• Read the Report
  • Contact Us
Global Commission on HIV and the LawGlobal Commission on HIV and the LawGlobal Commission on HIV and the Law
Menu
  • Background
    • HIV and the Law
    • Commission Overview
    • Commissioners
    • Technical Advisory Group
  • Report
    • 2012 Report
    • 2018 Supplement
  • SCALE Initiative
  • Dialogues
    • Global Dialogue 2018
      • 2018 Supplement
      • Global Dialogue 2018 Videos
    • Global Dialogue 2012
      • Video
      • Photo Gallery
      • Speeches
    • Regional Dialogues
      • Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue
      • Caribbean
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Latin America
      • Africa
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • High Income Countries
      • Civil Society Participation
      • Submissions to the Regional Dialogues
  • Implementation
    • Access to Health Technologies
      • Competition Law Guidance
      • Competition Law Webinar
      • 2022 Supplement
    • Civic Space
    • Digital
      • Guidance on the rights-based and ethical use of digital technologies
    • Programmes
      • Being LGBTI in Asia
      • Challenging stigma and discrimination in the Caribbean
      • Guidance for Prosecutors on HIV-related Criminal Cases
      • Improving SRHR for young key populations in Southern Africa
      • International Guidelines on Human Rights & Drug Policy
      • Multi-Country Western Pacific Integrated HIV/TB Project
      • Promoting a rights-based response to HIV in Africa
      • Removing legal barriers in Africa
      • South Asia Global Fund HIV Programme
      • UHC Legal Solutions Network
    • Follow Up
      • Follow Up Stories
      • Legal Environment Assessments
      • Leave No One Behind: Lessons from the Global Commission on HIV and the Law for Agenda 2030
  • Resources
    • eLibrary
      • Capacity Development Toolkits
      • Fact Sheets
      • Legal Environment Assessments, Reviews and Audits
      • National Dialogue Reports
      • Policy and Issue Briefs
      • Research, Discussion Papers and Reports
    • Evaluation of the Global Commission on HIV & the Law
    • Report & Working Papers
      • Read the Report
      • 2018 Supplement
      • Working Papers
      • Submissions
      • Presentations
      • Articles and Speeches from Commissioners
      • Selected Bibliographies
    • Regional Dialogue Resources
      • Asia-Pacific
      • Caribbean
      • Latin America
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Africa
      • High Income Countries
    • HIV and the Law Animated Video
  • News
    • News Articles
    • Press Releases
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Past Events

ASSAF report assesses criminalisation of sexual diversity

Share this post

ASSAF report assesses criminalisation of sexual diversity

Published on Wednesday, 10 June 2015 16:32
Sexual diversity has always been part of a normal society and there is no justification for attempts to eliminate people who are not heterosexual from society. Efforts should rather be focused on countering the stigmatisation that creates hostile and violent environments for those who are othered within heteronormative societies. This is reiterated in a consensus report entitled Diversity in Human Sexuality: Implications for Policy in Africa released by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) at a launch event coinciding with the 7th SA AIDS Conference in Durban. Despite huge progress since 2000, thirty-eight of fifty-three African nations still criminalise homosexuality, thereby imposing legislative restrictions on sexual desires and practices, and on the fulfilment of the human rights of individuals.

Stigmatisation and criminalisation of homosexuality have made public health interventions, particularly regarding HIV prevention and treatment, difficult to implement effectively. This study, which was undertaken in collaboration with the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, examined evidence that would provide answers to a set of critical questions related to gender diversity and human sexuality. Questions covered the roles of biology and the environment in determining gender diversity and human sexuality; whether sexual orientation could be altered through therapy; whether claims that same-sex orientations posed a threat to others were authentic; and what were the public health consequences of criminalising same-sex sexual orientations.

The report also identified the most critical unanswered research questions that could shape future research. The report concludes that it is evident that contemporary science increasingly recognises the wide range of natural variation in human sexuality, sexual orientations and gender identities. “Contemporary science appropriately describes the range of human variation, very little of which can justifiably be termed abnormal.” This report suggests that governments have a duty to consider scientific perspectives and draw on the most current scientific knowledge when creating policy and enacting laws. Significant and even path-breaking research in a variety of fields has been undertaken in the recent past into sexuality and sexual orientation, but much of this research is not widely known to policymakers yet, nor is much of it in the public domain.

The report concludes that there is substantial biological evidence for the diversity of human sexualities and for sexual orientations in particular. Studies have found significant linkage between male sexual orientation and regions of the X chromosome. This particular region on the X chromosome is also associated with other elements of sexual development. These findings, initially published in 1993 and confirmed in 2014, directly associate a particular trait (same-sex orientation) to genetic material for at least some same-sex-attracted men.

While less well studied, there is also considerable evidence for a biological component for same-sex orientation in women. Other conclusions of the report are:
  • No evidence could be found to support the notion that sexual orientation can be acquired through contact with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.
  • There is a lack of evidence to support the idea that the way parents bring up their children, or the relationships formed between children and parents, impacts on sexual orientation.
  • There is no evidence that same-sex orientation can be changed through ‘conversion’ or ‘reparative’ therapy.
  • There is no evidence linking LGB sexual orientation or transgender and intersex people with the ‘recruitment’ of young people through childhood sexual abuse.
  • There is clear evidence that more repressive environments increase minority stress and impact negatively on LGBTI health.
The study was undertaken against the background that while two-thirds of countries in the world no longer outlaw LGBTI relationships, same-sex relationships are still illegal in 76 countries. It is estimated that about 5% of the world population is not heterosexual in orientation. Based on 2015 global population estimates of 7.2 billion people, this would suggest that between 350 million and 400 million people are not heterosexual, with at least 50 million of these living in African countries. Recently, new laws have been passed in Russia, India, Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon and Uganda and are being contemplated in other countries to prohibit same-sex relationships or what is termed ‘promotion of homosexuality’.

There is evidence that these laws cause negative consequences not only for LGBTI persons and communities through an increase in the levels of harassment and repression, but also for societies as a whole. These include the reversal of public health gains, such as in HIV and AIDS and other sexual health programmes, increases in levels of social violence, reduced economic growth, and the diversion of attention from sexual and other violence against women and children.

The full report Diversity in Human Sexuality: Implications for Policy in Africa is be available on http://www.assaf.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/8-June-Diversity-in-human-sexuality1.pdf  

Source: ASSAF

Recent Posts

  • Legal empowerment is key to ending AIDS
  • UNDP and PEPFAR partnership to accelerate the removal of structural barriers to HIV services
  • Successfully expanding the rollout of PrEP in Indonesia
  • Decriminalizing HIV: Scientifically proven and morally correct
  • Ensuring sustainability of community-led HIV service delivery in Thailand

© 2017 [blog-link], All Rights Reserved.