I officially came-out to my colleagues and to much of the NGO community in Colombo, Sri Lanka, through an article I wrote on being a gay ex-pat. This country still has laws against homosexuality; so does that also make me officially "illegal"?
I was hesitant to come-out because of those laws and because of my fear of an aggressive reaction, but it was really quite easy. My workmates listened to me intently, asked to read my article, and then asked me questions about gay issues that I thought were only known to a "secret" community. My rights were in tact, I was treated with respect, and I didn't feel in the least bit threatened. I realize that my colleagues are educated, work in the NGO sector, are in positions to uphold humanitarian principles, and represent a miniscule portion of the Sri Lankan population, but this gave me hope that things have the potential for change.
With that being said, however, I had to reflect on other parts of the world that are dealing with the aggression and intolerance that I had feared. Geoff, my partner, read an article about Uganda's regression on GLBT rights, quoting a piece from the Minister of "Ethics and Integrity". With a name like that, it must be in a position to uphold all that is good and righteous in the country. I searched for more information on this and found a couple of other articles that looked at other parts of Africa, namely Nigeria, and Cameroon. Wow, this world really has a long way to go!!! http://direland.typepad.com/direland/
