LGBTQ rights in the Commonwealth of Nations

A cluster of member states have a maximum sentence of life imprisonment: Bangladesh, Guyana, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

It is long overdue that CHOGM addressed this humanitarian issue, which it has neglected for far too long.This found further support when the Perth Member of the Legislative Assembly, John Hyde, called on Premier Colin Barnett to use his access to CHOGM delegates to address the issue of human rights for gay men and lesbians.

[11] Finally, it was confirmed that the Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, would intervene at the October meeting with a request to scrap anti-LGBT laws.

[12][13] The discussion on LGBT rights at the Perth meeting received a muted response from most of the attending delegates despite strong support from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Agreement could not be reached to publish a report by Eminent Persons which looked at the Commonwealth's future relevance and demanded that all member states that outlawed homosexuality lift their bans.

[14] In November 2015, Baroness Verma, Under-Secretary of State at the UK's Department for International Development, announced that she would be chairing a round table on LGBT issues at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta.

[17] The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, indicated his support:[1] It's simply appalling how people can be treated—how their rights are trampled on and the prejudices and even the violence they suffer.

[19] After the Government of Seychelles agreed to push forward with plans to repeal the country's anti-gay law, they specifically noted advocacy from British diplomats.

He later argued that Britain should make defending the rights of gay and lesbian people a key plank of its relations with other Commonwealth countries.

[21] The Kaleidoscope Trust was established in London in 2011 to lobby Britain's politicians so that ministers discuss LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) issues whenever they host their counterparts.