Self-sacrifice under Jewish Law to die rather than do.
See also[edit]


Anti-LGBT slogans
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References[edit]


 Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (January 2012)
1.Jump up ^ Meyer, Doug (December 2012). "An Intersectional Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People's Evaluations of Anti-Queer Violence". Gender & Society 26 (6): 849–873. doi:10.1177/0891243212461299.
2.Jump up ^ Stotzer, R.: Comparison of love Crime Rates Across Protected and Unprotected Groups, Williams Institute, 2007–06. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
3.Jump up ^ Stewart, Chuck (2010). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-34231-8.
4.Jump up ^ "New Benefits for Same-Sex Couples May Be Hard to Implement Abroad". ABC News. June 22, 2009. 2009 Report on State Sponsored Homophobia (2009), published by The International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association.
5.Jump up ^ Pritchard, p. 181.
6.Jump up ^ Ibid, 468
7.Jump up ^ John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century (University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 63, 67–68, quotation on p. 69. See also Craig Williams, Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 116; Eva Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World (Yale University Press, 1992), p. 106ff.; Thomas A.J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 140–141; Amy Richlin, The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor (Oxford University Press, 1983, 1992), pp. 86, 224; Jonathan Walters, "Invading the Roman Body," in Roman Sexualites (Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 33–35, noting particularly the overly broad definition of the Lex Scantinia by Adolf Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (American Philosophical Society, 1953, reprinted 1991), pp. 559 and 719. Freeborn Roman men could engage in sex with males of lower status, such as prostitutes and slaves, without moral censure or losing their perceived masculinity, as long as they took the active, penetrating role; see Sexuality in ancient Rome.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c (Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.
9.Jump up ^ Theodosian Code 9.8.3: "When a man marries and is about to offer himself to men in womanly fashion (quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.
10.Jump up ^ Justinian Novels 77, 144; Michael Brinkschröde, "Christian Homophobia: Four Central Discourses," in Combatting Homophobia: Experiences and Analyses Pertinent to Education (LIT Verlag, 2011), p. 166.
11.Jump up ^ Rocke, Michael (1996). Forbidden Friendships, Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press. pp. 24, 227, 356, 360. ISBN 0-19-512292-5.
12.Jump up ^ Meyer, Michael J (2000). Literature and Homosexuality. Rodopi. p. 206. ISBN 90-420-0519-X.
13.Jump up ^ Schwule Nazis? Ein brisantes Thema für die rechtsextreme Szene
14.^ Jump up to: a b "ILGA publishes 2010 report on State sponsored homophobia throughout the world". International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. 2010.
15.Jump up ^ Kennedy, Dominic (November 13, 2007). "Gays Deserve Torture, Death Penalty, Iranian Minister Says". The Times.
16.Jump up ^ "Homosexuality and Religion".
17.Jump up ^ "Is Beheading Really the Punishment for Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia?".
18.Jump up ^ 2011 Report on State-sponsored Homophobia
19.^ Jump up to: a b Ottosson, Daniel (May 2010). "State-sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults" (PDF). International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Jamaica: Homophobia and hate crime is rife". Belfast Telegraph. September 12, 2009.
21.^ Jump up to: a b c d Funkeson, Kristina (August 9, 2007). "Dancehall star signs Reggae Compassionate Act". Freemuse.
22.Jump up ^ Padgett, Tim (April 12, 2006). "The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?". Time Magazine.
23.Jump up ^ Love, Hate and the Law: Decriminalizing Homosexuality; Amnesty International (2008)
24.Jump up ^ Burundi: Repeal Law Criminalizing Homosexuality; Human Rights Watch (24th April 2009)
25.Jump up ^ "United Nations: General assembly to address sexual orientation and gender identity – Statement affirms promise of Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (Press release). Amnesty International. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
26.Jump up ^ "UN: General Assembly statement affirms rights for all" (PDF) (Press release). Amnesty International. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
27.Jump up ^ Pleming, Sue (18 March 2009). "In turnaround, U.S. signs U.N. gay rights document". Reuters. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
28.Jump up ^ "Número de assassinatos de gays no país cresceu 62% desde 2007, mas tema fica fora da campanha - Jornal O Globo". Oglobo.globo.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
29.Jump up ^ Gay-Bashing Murders Up 55 Percent (ipsnews.net, 22 April 2009)
30.Jump up ^ UM VERMELHO-E-AZUL PARA DISSECAR UMA NOTÍCIA. OU COMO LER UMA FARSA ESTATÍSTICA. OU AINDA: TODO BRASILEIRO MERECE SER GAY (in Portuguese). Veja. 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
31.Jump up ^ "Homophobic" crimes. (in Portuguese). GAYS DE DIREITA. 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
32.^ Jump up to: a b Altschiller, Donald (2005). "Hate Crimes: a reference handbook". ABC-CLIO. pp. 26–28.
33.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Stahnke, Tad et al. (2008). "Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Bias: 2008 Hate Crime Survey" (PDF). Human Rights First.
34.Jump up ^ "Hate Crime Statistics: Offense Type by Bias Motivation". Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2008.
35.Jump up ^ Geen, Jessica (November 18, 2010). "UN deletes gay reference from anti-execution measures". Pink News.
36.Jump up ^ "U.N. panel cuts gay reference from violence measure". U.S. Daily. November 17, 2010.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Gay community troubled by release of killer in Stanley Park death". CBC News. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c Stryker, Jeff (23 October 1998). "Asking for it". Salon Magazine.
39.Jump up ^ Lee, Cynthia (2003). Murder and the Reasonable Man: Passion and Fear in the Criminal Courtroom. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-5115-2.
40.Jump up ^ Taylor, Christian (May 12, 2008). "Gay Pride Parade Trapped on Bus". SameSame.
41.Jump up ^ 67 GenderDoc-M (May 11, 2008). "Moldovan Gay Pride Threatened, Cops Refuse Protection for Marchers".
42.Jump up ^ Ireland, Doug (May 17, 2007). "Moscow Pride Banned Again". UK Gay News.
43.Jump up ^ "We Have the Upper Hand: Freedom of assembly in Russia and the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people". Human Rights Watch and ILGA-Europe. June 2007.
44.Jump up ^ Peto, Sandor and Krisztina Than (July 6, 2008). "Anti-gay violence mars Hungarian parade". The Star Online.
45.Jump up ^ Bos, Stefan (July 6, 2008). "Violent Protests Disrupt Hungary's Gay Rights Parade". VOA News.
46.^ Jump up to: a b "Homophobia and Hip-Hop". PBS. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
47.Jump up ^ "Coalition seeks ejection of reggae stars over anti-gay lyrics". CBC News. September 25, 2007.
48.Jump up ^ Grew, Tony (October 9, 2008). "Immigration minister criticised for letting homophobic artist into Canada". Pink News.
49.Jump up ^ "The Meatmen - Tooling For Anus Lyrics". Lyricsmania.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
50.Jump up ^ Jackman, Michael. "Music: True Grit". Metro Times. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
51.Jump up ^ ibid
52.Jump up ^ "The Music Made Me Do It : The Meatmen : Lesbian Death Dirge : Lyrics". Musicmademe.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
53.Jump up ^ Nancy J. Chodorow. Statement in a public forum on homophobia by The American Psychoanalytic Foundation, 1999
54.Jump up ^ Masculinity Challenged, Men Prefer War and SUVs
55.Jump up ^ "Fans' culture hard to change"
56.Jump up ^ West, D.J. Homosexuality re-examined. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8166-0812-1
57.Jump up ^ Religion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge
58.^ Jump up to: a b "Human Sexuality". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
59.^ Jump up to: a b Excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
60.Jump up ^ "Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation for Persons with Homosexual Tendencies".
61.Jump up ^ "On Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life".
62.Jump up ^ "Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: African Methodist Episcopal Church". The Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
63.Jump up ^ "The Christian Life - Christian Conduct". Free Methodist Church. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
64.Jump up ^ "British Methodists reject blessing of same-sex relationships". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
65.Jump up ^ "Summaries of General Synod Discussions and Actions on Homosexuality and the Rights of Homosexuals". Reformed Church in America. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
66.Jump up ^ "We Are American Baptists". American Baptist Churches USA. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
67.Jump up ^ "Evangelical Alliance (UK): Faith, Hope and Homosexuality" (PDF).
68.Jump up ^ "Position Statements/Sexuality".
69.Jump up ^ "Statement on Homosexuality".
70.Jump up ^ "Position Paper on Homosexuality".
71.Jump up ^ "Homosexuality" (PDF).
72.Jump up ^ "Homosexuality—How Can I Avoid It?". Awake!: 28–30. February 2007.
73.Jump up ^ "Same-Gender Attraction". LDS Newsroom.
74.Jump up ^ "Exodus International Policy Statements". Exodus International. Retrieved 04-07-2007. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
75.Jump up ^ Tenety, Elizabeth, "Exodus International, criticized for ‘reparative therapies’ for gay Christians, to shut down", Washington Post, June 20, 2013. Included link to video of Chambers' talk at Exodus' website. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
76.Jump up ^ Snow, Justin (June 20, 2013). "'Ex-gay' ministry apologizes to LGBT community, shuts down". MetroWeekly. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
77.Jump up ^ Newcomb, Alyssa (June 20, 2013). "Exodus International: 'Gay Cure' Group Leader Shutting Down Ministry After Change of Heart". ABC News. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
78.^ Jump up to: a b "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel". American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, The Interfaith Alliance, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association. 1999. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
79.Jump up ^ H., K. (15 January 1999). "APA Maintains Reparative Therapy Not Effective". Psychiatric News (news division of the American Psychiatric Association). Retrieved 2007-08-28.
80.Jump up ^ Luo, Michael (12 February 2007). "Some Tormented by Homosexuality Look to a Controversial Therapy". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
81.^ Jump up to: a b c Naughton, Philippe (December 23, 2008). "Pope accused of stoking homophobia after he equates homosexuality to climate change". The Times.
82.Jump up ^ "Vatican U.N. delegation calls for end to unjust discrimination against homosexuals". Catholic News Agency. December 19, 2008.
83.^ Jump up to: a b "Evangelical leader criticises failure to condemn violence against gays". Ekklesia. June 26, 2008.
84.^ Jump up to: a b "Homosexuality and Lesbianism: Sexual Perversions". IslamOnline.
85.Jump up ^ Rough Guide to South East Asia: Third Edition. Rough Guides Ltd. August 2005. p. 74. ISBN 1-84353-437-1.
86.Jump up ^ Bosworth, Ed. C. and E. van Donzel (1983). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden.
87.Jump up ^ Wafer, Jim (1997). Muhammad and Male Homosexuality. New York University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8147-7468-7. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
88.Jump up ^ Dynes, Wayne (1990). Encyclopaedia of Homosexuality. New York.
89.Jump up ^ Grew, Tony (September 1, 2008). "Violence against gays preached in British mosques claims new documentary". Pink News.
90.Jump up ^ The punishment for homosexuality
 Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 38622
External links[edit]
Barry Yeoman, Murder on the Mountain, Out Magazine
Gay Bashings In Schools- A survey released in 2006 shows that gay teens still experience homophobic attacks in their schools
Pictures from Belgrade (Serbian) Pride Parade 30 June 2001
Abuse is Not a Form of Love


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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people can face violence motivated by hateful attitudes towards their sexuality or gender identity.[1] Violence may be executed by the state, as in laws prescribing corporal punishment for homosexual acts (see homosexuality laws), or by individuals engaging in intimidation, mobbing, assault, or lynching (see gay bashing, trans bashing). Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be psychological or physical and can extend to murder. These actions may be motivated by homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and may be influenced by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.
Currently, homosexual acts are legal in almost all Western countries, and in many of these countries violence against LGBT people is classified as a hate crime,[2] with such violence being often connected with conservative or religious leaning ideologies which condemn homosexuality, or being perpetrated by individuals who associate homosexuality to being weak, ill, feminine, or immoral. Outside the West, many countries, particularly those where the dominant religion is Islam, but also many countries in the Commonwealth (e.g. Uganda, Nigeria, Malaysia and Jamaica), most African (excluding South Africa) and some Asian countries (excluding Japan and Taiwan), and some former-Communist countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, such as Russia and Serbia, are currently very dangerous for LGBT people because of discrimination against homosexuals which influences both discriminatory legislation and physical violence.[3]
In Europe, the European Union's Employment Equality Framework Directive and Charter of Fundamental Rights offer some protection against sexuality-based discrimination.
Historically, state-sanctioned persecution of homosexuals was mostly limited to male homosexuality, termed "sodomy". During the medieval and early modern period, the penalty for sodomy was usually death. During the modern period (from the 19th century to the mid-20th century) in the Western world, the penalty was usually a fine or imprisonment.
As of 2009, there remain under 80 countries worldwide where homosexual acts remain illegal (notably throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and in most of Africa, but also in some of the Caribbean and Oceania) including five that carry the death penalty.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 State-sanctioned violence 1.1 Historic 1.1.1 The Middle East
1.1.2 Europe
1.2 Contemporary
2 Criminal assault 2.1 Legislation against homophobic hate crimes
2.2 Alleged judicative bias
2.3 Attacks on gay pride parades
2.4 Advocacy in song lyrics
3 Motivations 3.1 Macho culture and social homophobia
3.2 Religious 3.2.1 Religious texts
3.2.2 Christianity
3.2.3 Islam
3.2.4 Judaism

4 See also
5 References
6 External links

State-sanctioned violence[edit]
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Historic[edit]



 The knight von Hohenberg and his squire, being burned at the stake for sodomy, Zurich 1482 (Zurich Central Library)
The Middle East[edit]
An early law against sexual intercourse between men is recorded in Leviticus by the Hebrew people, prescribing the death penalty. A violent law regarding homosexual rape is prescribed in the Middle Assyrian Law Codes (1075 BCE), stating: "If a man lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted him, they shall lie with him (and) turn him into a eunuch". This misinterpreted code doesn't condemn homosexuality;[5] it describes a situation where a man has forced sex upon another person, who then has the option of bringing a charge against him. The perpetrator is punished while the victim is not, therefore the crime is homosexual rape.[6]
In the account given in Tacitus Germania, the death penalty was reserved for two kinds of capital offenses: military treason or desertion was punished by hanging, and moral infamy (cowardice and homosexuality: ignavos et imbelles at corpore infames); Gordon translates corpore infames as "unnatural prostitutes"; Tacitus refers to male homosexuality, see David F. Greenberg, The construction of homosexuality, p. 242 f. Scholarship compares the later Germanic concept of Old Norse argr, Langobardic arga, which combines the meanings "effeminate, cowardly, homosexual", see Jaan Puhvel, 'Who were the Hittite hurkilas pesnes?' in: A. Etter (eds.), O-o-pe-ro-si (FS Risch), Walter de Gruyter, 1986, p. 154.
Europe[edit]
In Republican Rome, the poorly attested Lex Scantinia penalized an adult male for committing a sex crime (stuprum) against an underage male citizen (ingenuus). It is unclear whether the penalty was death or a fine. The law may also have been used to prosecute adult male citizens who willingly took a pathic role in same-sex acts, but prosecutions are rarely recorded and the provisions of the law are vague; as John Boswell has noted, "if there was a law against homosexual relations, no one in Cicero's day knew anything about it."[7] When the Roman Empire came under Christian rule, all male homosexual activity was increasingly repressed, often on pain of death.[8] In 342 CE, the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans declared same-sex marriage to be illegal.[9] Shortly after, in the year 390 CE, emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be publicly burned alive.[8] Emperor Justinian I (527–565 CE) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences."[10]
Laws and codes prohibiting homosexual practice were in force in Europe from the fourth[8] to the twentieth centuries, and Muslim countries have had similar laws from the beginnings of Islam in the seventh century up to and including the present day. Abbasid Baghdad, under the Caliph Al-Hadi (785–786 CE), punished homosexuality with death.
During the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of France and the City of Florence also instated the death penalty. In Florence, a young boy named Giovanni di Giovanni (1350–1365?) was castrated and burned between the thighs with a red-hot iron by court order under this law.[11][12] These punishments continued into the Renaissance, and spread to the Swiss canton of Zürich. Knight Richard von Hohenberg (died 1482) was burned at the stake together with his lover, his young squire, during this time. In France, French writer Jacques Chausson (1618–1661) was also burned alive for attempting to seduce the son of a nobleman.
In England, the Buggery Act of 1534 made sodomy and bestiality punishable by death. This act was replaced in 1828, but sodomy remained punishable by death under the new act until 1861. The last executions were in 1835.
In Nazi Germany, homosexuals were among the groups targeted by the Holocaust (See Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust). (In 1936, the homosexual Federico García Lorca was executed by right-wing rebels who became Franco's dictatorship in Spain, Hitler's ally.) Modern allies in Neonazis generally oppose homosexuality to the extent of supporting a renewed persecution the way it took place in Nazi Germany. Being homosexual is equated with being unmasculine and the German word ″Schwul″ ('gay') is used by German Neonazis as a curse word.[13]
Contemporary[edit]
Main article: LGBT rights by country or territory



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Worldwide laws regarding homosexual
 relationships and expression
     Same-sex marriage      Restricted freedom of expression
     Other type of partnership or unregistered cohabitation      Unenforced penalty
     Marriage recognized but not performed      Imprisonment
     Marriage recognized federally but not performed      Up to life in prison
     Same-sex unions not recognized      Death penalty
Click on map to view an enlarged version where rings in various locations become visible. These indicate places with local and/or case-by-case applications of law.



Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni being prepared for execution by hanging, in Iran
As of May 2011, 75 countries criminalize consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex.[14] They are punishable by death in eight countries:
Brunei
Iran:[15] Since 1979, the government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts.[16]
Mauritania
Qatar
Saudi Arabia: Although the maximum punishment for homosexuality is execution, the government tends to use other punishments (fines, prison sentence, and whipping), unless it feels that homosexuals have challenged state authority by engaging in LGBT social movements.[17]
Sudan
Yemen
Parts of Nigeria and Somalia[14]
Countries where homosexual acts are criminalized but not punished by death, by region, include:[18]
Africa
Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria (death penalty in some states), Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia (death penalty in some states), South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Asia
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Gaza Strip under Palestinian Authority
Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
Oceania
Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands[19]
Afghanistan, where such acts remain punishable with fines and a prison sentence, dropped the death penalty after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, who had mandated it from 1996. India criminalized homosexuality until June 2, 2009, when the High Court of Delhi declared section 377 of the Indian Penal Code invalid.[19] India has reinstated its ban on homosexuality on December 11, 2013, making it a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment up to a life time.
Jamaica has some of the toughest sodomy laws in the world, with homosexual activity carrying a 10-year jail sentence.[20][20][21][22]
International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime.[23][24] Since 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[25][26][27]
See also: Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni
Criminal assault[edit]
Main articles: gay bashing and trans bashing
Further information: List of unlawfully killed transgender people
Even in countries where homosexuality is legal (most countries outside of Africa and the Middle East), there are reports of homosexual people being targeted with bullying or physical assault or even homicide.


Further information: Homophobic violence in Brazil
According to the Grupo Gay da Bahia, Brazil's oldest gay rights NGO, the rate of murders of homosexuals in Brazil is particularly high, with a reported 3,196 cases over the 30-year period of 1980 to 2009 (or about 0.7 cases per 100,000 population per annum).[28] Brazilian gay group Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) reported 190 documented alleged homophobic murders in Brazil in 2008, accounting for about 0.5% of intentional homicides in Brazil (homicide rate 22 per 100,000 population as of 2008). 64% of the victims were gay men, 32% were transvestites, and 4% were lesbians.[29] By comparison, the FBI reported five homophobic murders in the United States during 2008, corresponding to 0.03% of intentional homicides (homicide rate 5.4 per 100,000 population as of 2008). Homophobic murders in Brazil are sometimes referred to as homocausto or "homocaust", a portmanteau of homosexual and holocaust.
The numbers produced by the Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) have occasionally been contested on the grounds that they include all murders of LGBT people reported in the media — that is, not only those motivated by bias against homosexuals. Reinaldo de Azevedo, columnist of the right-wing Veja magazine, Brazil's most read weekly publication, called the GGB's methodology "unscientific" based on the above objection: that they make no distinction between murders motivated by bias and those that were not.[30] On the high level of murders of transsexuals, he suggested transsexuals' allegedly high involvement with the drug trade may expose them to higher levels of violence as compared to non-transgender homosexuals and heterosexuals. A Brazilian gay blog has investigated a sample of 30 murders of gay people reported on the media in 2009 — including some of those used by the GGB in its national statistic report. It determined that the "large majority" of them were committed by the homosexual partners of the victims or those who were otherwise in a relationship with them (e.g., male prostitutes), with some others being killed due to unpaid debts with gangs involved in drug trafficking.[31]
In many parts of the world, including much of the European Union and United States, acts of violence are legally classified as hate crimes, which entail harsher sentences if convicted. In some countries, this form of legislation extends to verbal abuse as well as physical violence.
Violent hate crimes against LGBT people tend to be especially brutal, even compared to other hate crimes: "an intense rage is present in nearly all homicide cases involving gay male victims". It is rare for a victim to just be shot; he is more likely to be stabbed multiple times, mutilated, and strangled. "They frequently involved torture, cutting, mutilation... showing the absolute intent to rub out the human being because of his (sexual) preference".[32] In a particularly brutal case in the United States, on March 14, 2007, in Wahneta, Florida, 25-year-old Ryan Keith Skipper was found dead from 20 stab wounds and a slit throat. His body had been dumped on a dark, rural road less than 2 miles from his home. His two alleged attackers, William David Brown, Jr., 20, and Joseph Eli Bearden, 21, were indicted for robbery and first-degree murder. Highlighting their malice and contempt for the victim, the accused killers allegedly drove around in Skipper's blood-soaked car and bragged of killing him. According to a sheriff's department affidavit, one of the men stated that Skipper was targeted because "he was a faggot."[33]
In Canada in 2008, police-reported data found that approximately 10% of all hate crimes in the country were motivated by sexual orientation. Of these, 56% were of a violent nature. In comparison, 38% of all racially motivated offenses were of a violent nature.[33]
In the same year in the United States, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data, though 4,704 crimes were committed due to racial bias and 1,617 were committed due to sexual orientation, only one murder and one forcible rape were committed due to racial bias, whereas five murders and six rapes were committed based on sexual orientation.[34] In Northern Ireland in 2008, 160 homophobic incidents and 7 transphobic incidents were reported. Of those incidents, 68.4% were violent crimes; significantly higher than for any other bias category. By contrast, 37.4% of racially motivated crimes were of a violent nature.[33]
Legislation against homophobic hate crimes[edit]

Ambox current red.svg
 This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2013)
In the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, twelve have legislation specifically designed for bias based on sexual orientation (as opposed to generic anti-discrimination legislation) to be counted as aggravating circumstance in the commission of a crime.[citation needed]
The United States does not have federal legislation marking sexual orientation as criteria for hate crimes, but several states, including the District of Columbia, enforce harsher penalties for crimes where real or perceived sexual orientation may have been a motivator. Among these 12 countries as well, only the United States has criminal law that specifically mentions gender identity, and even then only in 11 states and the District of Colombia.[33] In November 2010, the United Nations General Assembly voted 79-70 to remove "sexual orientation" from the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, a list of unjustified reasons for executions, replacing it with "discriminatory reasons on any basis".[35] The resolution specifically mentions a large number of groups, including race, religion, linguistic differences, refugees, street children and indigenous peoples.[36]
Legal and police response to these types of hate crimes is hard to gauge, however. Lack of reporting by authorities on the statistics of these crimes and under-reporting by the victims themselves are factors for this difficulty.[33] Often a victim will not report a crime as it will shed unwelcome light on their orientation and invite more victimization.[37]
Alleged judicative bias[edit]
Further information: Gay Panic Defense and Provocation (legal)
Legal defenses like the Gay Panic Defense allow for more lenient punishments for people accused of beating, torturing, or killing homosexuals because of their orientation. These arguments posit that the attacker was so enraged by their victim's advances as to cause temporary insanity, leaving them unable to stop themselves or tell right from wrong. In these cases, if the loss of faculties is proven, or sympathized to the jury, an initially severe sentence may be significantly reduced. In several common law countries, the mitigatory defense of provocation has been used in violent attacks against LGBT persons, which has led several Australian states and territories to modify their legislation, in order to prevent or reduce the using of this legal defense in cases of violent responses to non-violent homosexual advances.



"It's pretty disturbing that somebody that [kills] a person in cold blood gets out very quickly…."
Spencer Herbert, New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly[37]
There have been several highly publicized cases where people convicted of violence against LGBT people have received shorter sentences. One such case is that of Kenneth Brewer. On 30 September 1997, he met Stephen Bright at a local gay bar. He bought the younger man drinks and they later went back to Brewer's apartment. While there, Brewer made a sexual advance toward Bright, and Bright beat him to death. Bright was initially charged with second-degree murder, but he was eventually convicted of third-degree assault and was sentenced to one year in prison.[38][39] Cases like Bright's are not isolated. In 2001, Aaron Webster was beaten to death by a group of youths armed with baseball bats and a pool cue while hanging around an area of Stanley Park frequented by gay men. Ryan Cran was convicted of manslaughter in the case in 2004 and released on parole in 2009 after serving only 4 years of his six-year sentence.[37] Two youths were tried under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act and sentenced to three years after pleading guilty. A fourth assailant was acquitted.[37]
Judges are not immune to letting their own prejudices affect their judgment either. In 1988, Texas Judge Jack Hampton gave a man 30 years for killing two gay men, instead of the life sentence requested by the prosecutor. After handing down his judgment, he said: "I don't much care for queers cruising the streets picking up teenage boys ...[I] put prostitutes and gays at about the same level ... and I'd be hard put to give somebody life for killing a prostitute."[38]
In 1987, a Florida judge trying a case concerning the beating to death of a gay man asked the prosecutor, "That's a crime now, to beat up a homosexual?" The prosecutor responded, "Yes, sir. And it's also a crime to kill them." "Times have really changed," the judge replied. The judge, Daniel Futch, maintained that he was joking, but was removed from the case.[32][38]
Attacks on gay pride parades[edit]
LGBT Pride Parades often attract violence because of their public nature. Though many countries where such events take place attempt to provide police protection to participants, some would prefer that the parades not happen, and police either ignore or encourage violent protesters. The country of Moldova has shown particular contempt to marchers, shutting down official requests to hold parades and allowing protesters to intimidate and harm any who try to march anyway. In 2007, after being denied a request to hold a parade, a small group of LGBT people tried to hold a small gathering. They were surrounded by a group twice their size who shouted derogatory things at them and pelted them with eggs. The gathering proceeded even so, and they tried to lay flowers at the Monument to the Victims of Repression. They were denied the opportunity, however, by a large group of police claiming they needed permission from city hall.[33]
The following year, a parade was again attempted. A bus carried approximately 60 participants to the capital, but before they could disembark, an angry crowd surrounded the bus. They shouted things like "let's get them out and beat them up," and "beat them to death, don't let them escape" at the frightened passengers. The mob told the activists that if they wanted to leave the bus unharmed, they would have to destroy all of their pride materials. The passengers complied and the march was called off. All the while, police stood passively about 100 meters away, taking no action even though passengers claimed at least nine emergency calls were made to police while on the bus.[33][40][41]



"No one needs lesbians, no one will ever get you out of here."
Moscow police to women arrested at a demonstration[33]
Russia's officials are similarly adverse to Pride Parades. Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov has repeatedly banned marches, calling them "satanic".[42] Pride participants instead tried to peacefully assemble and deliver a petition to city hall regarding the right of assembly and freedom of expression. They were met by skinheads and other protesters, and police who had closed off the square and immediately arrested activists as they entered. As some were being arrested, other participants were attacked by protesters. Police did nothing. Around eleven women and two men were arrested and left in the heat, denied medical attention, and verbally abused by police officers. The officers told the women, "No one needs lesbians, no one will ever get you out of here." When participants were released from custody hours later, they were pelted by eggs and shouted at by protesters who had been waiting.[33][43]
Hungary, on the other hand, has tried to afford the best protection they can to marchers, but cannot stem the flow of violence. In 2008, hundreds of people participated in the Budapest Dignity March. Police, on alert due to attacks on two LGBT-affiliated businesses earlier in the week, erected high metal barriers on either side of the street the march was to take place on. Hundreds of angry protesters threw petrol bombs and rocks at police in retaliation. A police van was set on fire and two police officers were injured in the attacks. During the parade itself, protesters threw Molotov cocktails, eggs and firecrackers at marchers. At least eight participants were injured.[44] Forty-five people were detained in connection with the attacks, and observers called the spectacle "the worst violence during the dozen years the Gay Pride Parade has taken place in Budapest."[33][45]
Advocacy in song lyrics[edit]



Buju Banton, a Jamaican musician, performing in 2007.
As a result of the strong anti-homosexual culture in Jamaica, many reggae and dancehall artists, such as Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Sizzla, have published song lyrics advocating violence against homosexuals. Similarly, hip-hop music occasionally includes aggressively homophobic lyrics,[46] but has since appeared to reform.
Banton wrote a song when he was 15 years old that became a hit when he released it years later in 1992 called "Boom Bye Bye". The song is about violently murdering homosexuals and "advocated the shooting of gay men, pouring acid on them and burning them alive."[21] A song by Elephant Man proclaims: "When you hear a lesbian getting raped/It's not our fault ... Two women in bed/That's two sodomites who should be dead."[20]
Due to the violent, homophobic nature of some of their songs, several reggae artists have been investigated by police for promoting anti-gay violence. Some lyrics have been investigated by Scotland Yard, and Sizzla was barred from entering the United Kingdom in 2004 while being investigated for promoting murder through his music.[21][47]
Gay rights advocates have started the group Stop Murder Music to combat the promotion of hate and violence by artists. The group organized protests, causing some venues to refuse to allow the targeted artists to perform, and the loss of sponsors. In 2007, Stop Murder Music introduced the Reggae Compassionate Act, which states that "the artists promise not to produce music or make public statements inciting hatred against gay people. Neither can they authorise the re-release of previous homophobic songs." Several artists have signed the Act, including Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton,[21] but have later denied making any commitment to stop promoting homophobia.[20][48]
During the 1980s, North America's skinhead scene saw the development of viciously anti-gay music and the advocacy of anti-gay violence. This occurred with the ascendancy of neo-Nazi pop culture and racist hate-rock.
The lyrics to the song, "Tooling for Anus", by 80s Detroit hardcore band, The Meatmen, explicitly states "I'm not a fag and I'll never be, afraid to hit the can to take a pee, afraid some sissy'll grab my ass, I'll stick his face with broken glass" [49]
Today, fans of the Meatmen try to play down their legendary anti-gay activity, saying that it was all, purportedly, meant as a "joke".[50]
Michael Jackman, writer for Detroit's "Metro Times," did an interview with Meatmen singer Tesco Vee, who said that the song's origins dated to the late 1970s and early 1980s in Detroit, when hardcore punk bands, unable to get booked in bars and in a city lacking all-ages clubs, would do "punk nights" at gay men's bars, creating what Vee called a "worlds collide" sort of thing.[51]
However, Vee's story is belied by the fact that the band not only promoted hatred against gay men, but more aggressively against lesbians. The lyrics to the Meatmen's song "Lesbian Death Dirge" read, "Twisted women in a line. Emotionally traumatized, Mom and pop think you're slime, We'll steamroll you. You'll eat our poop. Look at those tracks, I'm gonna drive my motorcycle up those saggy glad bags, get your sh*t together, sucking a good stiff will do you good" [52] Despite all this, as well as the fact that Tesco Vee had performed a song called "Morrissey Must Die" about the Smiths' self-identified asexual frontman and referred to him as a "fag," they later contributed a cover of the song "How Soon Is Now?" on a Smiths tribute album.
Motivations[edit]
Main article: Homophobia
Macho culture and social homophobia[edit]


 This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (April 2013)
The vast majority of homophobic criminal assault is perpetrated by male aggressors on male victims, and is connected to aggressive heterosexual machismo or male chauvinism. Theorists including Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler have suggested that homophobia can be rooted in an individual's fear of being identified as gay. Homophobia in men is correlated with insecurity about masculinity.[46][53][54] For this reason, allegedly homophobia is rampant in sports, and in the subculture of its supporters, that are considered stereotypically "male", such as football and rugby.[55]
These theorists have argued that a person who expresses homophobia does so not only to communicate their beliefs about the class of gay people, but also to distance themselves from this class and its social status. Thus, by distancing themselves from gay people, they are reaffirming their role as a heterosexual in a heteronormative culture, thereby attempting to prevent themselves from being labeled and treated as a gay person.
Various psychoanalytic theories explain homophobia as a threat to an individual's own same-sex impulses, whether those impulses are imminent or merely hypothetical. This threat causes repression, denial or reaction formation.[56]
Religious[edit]
See also: Religion and homosexuality and Religion and sexuality
Religious texts[edit]
Some verses of the Bible are often interpreted as forbidding homosexual relations.

And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
—Leviticus 20:13

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
—Leviticus 18:22
The above verses are the cause of tension between the devout of the Abrahamic religions and members of the LGBT community. It is viewed by many as an outright condemnation of homosexual acts between men, and, more commonly in ancient times than today, justification for violence.
In Religion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge argues that the six or so verses that are often cited to condemn LGBT people are referring instead to "abusive sex." She states that the Bible has no condemnation for "loving, committed, gay and lesbian relationships" and that Jesus was silent on the subject.[57]
Christianity[edit]
See also: Christianity and homosexuality
In today's society, most Christian denominations welcome people attracted to the same sex, but teach that same sex relationships and homosexual sex are sinful.[58][59] These denominations include the Roman Catholic Church,[59][60] the Eastern Orthodox church,[61] the Methodist Church,[58][62][63][64] and many other mainline denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America[65] and the American Baptist Church,[66] as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance,[67] and the Southern Baptist Convention.[68][69][70] Likewise, Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God,[71] as well as Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and LDS Church, also take the position that homosexual activity is immoral.[72][73]
Some Christian groups advocate conversion therapy and promote ex-gay groups. One such group, Exodus International, argued that conversion therapy may be a useful tool for decreasing same-sex desires,[74] and, while former affiliates of Exodus continue with such views, Exodus has since repudiated the organization's mission [75] and apologised for the pain and hurt and promoting "sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents."[76][77] The medical and scientific consensus in the United States is that conversion therapy is likely harmful and should be avoided because it may exploit guilt and anxiety, thereby damaging self-esteem and leading to depression and even suicide.[78][79][80] There is a broad concern in the mental health community that the advancement of conversion therapy itself causes social harm by disseminating inaccurate views about sexual orientation and the ability of gay, lesbian and bisexual people to lead happy, healthy lives.[78] This promotion of the idea that homosexuality is immoral and can be corrected may make would-be attackers of homosexuals feel justified in that they are "doing God's work" by ridding the world of LGBT people.[81]
Pope Benedict XVI, then the leader of the Roman Catholic Church stoked this sentiment as well, when he stated that "protecting" humanity from homosexuality was just as important as saving the world from climate change and that all relationships beyond traditional heterosexual ones are a "destruction of God's work".[81] Further, a Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound".[81] While the Catholic Church teaches that same-sex attraction itself is not sinful, homosexual acts are "acts of grave depravity". Homosexual congregation members are to be accepted and not discriminated against, but are asked to remain celibate.[82]
Evangelicals in Africa sometimes use religion to justify violence against LGBT people and criminalizing homosexual behavior. Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Henry Orombi of Uganda would not condemn violence against gays and lesbians when questioned on the issue at the Global Anglican Future Conference.[83] Mark Russell, Chief Executive of Church Army, expressed outrage over their resistance, stating "Quite honestly [refusal to condemn violence against gay people in their home countries] is disgraceful, it sullies their cause, and is totally un-Christian. You cannot justify violence in God's name. Period. [...] Those who perpetrate violence against gay people in Africa now can use this silence to justify their behaviour. Christians must speak up and say this is wrong."[83]
Islam[edit]
See also: Islam and homosexuality
The Qur'an, the book of Islam, cites the story of the "people of Lot" (also known as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah), destroyed by the wrath of Allah because they engaged in lustful carnal acts between men.
Scholars of Islam, such as Shaykh al-Islām Imam Malik, and Imam Shafi amongst others, ruled that Islam disallowed homosexuality and ordained capital punishment for a person guilty of it.[84]
The legal punishment for sodomy has varied among juristic schools: some prescribe capital punishment; while other prescribe a milder discretionary punishment. Homosexual activity is a crime and forbidden in most Muslim-majority countries. In some relatively secular Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia,[85] Jordan and Turkey, this is not the case.
The Qur'an, much like the Bible and Torah, has a vague condemnation of homosexuality and how it should be dealt with, leaving it open to interpretation. For this reason, Islamic jurists have turned to the collections of the hadith (sayings of Muhammad) and akhbar (accounts of his life). These, on the other hand, are perfectly clear and particularly harsh.[86] Ibn al-Jawzi[disambiguation needed] records Muhammad as cursing sodomites in several hadith, and recommending the death penalty for both the active and passive partners in same-sex acts.[87]
Sunan al-Tirmidhi again reports Muhammad as having prescribed the death penalty for both the active and the passive partner: "Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lot, kill them, both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done."[84] The overall moral or theological principle is that a person who performs such actions challenges the harmony of God's creation, and is therefore a revolt against God.[88]
Some imams still preach their views, stating that homosexuals and "women who act like men" should be executed under the Islamic law. Abu Usamah at Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham defended his words to followers by saying "If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that's my freedom of speech, isn't it?"[89] Other leaders decry this sort of preaching.
Other contemporary Islamic views are that the ″crime of homosexuality is one of the greatest of crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds″.[90]
Judaism[edit]
See also: Judaism and homosexuality
In Judaism, the death penalty has not been used in practice for more than 2000 years, though many movements still view homosexual acts as sinful. Orthodox Judaism generally prohibits homosexual conduct. While there is disagreement about which acts come under core prohibitions, all of Orthodox Judaism puts certain core homosexual acts, including male-male anal sex in the category of yehareg ve'al ya'avor—"die rather than transgress"—the small category of Biblically-prohibited acts (also including murder, idolatry, adultery, and incest) which an Orthodox Jew is obligated under the laws of Self-sacrifice under Jewish Law to die rather than do.
See also[edit]


Anti-LGBT slogans
Bash Back!
Biphobia
Brandon Teena
Corrective rape
Gay bashing
Gay panic defense
Genderism
Hate speech
Hate crime
Heterosexism
History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom
History of violence against LGBT people in the United States

Homocaust
Homelessness among LGBT Youth in the United States
Lesbophobia
List of unlawfully killed transgender people
LGBT people in prison
LGBT stereotypes
Matthew Shepard
Il Rosa Nudo (Naked Rose), a film by Giovanni Coda based on Pierre Seel's autobiography.
Pink Pistols
Significant acts of violence against LGBT People
Suicide among LGBT youth
Stop Murder Music
Trans bashing
Transphobia
Westboro Baptist Church
The Yogyakarta Principles


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References[edit]


 Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (January 2012)
1.Jump up ^ Meyer, Doug (December 2012). "An Intersectional Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People's Evaluations of Anti-Queer Violence". Gender & Society 26 (6): 849–873. doi:10.1177/0891243212461299.
2.Jump up ^ Stotzer, R.: Comparison of love Crime Rates Across Protected and Unprotected Groups, Williams Institute, 2007–06. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
3.Jump up ^ Stewart, Chuck (2010). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-34231-8.
4.Jump up ^ "New Benefits for Same-Sex Couples May Be Hard to Implement Abroad". ABC News. June 22, 2009. 2009 Report on State Sponsored Homophobia (2009), published by The International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association.
5.Jump up ^ Pritchard, p. 181.
6.Jump up ^ Ibid, 468
7.Jump up ^ John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century (University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 63, 67–68, quotation on p. 69. See also Craig Williams, Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 116; Eva Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World (Yale University Press, 1992), p. 106ff.; Thomas A.J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 140–141; Amy Richlin, The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor (Oxford University Press, 1983, 1992), pp. 86, 224; Jonathan Walters, "Invading the Roman Body," in Roman Sexualites (Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 33–35, noting particularly the overly broad definition of the Lex Scantinia by Adolf Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (American Philosophical Society, 1953, reprinted 1991), pp. 559 and 719. Freeborn Roman men could engage in sex with males of lower status, such as prostitutes and slaves, without moral censure or losing their perceived masculinity, as long as they took the active, penetrating role; see Sexuality in ancient Rome.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c (Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.
9.Jump up ^ Theodosian Code 9.8.3: "When a man marries and is about to offer himself to men in womanly fashion (quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.
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21.^ Jump up to: a b c d Funkeson, Kristina (August 9, 2007). "Dancehall star signs Reggae Compassionate Act". Freemuse.
22.Jump up ^ Padgett, Tim (April 12, 2006). "The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?". Time Magazine.
23.Jump up ^ Love, Hate and the Law: Decriminalizing Homosexuality; Amnesty International (2008)
24.Jump up ^ Burundi: Repeal Law Criminalizing Homosexuality; Human Rights Watch (24th April 2009)
25.Jump up ^ "United Nations: General assembly to address sexual orientation and gender identity – Statement affirms promise of Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (Press release). Amnesty International. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
26.Jump up ^ "UN: General Assembly statement affirms rights for all" (PDF) (Press release). Amnesty International. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
27.Jump up ^ Pleming, Sue (18 March 2009). "In turnaround, U.S. signs U.N. gay rights document". Reuters. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
28.Jump up ^ "Número de assassinatos de gays no país cresceu 62% desde 2007, mas tema fica fora da campanha - Jornal O Globo". Oglobo.globo.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
29.Jump up ^ Gay-Bashing Murders Up 55 Percent (ipsnews.net, 22 April 2009)
30.Jump up ^ UM VERMELHO-E-AZUL PARA DISSECAR UMA NOTÍCIA. OU COMO LER UMA FARSA ESTATÍSTICA. OU AINDA: TODO BRASILEIRO MERECE SER GAY (in Portuguese). Veja. 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
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35.Jump up ^ Geen, Jessica (November 18, 2010). "UN deletes gay reference from anti-execution measures". Pink News.
36.Jump up ^ "U.N. panel cuts gay reference from violence measure". U.S. Daily. November 17, 2010.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Gay community troubled by release of killer in Stanley Park death". CBC News. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c Stryker, Jeff (23 October 1998). "Asking for it". Salon Magazine.
39.Jump up ^ Lee, Cynthia (2003). Murder and the Reasonable Man: Passion and Fear in the Criminal Courtroom. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-5115-2.
40.Jump up ^ Taylor, Christian (May 12, 2008). "Gay Pride Parade Trapped on Bus". SameSame.
41.Jump up ^ 67 GenderDoc-M (May 11, 2008). "Moldovan Gay Pride Threatened, Cops Refuse Protection for Marchers".
42.Jump up ^ Ireland, Doug (May 17, 2007). "Moscow Pride Banned Again". UK Gay News.
43.Jump up ^ "We Have the Upper Hand: Freedom of assembly in Russia and the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people". Human Rights Watch and ILGA-Europe. June 2007.
44.Jump up ^ Peto, Sandor and Krisztina Than (July 6, 2008). "Anti-gay violence mars Hungarian parade". The Star Online.
45.Jump up ^ Bos, Stefan (July 6, 2008). "Violent Protests Disrupt Hungary's Gay Rights Parade". VOA News.
46.^ Jump up to: a b "Homophobia and Hip-Hop". PBS. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
47.Jump up ^ "Coalition seeks ejection of reggae stars over anti-gay lyrics". CBC News. September 25, 2007.
48.Jump up ^ Grew, Tony (October 9, 2008). "Immigration minister criticised for letting homophobic artist into Canada". Pink News.
49.Jump up ^ "The Meatmen - Tooling For Anus Lyrics". Lyricsmania.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
50.Jump up ^ Jackman, Michael. "Music: True Grit". Metro Times. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
51.Jump up ^ ibid
52.Jump up ^ "The Music Made Me Do It : The Meatmen : Lesbian Death Dirge : Lyrics". Musicmademe.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
53.Jump up ^ Nancy J. Chodorow. Statement in a public forum on homophobia by The American Psychoanalytic Foundation, 1999
54.Jump up ^ Masculinity Challenged, Men Prefer War and SUVs
55.Jump up ^ "Fans' culture hard to change"
56.Jump up ^ West, D.J. Homosexuality re-examined. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8166-0812-1
57.Jump up ^ Religion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge
58.^ Jump up to: a b "Human Sexuality". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
59.^ Jump up to: a b Excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
60.Jump up ^ "Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation for Persons with Homosexual Tendencies".
61.Jump up ^ "On Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life".
62.Jump up ^ "Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: African Methodist Episcopal Church". The Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
63.Jump up ^ "The Christian Life - Christian Conduct". Free Methodist Church. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
64.Jump up ^ "British Methodists reject blessing of same-sex relationships". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
65.Jump up ^ "Summaries of General Synod Discussions and Actions on Homosexuality and the Rights of Homosexuals". Reformed Church in America. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
66.Jump up ^ "We Are American Baptists". American Baptist Churches USA. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
67.Jump up ^ "Evangelical Alliance (UK): Faith, Hope and Homosexuality" (PDF).
68.Jump up ^ "Position Statements/Sexuality".
69.Jump up ^ "Statement on Homosexuality".
70.Jump up ^ "Position Paper on Homosexuality".
71.Jump up ^ "Homosexuality" (PDF).
72.Jump up ^ "Homosexuality—How Can I Avoid It?". Awake!: 28–30. February 2007.
73.Jump up ^ "Same-Gender Attraction". LDS Newsroom.
74.Jump up ^ "Exodus International Policy Statements". Exodus International. Retrieved 04-07-2007. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
75.Jump up ^ Tenety, Elizabeth, "Exodus International, criticized for ‘reparative therapies’ for gay Christians, to shut down", Washington Post, June 20, 2013. Included link to video of Chambers' talk at Exodus' website. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
76.Jump up ^ Snow, Justin (June 20, 2013). "'Ex-gay' ministry apologizes to LGBT community, shuts down". MetroWeekly. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
77.Jump up ^ Newcomb, Alyssa (June 20, 2013). "Exodus International: 'Gay Cure' Group Leader Shutting Down Ministry After Change of Heart". ABC News. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
78.^ Jump up to: a b "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel". American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, The Interfaith Alliance, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association. 1999. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
79.Jump up ^ H., K. (15 January 1999). "APA Maintains Reparative Therapy Not Effective". Psychiatric News (news division of the American Psychiatric Association). Retrieved 2007-08-28.
80.Jump up ^ Luo, Michael (12 February 2007). "Some Tormented by Homosexuality Look to a Controversial Therapy". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
81.^ Jump up to: a b c Naughton, Philippe (December 23, 2008). "Pope accused of stoking homophobia after he equates homosexuality to climate change". The Times.
82.Jump up ^ "Vatican U.N. delegation calls for end to unjust discrimination against homosexuals". Catholic News Agency. December 19, 2008.
83.^ Jump up to: a b "Evangelical leader criticises failure to condemn violence against gays". Ekklesia. June 26, 2008.
84.^ Jump up to: a b "Homosexuality and Lesbianism: Sexual Perversions". IslamOnline.
85.Jump up ^ Rough Guide to South East Asia: Third Edition. Rough Guides Ltd. August 2005. p. 74. ISBN 1-84353-437-1.
86.Jump up ^ Bosworth, Ed. C. and E. van Donzel (1983). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden.
87.Jump up ^ Wafer, Jim (1997). Muhammad and Male Homosexuality. New York University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8147-7468-7. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
88.Jump up ^ Dynes, Wayne (1990). Encyclopaedia of Homosexuality. New York.
89.Jump up ^ Grew, Tony (September 1, 2008). "Violence against gays preached in British mosques claims new documentary". Pink News.
90.Jump up ^ The punishment for homosexuality
 Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 38622
External links[edit]
Barry Yeoman, Murder on the Mountain, Out Magazine
Gay Bashings In Schools- A survey released in 2006 shows that gay teens still experience homophobic attacks in their schools
Pictures from Belgrade (Serbian) Pride Parade 30 June 2001
Abuse is Not a Form of Love


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Discrimination against atheists

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 Countries in which, as of 2007, apostasy of the local or state religion was punishable by execution under national (black) or regional (dark gray) law. Currently, this occurs only in Islamic nations.[1]
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The Greek word "atheoi" ("[those who are] without God") as it appears on the early 3rd-century Papyrus 46


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Discrimination against atheists, both at present and historically, includes the persecution of those identifying themselves or labeled by others as atheists, as well as discrimination against them. Atheophobia, the fear or hatred of those identified as atheists, is known to cause or be associated with this discrimination.[2][3] As atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against on the grounds of being atheists might not have been considered as such in a different time or place.
Legal discrimination against atheists is uncommon in constitutional democracies, although some atheists and atheist groups, particularly in the United States, have protested against laws, regulations, and institutions that they view as discriminatory. In some Islamic countries, atheists face discrimination and severe penalties such as the withdrawal of legal status or, in the case of apostasy, capital punishment.


Contents  [hide]
1 Ancient times
2 Early modern period and Reformation
3 Modern era 3.1 Nazi Germany
4 Contemporary era 4.1 Western countries 4.1.1 Europe
4.1.2 Brazil
4.1.3 Canada
4.1.4 United States
4.2 Islamic countries 4.2.1 Algeria
4.3 Egypt 4.3.1 Saudi Arabia
4.3.2 Turkey

5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Ancient times[edit]
Some historians, such as Lucien Febvre, have postulated that atheism in its modern sense did not exist before the end of the seventeenth century.[4][5][6] However, as governmental authority rested on the notion of divine right, it was threatened by those who denied the existence of the local god. Those labeled as atheist, including early Christians and Muslims, were as a result targeted for legal persecution.[7][8]
Early modern period and Reformation[edit]
During the Early modern period, the term "atheist" was used as an insult and applied to a broad range of people, including those who held opposing theological beliefs, as well as suicides, immoral or self-indulgent people, and even opponents of the belief in witchcraft.[4][5][9] Atheistic beliefs were seen as threatening to order and society by philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. Lawyer and scholar Thomas More said that religious tolerance should be extended to all except those who did not believe in a deity or the immortality of the soul.[7] John Locke, a founder of modern notions of religious liberty, argued that atheists (as well as Catholics and Muslims) should not be granted full citizenship rights.[7]
During the Inquisition, several of those accused of atheism or blasphemy, or both, were tortured or executed. These included the priest Giulio Cesare Vanini who was strangled and burned in 1619 and the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński who was executed in Warsaw,[4][10][11] as well as Etienne Dolet, a Frenchman executed in 1546. Though heralded as atheist martyrs during the nineteenth century, recent scholars hold that the beliefs espoused by Dolet and Vanini are not atheistic in modern terms.[6][12][13]
Modern era[edit]
During the nineteenth century, British atheists, though few in number, were subject to discriminatory practices.[14] Those unwilling to swear Christian oaths during judicial proceedings were unable to give evidence in court to obtain justice until the requirement was repealed by Acts passed in 1869 and 1870.[14] In addition, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from the University of Oxford and denied custody of his two children after publishing a pamphlet titled The Necessity of Atheism.[15]
Atheist Charles Bradlaugh was elected as a Member of the British Parliament in 1880. He was denied the right to affirm rather than swear his oath of office, and was then denied the ability to swear the oath as other Members objected that he had himself said it would be meaningless. Bradlaugh was re-elected three times before he was finally able to take his seat in 1886 when the Speaker of the House permitted him to take the oath.[15]
Nazi Germany[edit]
In Germany during the Nazi era, a 1933 decree stated that "No National Socialist may suffer detriment... on the ground that he does not make any religious profession at all".[16] However, the regime strongly opposed "godless communism",[17][18] and most of Germany's atheist and largely left-wing freethought organizations were banned the same year; some right-wing groups were tolerated by the Nazis until the mid-1930s.[19][20] During negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of April 26, 1933 Hitler stated that "Secular schools can never be tolerated" because of their irreligious tendencies.[21] Hitler routinely disregarded this undertaking, and the Reich concordat as a whole and by 1939, all Catholic denominational schools had been disbanded or converted to public facilities.[22]
In a speech made later in 1933, Hitler claimed to have "stamped out" the Gottlosenbewegung atheistic movement.[16] The word Hitler used, "Gottlosenbewegung", refers specifically to the communist freethought movement, not atheism in general.[23] The historian Richard J Evans wrote that, by 1939, 95% of Germans still called themselves Protestant or Catholic, while 3.5% were so called "gottgläubig" (lit. "believers in god", a non-denominational nazified outlook on god beliefs, often described as predominately based on creationist and deistic views[24]) and 1.5% atheist. According to Evans, those members of the affiliation gottgläubig "were convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid 1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society".[25] Heinrich Himmler, who himself was fascinated with Germanic paganism[citation needed], was a strong promoter of the gottgläubig movement and didn't allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline".[26] The majority of the three million Nazi Party members continued to pay their church taxes and register as either Roman Catholic or Evangelical Protestant Christians.[27]
Contemporary era[edit]
Western countries[edit]
Modern theories of constitutional democracy assume that citizens are intellectually and spiritually autonomous and that governments should leave matters of religious belief to individuals and not coerce religious beliefs using sanctions or benefits. The constitutions, human rights conventions and the religious liberty jurisprudence of most constitutional democracies provides legal protection of atheists and agnostics. In addition, freedom of expression provisions and legislation separating church from state also serve to protect the rights of atheists. As a result, open legal discrimination against atheists is not common in most Western countries.[7] However, prejudice against atheists does exist in Western countries. A University of British Columbia study conducted in the United States found that believers distrust atheists as much as they distrust rapists. The study also showed that atheists have lower employment prospects.[28]
Europe[edit]
In most of Europe, atheists are elected to office at high levels in many governments without controversy.[29] Some atheist organizations in Europe have expressed concerns regarding issues of separation of church and state, such as administrative fees for leaving the Church charged in Germany,[30] and sermons being organized by the Swedish parliament.[31] Ireland requires religious training from Christian colleges in order to work as a teacher in government-funded schools.[32] In the UK one-third of state-funded schools are faith-based.[33] However, there are no restrictions on atheists holding public office – the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg, is an atheist.[34] According to a 2012 poll, 25% of the Turks in Germany believe atheists are inferior human beings.[35][36] Portugal has elected two presidents, Mário Soares and Jorge Sampaio who have openly expressed their irreligion. On the contrary, in Greece, the right-wing New Democracy government stated that "the Greek people have a right to know whether Mr. Tsipras is an atheist", citing their political opponent's irreligiosity as a reason he should not be elected, even though they granted that "it is his right".[37] In the Elder Pastitsios case, a 27-year old was sentenced to imprisonment for satirizing a popular apocalyptically-minded Greek Orthodox monk, while several metropolitans of the Greek Orthodox Church (which is not separated from the state) have also urged their flock "not to vote unbelievers into office", even going so far as to warn Greek Orthodox laymen that they would be "sinning if they voted atheists into public office."[38] [39]
Brazil[edit]
A 2009 survey showed that atheists are the most hated demographic group in Brazil, among several other minorities polled, being almost on par with drug addicts. According to the research, 17% of the interviewees stated they feel either hate or repulsion for atheists, while 25% feel antipathy and 29% are indifferent.[40]
Canada[edit]
Canadian secular humanist groups have worked to end the recitation of prayers during government proceedings, viewing them as discriminatory.[41][42] Scouts Canada states that while a belief in God or affliation with organized religion is not a requirement to join, members must have "a basic spiritual belief"[43] and one of the core values is "Duty to God: Defined as, The responsibility to adhere to spiritual principles, and thus to the religion that expresses them, and to accept the duties therefrom."[44]
United States[edit]
Further information: Irreligion in the United States



 Anti-atheist propaganda billboard posted in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in February 2008
Discrimination against atheists in the United States occurs in legal, personal, social, and professional contexts. Some American atheists compare their situation to the discrimination faced by ethnic minorities, LGBT communities, and women.[45][46][47][48] "Americans still feel it's acceptable to discriminate against atheists in ways considered beyond the pale for other groups," asserted Fred Edwords of the American Humanist Association.[49] However, other atheists reject these comparisons, arguing that while atheists may face disapproval they have not faced significant oppression or discrimination.[50][51]
In the United States, seven state constitutions include religious tests that would effectively prevent atheists from holding public office, and in some cases being a juror/witness, though these have not generally been enforced since the early twentieth century.[52][53][54] The U.S. Constitution allows for an affirmation instead of an oath in order to accommodate atheists and others in court or seeking to hold public office.[52][55] In 1961, the United States Supreme Court explicitly overturned the Maryland provision in the Torcaso v. Watkins decision, holding that laws requiring "a belief in the existence of God" in order to hold public office violated freedom of religion provided for by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[52][56][57] This decision is generally understood to also apply to witness oaths.[58]
Several American atheists have used court challenges to assert discrimination against atheists. Michael Newdow challenged inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the United States Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of his daughter, claiming that the phrase was discriminatory against non-theists.[59] He won the case at an initial stage, but the Supreme Court dismissed his claim, ruling that Newdow did not have standing to bring his case, thus disposing of the case without ruling on the constitutionality of the pledge.[60][61] Respondents to a survey were less likely to support a kidney transplant for hypothetical atheists and agnostics needing it, than for Christian patients with similar medical needs.[62] As the Boy Scouts of America does not allow atheists as members, atheist families and the ACLU from the 1990s onwards have launched a series of court cases arguing discrimination against atheists. In response to ACLU lawsuits, the Pentagon in 2004 ended sponsorship of Scouting units,[63][64] and in 2005 the BSA agreed to transfer all Scouting units out of government entities such as public schools.[65][66]
Few politicians have been willing to identify as non-theists, since such revelations have been considered "political suicide".[67][68] In a landmark move, California Representative Pete Stark came out in 2007 as the first openly nontheistic member of Congress.[49] In 2009, City Councilman Cecil Bothwell of Asheville, North Carolina was called "unworthy of his seat" because of his open atheism.[69] Several polls have shown that about 50 percent of Americans would not vote for a qualified atheist for president.[70][71] A 2006 study found that 40% of respondents characterized atheists as a group that did "not at all agree with my vision of American society", and that 48% would not want their child to marry an atheist. In both studies, percentages of disapproval of atheists were above those for Muslims, African-Americans and homosexuals.[72] Many of the respondents associated atheism with immorality, including criminal behaviour, extreme materialism, and elitism.[73] Atheists and atheist organizations have alleged discrimination against atheists in the military,[74][75][76][77][78][79] and recently, with the development of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, atheists have alleged institutionalized discrimination.[80][81] In several child custody court rulings, atheist parents have been discriminated against, either directly or indirectly. As child custody laws in the United States are often based on the "best interests of the child" principle, they leave family court judges ample room to consider a parent's ideology when settling a custody case. Atheism, lack of religious observation and regular church attendance, and the inability to prove one's willingness and capacity to attend to religion with his children, have been used to deny custody to non-religious parents.[82][83]
Prominent atheists and atheist groups have said that discrimination against atheists is illustrated by a statement reportedly made by George H. W. Bush during a public press conference just after announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 1987.[45][84][85][86] When asked by journalist Robert Sherman[disambiguation needed] about the equal citizenship and patriotism of American atheists, Sherman reported that Bush answered, "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God."[45][86][87][88] However, Sherman did not tape the exchange and no other journalist reported on it at the time.[45] George H. W. Bush's son, George W. Bush, acknowledged those who do not worship during a November 3, 2004 press conference when he said "I will be your president regardless of your faith... And if they choose not to worship, they're just as patriotic as your neighbor."[89]
The constitutions of these seven US states ban atheists from holding public office:
Arkansas: Article 19, Section 1"No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court."[90]Maryland: Article 37"That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution."[91]Mississippi: Article 14, Section 265"No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state."[92]North Carolina: Article 6, Section 8"The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God."[93]South Carolina: Article 17, Section 4"No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution."[94]Tennessee: Article 9, Section 2"No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."[95]Texas: Article 1, Section 4"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."[96]
An eighth state constitution affords special protection to theists.
Pennsylvania: Article 1, Section 4"No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth."[97]
Islamic countries[edit]
See also: Islam and atheism and Apostasy in Islam
Atheists, or those accused of holding atheistic beliefs, may be subject to discrimination and persecution in many Islamic countries.[98] According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union, compared to other nations, "unbelievers... in Islamic countries face the most severe – sometimes brutal – treatment".[99] Atheists and other religious skeptics can be executed in at least thirteen nations: Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[1]
According to popular interpretations of Islam, Muslims are not free to change religion or become an atheist: denying Islam and thus becoming an apostate is traditionally punished by death for men and by life imprisonment for women. The death penalty for apostasy is apparent in a range of Islamic states including: Iran,[100][101] Egypt,[102] Pakistan,[102] Somalia,[103] United Arab Emirates,[104] Qatar,[105] Yemen,[105] and Saudi Arabia.[102] Although there have been no recently reported executions in Saudi Arabia,[106] a judge in Saudi Arabia has recently recommended that imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi go before a high court on a charge of apostasy, which would carry the death penalty upon conviction.[107] While a death sentence is rare, it is common for atheists to be charged with blasphemy or inciting hatred.[108] New "Arab Spring" regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have jailed several outspoken atheists.[108]
Since an apostate can be considered a Muslim whose beliefs cast doubt on the Divine, and/or Koran, claims of atheism and apostasy have been made against Muslim scholars and political opponents throughout history.[109][110][111] Both fundamentalists and moderates agree that "blasphemers will not be forgiven" although they disagree on the severity of an appropriate punishment.[108] In northwestern Syria in 2013 during the Syrian Civil War, jihadists beheaded and defaced a sculpture of Al-Maʿarri (973–1058 CE), one of several outspoken Arab and Persian atheist intellectuals who lived and taught during the Islamic Golden Age.[112][113]
In Iran, atheists do not have any recognized legal status, and must declare that they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian, in order to claim some legal rights, including applying for entrance to university,[114][115] or becoming a lawyer.[116] The Iranian Atheists Association was established in 2013 to form a platform for Iranian atheists to start debates and to question the current Islamic regime's attitude towards atheists, apostasy, and human rights.[117] Similarly, Jordan requires atheists to associate themselves with a recognized religion for official identification purposes,[118] and atheists in Indonesia experience official discrimination in the context of registration of births and marriages, and the issuance of identity cards.[119] In 2012, Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan was beaten by a mob, lost his job as a civil servant and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for expressing his views online.[120] In Egypt, intellectuals suspected of holding atheistic beliefs have been prosecuted by judicial and religious authorities. Novelist Alaa Hamad was convicted of publishing a book that contained atheistic ideas and apostasy that were considered to threaten national unity and social peace.[121][122]
Algeria[edit]
The study of Islam is a requirement in public and private schools for every Algerian child, irrespective of his/her religion.[123]
Atheist or agnostic men are prohibited from marrying Muslim women (Algerian Family Code I.II.31).[124] A marriage is legally nullified by the apostasy of the husband (presumably from Islam, although this is not specified; Family Code I.III.33). Atheists and agnostics cannot inherit (Family Code III.I.138.).
Egypt[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2015)
Saudi Arabia[edit]
Main article: Irreligion in Saudi Arabia
Atheism is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and can come with a death penalty if practiced.
In March 2014, the Saudi interior ministry issued a royal decree branding all atheists as terrorists, which defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".[125]
Turkey[edit]
Compulsory religious instruction in Turkish schools is also considered discriminatory towards atheists.[126]
See also[edit]
American Humanist Association
Atheist Bus Campaign
Boy Scouts of America membership controversies
Center for Inquiry
International Humanist and Ethical Union
McCarthyism
Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers
Out Campaign
Religious discrimination
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Secular Coalition for America
Secularization
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Robert Evans (Dec 9, 2013). "Atheists face death in 13 countries, global discrimination: study". Reuters.
2.Jump up ^ Rafford, Robert L. (1987). "Atheophobia: An Introduction". Religious Humanism (Fellowship of Religious Humanists) 21: 33. "Atheophobia is pathological, and similar in nature to homophobia. It is unconscious, internalized, and taught from early years on."
3.Jump up ^ Nash, Robert J. (Spring 2003). "Inviting Atheists to the Table: A Modest Proposal for Higher Education". Religion & Education (New York) 30 (1). doi:10.1080/15507394.2003.10012315. ISSN 1550-7394. "Atheophobia is the fear and loathing of atheists that permeate[s?] American culture."
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Davidson, Nicholas (1992). "Unbelief and Atheism In Italy". In Michael Hunter; David Wootton. Atheism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. Oxford University Press. pp. 55–86. ISBN 978-0-19-822736-6.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Armstrong, Karen (1994). A History of God: The 4000-year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Random House, Inc. pp. 286–87. ISBN 978-0-345-38456-0.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Kelley, Donald R. (2006). Frontiers of History: Historical Inquiry in the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-300-12062-2.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d Gey, Steven G. (2007). "Atheism and the Freedom of Religion". In Martin, Michael. The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 250–253, 260–2. ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9.
8.Jump up ^ Armstrong, Karen (1994). A History of God: The 4000-year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Random House, Inc. pp. 98, 147. ISBN 978-0-345-38456-0.
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External links[edit]
 Look up atheophobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
2012 report on discrimination against atheists, humanists and the non-religious





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Discrimination against atheists

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 Countries in which, as of 2007, apostasy of the local or state religion was punishable by execution under national (black) or regional (dark gray) law. Currently, this occurs only in Islamic nations.[1]
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The Greek word "atheoi" ("[those who are] without God") as it appears on the early 3rd-century Papyrus 46


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Discrimination against atheists, both at present and historically, includes the persecution of those identifying themselves or labeled by others as atheists, as well as discrimination against them. Atheophobia, the fear or hatred of those identified as atheists, is known to cause or be associated with this discrimination.[2][3] As atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against on the grounds of being atheists might not have been considered as such in a different time or place.
Legal discrimination against atheists is uncommon in constitutional democracies, although some atheists and atheist groups, particularly in the United States, have protested against laws, regulations, and institutions that they view as discriminatory. In some Islamic countries, atheists face discrimination and severe penalties such as the withdrawal of legal status or, in the case of apostasy, capital punishment.


Contents  [hide]
1 Ancient times
2 Early modern period and Reformation
3 Modern era 3.1 Nazi Germany
4 Contemporary era 4.1 Western countries 4.1.1 Europe
4.1.2 Brazil
4.1.3 Canada
4.1.4 United States
4.2 Islamic countries 4.2.1 Algeria
4.3 Egypt 4.3.1 Saudi Arabia
4.3.2 Turkey

5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Ancient times[edit]
Some historians, such as Lucien Febvre, have postulated that atheism in its modern sense did not exist before the end of the seventeenth century.[4][5][6] However, as governmental authority rested on the notion of divine right, it was threatened by those who denied the existence of the local god. Those labeled as atheist, including early Christians and Muslims, were as a result targeted for legal persecution.[7][8]
Early modern period and Reformation[edit]
During the Early modern period, the term "atheist" was used as an insult and applied to a broad range of people, including those who held opposing theological beliefs, as well as suicides, immoral or self-indulgent people, and even opponents of the belief in witchcraft.[4][5][9] Atheistic beliefs were seen as threatening to order and society by philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. Lawyer and scholar Thomas More said that religious tolerance should be extended to all except those who did not believe in a deity or the immortality of the soul.[7] John Locke, a founder of modern notions of religious liberty, argued that atheists (as well as Catholics and Muslims) should not be granted full citizenship rights.[7]
During the Inquisition, several of those accused of atheism or blasphemy, or both, were tortured or executed. These included the priest Giulio Cesare Vanini who was strangled and burned in 1619 and the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński who was executed in Warsaw,[4][10][11] as well as Etienne Dolet, a Frenchman executed in 1546. Though heralded as atheist martyrs during the nineteenth century, recent scholars hold that the beliefs espoused by Dolet and Vanini are not atheistic in modern terms.[6][12][13]
Modern era[edit]
During the nineteenth century, British atheists, though few in number, were subject to discriminatory practices.[14] Those unwilling to swear Christian oaths during judicial proceedings were unable to give evidence in court to obtain justice until the requirement was repealed by Acts passed in 1869 and 1870.[14] In addition, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from the University of Oxford and denied custody of his two children after publishing a pamphlet titled The Necessity of Atheism.[15]
Atheist Charles Bradlaugh was elected as a Member of the British Parliament in 1880. He was denied the right to affirm rather than swear his oath of office, and was then denied the ability to swear the oath as other Members objected that he had himself said it would be meaningless. Bradlaugh was re-elected three times before he was finally able to take his seat in 1886 when the Speaker of the House permitted him to take the oath.[15]
Nazi Germany[edit]
In Germany during the Nazi era, a 1933 decree stated that "No National Socialist may suffer detriment... on the ground that he does not make any religious profession at all".[16] However, the regime strongly opposed "godless communism",[17][18] and most of Germany's atheist and largely left-wing freethought organizations were banned the same year; some right-wing groups were tolerated by the Nazis until the mid-1930s.[19][20] During negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of April 26, 1933 Hitler stated that "Secular schools can never be tolerated" because of their irreligious tendencies.[21] Hitler routinely disregarded this undertaking, and the Reich concordat as a whole and by 1939, all Catholic denominational schools had been disbanded or converted to public facilities.[22]
In a speech made later in 1933, Hitler claimed to have "stamped out" the Gottlosenbewegung atheistic movement.[16] The word Hitler used, "Gottlosenbewegung", refers specifically to the communist freethought movement, not atheism in general.[23] The historian Richard J Evans wrote that, by 1939, 95% of Germans still called themselves Protestant or Catholic, while 3.5% were so called "gottgläubig" (lit. "believers in god", a non-denominational nazified outlook on god beliefs, often described as predominately based on creationist and deistic views[24]) and 1.5% atheist. According to Evans, those members of the affiliation gottgläubig "were convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid 1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society".[25] Heinrich Himmler, who himself was fascinated with Germanic paganism[citation needed], was a strong promoter of the gottgläubig movement and didn't allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline".[26] The majority of the three million Nazi Party members continued to pay their church taxes and register as either Roman Catholic or Evangelical Protestant Christians.[27]
Contemporary era[edit]
Western countries[edit]
Modern theories of constitutional democracy assume that citizens are intellectually and spiritually autonomous and that governments should leave matters of religious belief to individuals and not coerce religious beliefs using sanctions or benefits. The constitutions, human rights conventions and the religious liberty jurisprudence of most constitutional democracies provides legal protection of atheists and agnostics. In addition, freedom of expression provisions and legislation separating church from state also serve to protect the rights of atheists. As a result, open legal discrimination against atheists is not common in most Western countries.[7] However, prejudice against atheists does exist in Western countries. A University of British Columbia study conducted in the United States found that believers distrust atheists as much as they distrust rapists. The study also showed that atheists have lower employment prospects.[28]
Europe[edit]
In most of Europe, atheists are elected to office at high levels in many governments without controversy.[29] Some atheist organizations in Europe have expressed concerns regarding issues of separation of church and state, such as administrative fees for leaving the Church charged in Germany,[30] and sermons being organized by the Swedish parliament.[31] Ireland requires religious training from Christian colleges in order to work as a teacher in government-funded schools.[32] In the UK one-third of state-funded schools are faith-based.[33] However, there are no restrictions on atheists holding public office – the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg, is an atheist.[34] According to a 2012 poll, 25% of the Turks in Germany believe atheists are inferior human beings.[35][36] Portugal has elected two presidents, Mário Soares and Jorge Sampaio who have openly expressed their irreligion. On the contrary, in Greece, the right-wing New Democracy government stated that "the Greek people have a right to know whether Mr. Tsipras is an atheist", citing their political opponent's irreligiosity as a reason he should not be elected, even though they granted that "it is his right".[37] In the Elder Pastitsios case, a 27-year old was sentenced to imprisonment for satirizing a popular apocalyptically-minded Greek Orthodox monk, while several metropolitans of the Greek Orthodox Church (which is not separated from the state) have also urged their flock "not to vote unbelievers into office", even going so far as to warn Greek Orthodox laymen that they would be "sinning if they voted atheists into public office."[38] [39]
Brazil[edit]
A 2009 survey showed that atheists are the most hated demographic group in Brazil, among several other minorities polled, being almost on par with drug addicts. According to the research, 17% of the interviewees stated they feel either hate or repulsion for atheists, while 25% feel antipathy and 29% are indifferent.[40]
Canada[edit]
Canadian secular humanist groups have worked to end the recitation of prayers during government proceedings, viewing them as discriminatory.[41][42] Scouts Canada states that while a belief in God or affliation with organized religion is not a requirement to join, members must have "a basic spiritual belief"[43] and one of the core values is "Duty to God: Defined as, The responsibility to adhere to spiritual principles, and thus to the religion that expresses them, and to accept the duties therefrom."[44]
United States[edit]
Further information: Irreligion in the United States



 Anti-atheist propaganda billboard posted in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in February 2008
Discrimination against atheists in the United States occurs in legal, personal, social, and professional contexts. Some American atheists compare their situation to the discrimination faced by ethnic minorities, LGBT communities, and women.[45][46][47][48] "Americans still feel it's acceptable to discriminate against atheists in ways considered beyond the pale for other groups," asserted Fred Edwords of the American Humanist Association.[49] However, other atheists reject these comparisons, arguing that while atheists may face disapproval they have not faced significant oppression or discrimination.[50][51]
In the United States, seven state constitutions include religious tests that would effectively prevent atheists from holding public office, and in some cases being a juror/witness, though these have not generally been enforced since the early twentieth century.[52][53][54] The U.S. Constitution allows for an affirmation instead of an oath in order to accommodate atheists and others in court or seeking to hold public office.[52][55] In 1961, the United States Supreme Court explicitly overturned the Maryland provision in the Torcaso v. Watkins decision, holding that laws requiring "a belief in the existence of God" in order to hold public office violated freedom of religion provided for by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[52][56][57] This decision is generally understood to also apply to witness oaths.[58]
Several American atheists have used court challenges to assert discrimination against atheists. Michael Newdow challenged inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the United States Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of his daughter, claiming that the phrase was discriminatory against non-theists.[59] He won the case at an initial stage, but the Supreme Court dismissed his claim, ruling that Newdow did not have standing to bring his case, thus disposing of the case without ruling on the constitutionality of the pledge.[60][61] Respondents to a survey were less likely to support a kidney transplant for hypothetical atheists and agnostics needing it, than for Christian patients with similar medical needs.[62] As the Boy Scouts of America does not allow atheists as members, atheist families and the ACLU from the 1990s onwards have launched a series of court cases arguing discrimination against atheists. In response to ACLU lawsuits, the Pentagon in 2004 ended sponsorship of Scouting units,[63][64] and in 2005 the BSA agreed to transfer all Scouting units out of government entities such as public schools.[65][66]
Few politicians have been willing to identify as non-theists, since such revelations have been considered "political suicide".[67][68] In a landmark move, California Representative Pete Stark came out in 2007 as the first openly nontheistic member of Congress.[49] In 2009, City Councilman Cecil Bothwell of Asheville, North Carolina was called "unworthy of his seat" because of his open atheism.[69] Several polls have shown that about 50 percent of Americans would not vote for a qualified atheist for president.[70][71] A 2006 study found that 40% of respondents characterized atheists as a group that did "not at all agree with my vision of American society", and that 48% would not want their child to marry an atheist. In both studies, percentages of disapproval of atheists were above those for Muslims, African-Americans and homosexuals.[72] Many of the respondents associated atheism with immorality, including criminal behaviour, extreme materialism, and elitism.[73] Atheists and atheist organizations have alleged discrimination against atheists in the military,[74][75][76][77][78][79] and recently, with the development of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, atheists have alleged institutionalized discrimination.[80][81] In several child custody court rulings, atheist parents have been discriminated against, either directly or indirectly. As child custody laws in the United States are often based on the "best interests of the child" principle, they leave family court judges ample room to consider a parent's ideology when settling a custody case. Atheism, lack of religious observation and regular church attendance, and the inability to prove one's willingness and capacity to attend to religion with his children, have been used to deny custody to non-religious parents.[82][83]
Prominent atheists and atheist groups have said that discrimination against atheists is illustrated by a statement reportedly made by George H. W. Bush during a public press conference just after announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 1987.[45][84][85][86] When asked by journalist Robert Sherman[disambiguation needed] about the equal citizenship and patriotism of American atheists, Sherman reported that Bush answered, "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God."[45][86][87][88] However, Sherman did not tape the exchange and no other journalist reported on it at the time.[45] George H. W. Bush's son, George W. Bush, acknowledged those who do not worship during a November 3, 2004 press conference when he said "I will be your president regardless of your faith... And if they choose not to worship, they're just as patriotic as your neighbor."[89]
The constitutions of these seven US states ban atheists from holding public office:
Arkansas: Article 19, Section 1"No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court."[90]Maryland: Article 37"That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution."[91]Mississippi: Article 14, Section 265"No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state."[92]North Carolina: Article 6, Section 8"The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God."[93]South Carolina: Article 17, Section 4"No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution."[94]Tennessee: Article 9, Section 2"No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."[95]Texas: Article 1, Section 4"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."[96]
An eighth state constitution affords special protection to theists.
Pennsylvania: Article 1, Section 4"No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth."[97]
Islamic countries[edit]
See also: Islam and atheism and Apostasy in Islam
Atheists, or those accused of holding atheistic beliefs, may be subject to discrimination and persecution in many Islamic countries.[98] According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union, compared to other nations, "unbelievers... in Islamic countries face the most severe – sometimes brutal – treatment".[99] Atheists and other religious skeptics can be executed in at least thirteen nations: Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[1]
According to popular interpretations of Islam, Muslims are not free to change religion or become an atheist: denying Islam and thus becoming an apostate is traditionally punished by death for men and by life imprisonment for women. The death penalty for apostasy is apparent in a range of Islamic states including: Iran,[100][101] Egypt,[102] Pakistan,[102] Somalia,[103] United Arab Emirates,[104] Qatar,[105] Yemen,[105] and Saudi Arabia.[102] Although there have been no recently reported executions in Saudi Arabia,[106] a judge in Saudi Arabia has recently recommended that imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi go before a high court on a charge of apostasy, which would carry the death penalty upon conviction.[107] While a death sentence is rare, it is common for atheists to be charged with blasphemy or inciting hatred.[108] New "Arab Spring" regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have jailed several outspoken atheists.[108]
Since an apostate can be considered a Muslim whose beliefs cast doubt on the Divine, and/or Koran, claims of atheism and apostasy have been made against Muslim scholars and political opponents throughout history.[109][110][111] Both fundamentalists and moderates agree that "blasphemers will not be forgiven" although they disagree on the severity of an appropriate punishment.[108] In northwestern Syria in 2013 during the Syrian Civil War, jihadists beheaded and defaced a sculpture of Al-Maʿarri (973–1058 CE), one of several outspoken Arab and Persian atheist intellectuals who lived and taught during the Islamic Golden Age.[112][113]
In Iran, atheists do not have any recognized legal status, and must declare that they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian, in order to claim some legal rights, including applying for entrance to university,[114][115] or becoming a lawyer.[116] The Iranian Atheists Association was established in 2013 to form a platform for Iranian atheists to start debates and to question the current Islamic regime's attitude towards atheists, apostasy, and human rights.[117] Similarly, Jordan requires atheists to associate themselves with a recognized religion for official identification purposes,[118] and atheists in Indonesia experience official discrimination in the context of registration of births and marriages, and the issuance of identity cards.[119] In 2012, Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan was beaten by a mob, lost his job as a civil servant and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for expressing his views online.[120] In Egypt, intellectuals suspected of holding atheistic beliefs have been prosecuted by judicial and religious authorities. Novelist Alaa Hamad was convicted of publishing a book that contained atheistic ideas and apostasy that were considered to threaten national unity and social peace.[121][122]
Algeria[edit]
The study of Islam is a requirement in public and private schools for every Algerian child, irrespective of his/her religion.[123]
Atheist or agnostic men are prohibited from marrying Muslim women (Algerian Family Code I.II.31).[124] A marriage is legally nullified by the apostasy of the husband (presumably from Islam, although this is not specified; Family Code I.III.33). Atheists and agnostics cannot inherit (Family Code III.I.138.).
Egypt[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2015)
Saudi Arabia[edit]
Main article: Irreligion in Saudi Arabia
Atheism is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and can come with a death penalty if practiced.
In March 2014, the Saudi interior ministry issued a royal decree branding all atheists as terrorists, which defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".[125]
Turkey[edit]
Compulsory religious instruction in Turkish schools is also considered discriminatory towards atheists.[126]
See also[edit]
American Humanist Association
Atheist Bus Campaign
Boy Scouts of America membership controversies
Center for Inquiry
International Humanist and Ethical Union
McCarthyism
Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers
Out Campaign
Religious discrimination
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Secular Coalition for America
Secularization
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113.Jump up ^ Jihadists Behead Statue of Syrian Poet Abul Ala Al-Maari. The Observers, France 24. 14 Feb. 2013. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013.
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External links[edit]
 Look up atheophobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
2012 report on discrimination against atheists, humanists and the non-religious





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Categories: Atheism
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