Malawian gay couple pardoned

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10190653.stm

... just goes to show that in some cases diplomatic pressure can make a genuine difference.

hopefully religion will leave africa alone and the fricans can get a proper education based in reality.

edit: anyone else think "MR Ban" is an awesome name?

Let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that this is any kind of genuine change in the repressive policies of the Malawian government.

The pardon resolves the immediate issue of punishment facing these two men, but it does not protect them from further arrest, harrassment or persecution, and does absolutely nothing to better the circumstances of other gay men in Malawi.

This is tokenism, pure and simple, intended to divert attention from Malawi in the press. The diplomatic community will see right through this, but absent media pressure, it will be of little use.

Only 20 years ago just being a homosexual was a jailing offence in Australia.

Police had undercover agents in "gay beats" and public toilets to arrest anyone who approached them.

But now we are "enlightened". Now if you are a screaming transvestite you can sue MacDonalds for not giving you a job.

If you are a "lover of boys" you can sue the Boy Scouts for not allowing you to be a scout master.

And we want to lecture the Africans on morals?

But they're free because the president "pardon" them, not because the law changed. The president is only worried about the public (international) opinion, and he admit it, I read somewhere that he thinks Homo sexuality is "anti-african".