Myanmar is the latest country catching flak from activists and outside groups for its draconian law prohibiting gay sex.
The law, a remnant of the British empire, punishes whoever convicted of gay sex with up to 10 years in prison.
A report called “In the Shadows”, funded by Denmark, calls on the Myanmar government to end its routine abuse and violence perpetrated against its LGBTQ community.
Specifically, it calls on Myanmar to scrap Section 377, the law that punishes gay sex.
In recent years, a widespread movement has successfully fought off the colonial-era, anti-gay sex laws established by the British Empire in more than 40 countries.
Many former British colonies have successfully scrapped Section 377 or other similar anti-LGBTQ laws recently–including India, Botswana, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The victories have inspired activists in Singapore and Malaysia, where colonial British laws that still exist prescribe disturbing punishments for gay sex.
Myo Nyunt, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, who have a supermajority in the parliament of Myanmar, said that the party has no plans on pushing to end Section 377.
“The opposition might use it to attack us,” Nyunt said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “They have formerly accused the NLD of being a non-religious party and of giving special favors to groups who want … freedoms just like Western societies.”
The “In the Shadows” report also found systemic abuse targeting transgender individuals in Myanmar, much of what is justified and rationalized by other colonial-era laws.
Aung San Suu Kyi was once viewed as an icon for human rights in Myanmar.
Despite being nominally democratic, the military still has a stranglehold on Myanmar’s government and politics.
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