Originally Posted by
GUWonder
Originally Posted by
Adam1222
It's not "discouraged." It's illegal.
But he is in the Maldives now. Where the "act" is also illegal. I dont think hell be arrested. We all know that laws and rules don't apply to people like Ben. But the broader ethical point remains: he's blogging about how romantic a getaway to the Maldives is, and a Maldivian who openly blogged about having a same-sex partner would be in great danger.
Being homosexual in the Maldives is not illegal. Nor is it in the UAE. In both these countries, the acts that are illegal for homosexual couples are also illegal for unmarried heterosexual couples.
It's certain acts of intimate sexual activity and of some other sorts of activity that is potentially illegal in both countries if evidence of such activity is deemed sufficient by local authorities to be convicted of engagement in what they consider unlawful acts.
The Maldives have had some known gay imams -- no joke -- but the ones caught in homsexual acts in video ended up having major problems (to say the least) relative to the remaining gay imams on the islands who didn't end up getting caught in acts considered unlawful there.
The statement was that "homosexuality is discouraged." The noun homosexuality can apply to both being a homosexual and homosexual conduct.
Even if I were to buy your status v. Conduct argument (we love gay people! Just don't do anything gay!), the post by Lucky is about a romantic weekend getaway. I don't know about you, but it would kill the romance for me if I knew i could only have sex with my partner at risk of death.
If you want to defend the gay rights records of these countries, you're welcome to. But the experience of LGBT people there begs to difference.
http://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/darker-side-of-the-maldives-public-lashings-religious-extremists-and-a-gay-blogger-with-his-throat-slashed-29189177.html
http://gayasianews.com/2014/06/18/muslim-vigilantes-attack-gay-atheists-in-the-maldives/
http://76crimes.com/2015/09/01/maldives-lenient-no-more-island-nation-arrests-2/