my walk to work
Hello from the South Pacific (Papua New Guinea). Please add me to your emailing, I hope to visit one day.
Looking over the Buka Passage to Bougainvillea, sunrise as I walked to work a few days ago.
Big thankyou to our new Blog Reader in the South Pacific. What a wonderful surprise it was to open this e mail. If you have an interesting view to work, send in your picture and let's share the commute.
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John Comments :
I asked the guy above if he would like to write a piece about gay life for this Blog and was told it was too risky, so checked out the political view on the island and was surprised to find it had such draconian laws concerning LGBT.
People of the UK - we REALLY have got it easy these days and the decades of marches and campaigns for equality have - by and large - been sorted out for us and we enjoy freedoms like never before - BUT there are many countries where LGBT live in fear - and it seems Papua New Guinea is one of those.
Naturally, it is a Catholic country.
Male same-sex sexual activity is prohibited by Section 210 of the Papua New Guinea Penal Code. Anal sex and oral sex between persons of the opposite sex is also illegal. ( OMG how they pry into the private lives of people and what they do in the bedroom - the Catholic Church REALLY has something to answer for...)
Those caught engaging in anal sex or oral sex (whether heterosexual or homosexual) can be punished with up to fourteen years' imprisonment. Other same-sex sexual acts can be punished with up to three years' imprisonment.
In 2011, the Government informed the United Nations that it will not decriminalise homosexuality.
According to the United States Department of State, there were no reports of prosecutions in 2012 directed at LGBT persons. However, the department reported that LGBT persons in 2012 were "vulnerable to societal stigmatization".
Former MP Dame Carol Kidu in 2012 described gay Papua New Guineans as being forced to live lives of secrecy, ( like we did in the UK foir generations before 1967 ) and called unsuccessfully on the Government to decriminalise homosexuality. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill explained that there were "strong feelings" against homosexuality in the country, which was "yet to accept such sexual openness" In other words, the church has a strangle hold.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Papua New Guinea face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal, punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment, but the law is not enforced.
Attitudes towards LGBT people are greatly influenced by Christian churches, as a majority of Papua New Guineans are Christian. Historically, gay men had certain societal roles. They would take on traditional female roles such as cooking and would participate with women in traditional festivals. However, some tribes were observed to have practiced ritual pedophilic homosexuality such as the Etoro people and Sambia people.
Nowadays, LGBT people tend to be more tolerated and accepted in coastal areas than in the New Guinea Highlands.
So, not a hot spot on the vacation list then huh ?
Papua New Guinea, in the southwestern Pacific, encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea and its offshore islands. A country of immense cultural and biological diversity, it’s known for its beaches and coral reefs. Inland are active volcanoes, granite Mt. Wilhelm, dense rainforest and hiking routes like the Kokoda Trail. There are also traditional tribal villages, many with their own languages.
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