Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
LGBTQ rights in Oceania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Oceania is, like other regions, quite diverse in its laws regarding LGBTQ rights. This ranges from significant rights, including same-sex marriage – granted to the LGBTQ community in New Zealand, Australia, Guam, Hawaiʻi, Easter Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the Pitcairn Islands – to remaining criminal penalties for homosexual activity in six countries and one territory.[1] Although acceptance is growing across the Pacific, violence and social stigma remain issues for LGBTQ communities.[2] This also leads to problems with healthcare, including access to HIV treatment in countries such as Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where homosexuality is criminalised.[3]
The United Kingdom introduced conservative social attitudes and anti-LGBTQ laws throughout the British Empire, including its colonies throughout the Pacific Ocean.[4] This legacy persists in anti-LGBTQ laws found in a majority of countries in the subsequent Commonwealth of Nations. Opponents of LGBTQ rights in Oceania have justified their stance by arguing it is supported by tradition and that homosexuality is a "Western vice", although anti-LGBTQ laws themselves are a colonial British legacy.[4] Several Pacific countries have ancient traditions predating colonization that reflect a unique local perspective of sexuality and gender, such as the faʻafafine in Samoa, fakaleitī in Tonga, or māhū in Hawaiʻi.[4][5]
However, six other countries and territories currently have unenforced criminal penalties for "buggery".[6] These are Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu.
Remove ads
Australasia
Remove ads
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads