Gay rights need to be universal

This article was published in The Sydney Morning Herald 1 June 2010

As Western gays fight for marriage rights, some in less accepting countries are fighting for their lives. The two young men from Malawi sentenced to jail for the "crime" of loving each other were pardoned at the weekend after intense international pressure and a personal plea from UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.

The episode highlights the ideological divide between parts of Africa and the Middle East and the speed of gay law reform in the liberal West.

Several thousand people recently took to the streets of Melbourne demanding the right to gay marriage. It was the latest in a string of similar demonstrations that have taken place in cities all over Australia and in liberal democracies all over the world as gays step up to demand what they see as their full entitlement to equal relationship rights under the law.