A lire l'article qui suit, on se dit que le chemin est encore loin jusqu'à l'acceptation simple et complète de la communauté homosexuelle. En effet, selon le code pénal singapourien, deux hommes pratiquant la sodomie commettent un crime et ils risquent un emprisonnement pouvant aller jusqu'à 2 ans.
Donc, comme je disais, le chemin est encore long. Mais à travers cet article, je me dis que Singapour semble avoir pris le bon chemin pour changer les choses. Permettre à un juge australien, qui revendique son homosexualité, de discuter lors d'une conférence sérieuse des méfaits sociaux de ce refus de reconnaissance me semble encourageant.
An ex-judge's view of HIV and tolerance
[2011] 02 Jun_ST
[2011] 02 Jun_ST
| An ex-judge's view of HIV and tolerance | |
| Straits Times | |
| K.C. Vijayan |
Legal News Archive
AN AUSTRALIAN retired judge has urged tolerance and understanding for homosexuals so that they can be helped to save themselves and their communities from rising HIV infections.
Mr Michael Kirby, 72, also told an audience here that homosexuals were under pressure to keep quiet about their sexual orientation in communities that criminalise them through no fault of their own.
'They've kept it quiet, because they've been frightened. And I think it is important for it to be said here in Singapore,' he said, making clear that he respected the parliamentary process here which makes sodomy a crime.
Mr Kirby, who with 26 years of service was Australia's longest-serving judge, retired in 2009. He was also Australia's first openly gay judge.
He was speaking at the Law Society's Biennial Lecture at the Supreme Court Auditorium on Tuesday night, an event attended by about 200 members of the legal fraternity.
The lecture series has featured prominent and distinguished speakers from abroad addressing a Singaporean audience on issues of current concern. In 2007, when it started, former Canadian attorney-general and justice minister Irwin Cotler, who is also an internationally renowned human rights lawyer, spoke about pursuing justice and confronting injustice.
Mr Kirby, who has an international reputation as an eloquent and powerful orator, currently serves with the UNAids reference group on HIV and human rights, and the Eminent Persons Group, which has the task of probing the future of the Commonwealth, among other appointments.
His talk, delivered without notes, covered law reform, the use of international law in local decision-making, and the extent to which the criminal law should be shaped by community values.
Mr Kirby was invited to share his diverse experiences and issues close to his heart, in keeping with the aim of the lectures to inspire lawyers here.
In the run-up to the amendments to the Penal Code in 2007, the Law Society had unsuccessfully proposed that Section 377A, which forbids sex between men, be repealed.
Mr Kirby said that Singapore, like Australia and the rest of the Commonwealth, inherited many 'blessings' from the laws introduced in the British Empire centuries ago that promoted good order.
But there were also 'burdens', one of which was Section 377, still in force in 41 of the 54 Commonwealth countries, including Singapore, where its reads as S377A.
He pointed out that unlike the Commonwealth, countries in Europe and elsewhere that adopted the French Napoleonic civil laws had abolished the preceding anti-sodomy laws centuries ago. One consequence of that, he said, is that there was double the rate of HIV infections in Commonwealth countries than in states that adopted the French civil code.
He said the Aids epidemic showed that jurisdictions which can engage societies that are at risk of the spread of the virus do better.
'And those countries where that is not possible or not easy, they do worse. And Commonwealth countries do twice as bad. The Commonwealth is one-third the population of the planet but it has two-thirds the cases of HIV infection.'
He said it was better to recognise that there were gay people everywhere.
He cited the example of the White Australia policy in the 1960s, when Asians were frowned upon. Today, they are appreciated and valued for their contributions to the country.
A similar approach should apply to gays, he said, adding that the problem of not accepting homosexuals was linked to the increase in HIV cases.
He said there were 2.6 million new HIV infections yearly worldwide and urged his audience to think of it as an issue of human dignity.
The challenge, he said, was how to get rid of laws that are barriers to people getting the information necessary for their protection.
'And I hope that in saying that, I have made a little contribution to the understanding that gay people are human beings too, they are professional people, they are lawyers, they are judges, they are among you, and it's important that they should have equality, and dignity,' he said.
'And in the age of Aids, that they should be encouraged to know, to be rich too, to be informed, and to save themselves and their society from infection.'
Lawyers who attended the lecture described the talk as well-researched, stimulating and instructive.
'Mr Kirby spoke without any notes - unusual compared to other lectures I have attended, and it showed the learning of the man,' said veteran lawyer G. Raman.
vijayan@sph.com.sg
WE'RE ALL HUMAN
'...gay people are human beings too, they are professional people, they are lawyers, they are judges, they are among you, and it's important that they should have equality, and dignity.'
Mr Michael Kirby
Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.
http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/remweb/legal/ln2/rss/legalnews/72084.html?utm_source=email%20subscription&utm_medium=email&title=An%20ex-judge%27s%20view%20of%20HIV%20and%20tolerance¬ShowClose=y
Mr Michael Kirby, 72, also told an audience here that homosexuals were under pressure to keep quiet about their sexual orientation in communities that criminalise them through no fault of their own.
'They've kept it quiet, because they've been frightened. And I think it is important for it to be said here in Singapore,' he said, making clear that he respected the parliamentary process here which makes sodomy a crime.
Mr Kirby, who with 26 years of service was Australia's longest-serving judge, retired in 2009. He was also Australia's first openly gay judge.
He was speaking at the Law Society's Biennial Lecture at the Supreme Court Auditorium on Tuesday night, an event attended by about 200 members of the legal fraternity.
The lecture series has featured prominent and distinguished speakers from abroad addressing a Singaporean audience on issues of current concern. In 2007, when it started, former Canadian attorney-general and justice minister Irwin Cotler, who is also an internationally renowned human rights lawyer, spoke about pursuing justice and confronting injustice.
Mr Kirby, who has an international reputation as an eloquent and powerful orator, currently serves with the UNAids reference group on HIV and human rights, and the Eminent Persons Group, which has the task of probing the future of the Commonwealth, among other appointments.
His talk, delivered without notes, covered law reform, the use of international law in local decision-making, and the extent to which the criminal law should be shaped by community values.
Mr Kirby was invited to share his diverse experiences and issues close to his heart, in keeping with the aim of the lectures to inspire lawyers here.
In the run-up to the amendments to the Penal Code in 2007, the Law Society had unsuccessfully proposed that Section 377A, which forbids sex between men, be repealed.
Mr Kirby said that Singapore, like Australia and the rest of the Commonwealth, inherited many 'blessings' from the laws introduced in the British Empire centuries ago that promoted good order.
But there were also 'burdens', one of which was Section 377, still in force in 41 of the 54 Commonwealth countries, including Singapore, where its reads as S377A.
He pointed out that unlike the Commonwealth, countries in Europe and elsewhere that adopted the French Napoleonic civil laws had abolished the preceding anti-sodomy laws centuries ago. One consequence of that, he said, is that there was double the rate of HIV infections in Commonwealth countries than in states that adopted the French civil code.
He said the Aids epidemic showed that jurisdictions which can engage societies that are at risk of the spread of the virus do better.
'And those countries where that is not possible or not easy, they do worse. And Commonwealth countries do twice as bad. The Commonwealth is one-third the population of the planet but it has two-thirds the cases of HIV infection.'
He said it was better to recognise that there were gay people everywhere.
He cited the example of the White Australia policy in the 1960s, when Asians were frowned upon. Today, they are appreciated and valued for their contributions to the country.
A similar approach should apply to gays, he said, adding that the problem of not accepting homosexuals was linked to the increase in HIV cases.
He said there were 2.6 million new HIV infections yearly worldwide and urged his audience to think of it as an issue of human dignity.
The challenge, he said, was how to get rid of laws that are barriers to people getting the information necessary for their protection.
'And I hope that in saying that, I have made a little contribution to the understanding that gay people are human beings too, they are professional people, they are lawyers, they are judges, they are among you, and it's important that they should have equality, and dignity,' he said.
'And in the age of Aids, that they should be encouraged to know, to be rich too, to be informed, and to save themselves and their society from infection.'
Lawyers who attended the lecture described the talk as well-researched, stimulating and instructive.
'Mr Kirby spoke without any notes - unusual compared to other lectures I have attended, and it showed the learning of the man,' said veteran lawyer G. Raman.
vijayan@sph.com.sg
WE'RE ALL HUMAN
'...gay people are human beings too, they are professional people, they are lawyers, they are judges, they are among you, and it's important that they should have equality, and dignity.'
Mr Michael Kirby
Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.
http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/remweb/legal/ln2/rss/legalnews/72084.html?utm_source=email%20subscription&utm_medium=email&title=An%20ex-judge%27s%20view%20of%20HIV%20and%20tolerance¬ShowClose=y
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