Advances in LGBT Rights Lead to Backlash Elsewhere

This past week saw the United States make an even bigger step in advancing LGBT rights: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected several challenges to judicial rulings throwing out state bans on same-sex marriage. But both The Economist and Foreign Policy note that there is a large divide in rights for gay people around the world and advances in the United States, Europe and Latin America have lead to a backlash in other parts of the world. 

Seventy-eight countries make gay sex illegal, but 113 have legalized it, The Economist notes in a leader. The U.N. Human Rights Council recently passed a resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity. Suzanne Nossel, writing in Foreign Policy, reports that 38 out of 55 African nations have laws punishing sodomy. "While gay rights are on the march in many parts of the world, the very progress that activists have celebrated in the halls of the United Nations, on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, and in confetti-dusted city halls around the United States may actually be worsening the danger for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in far-flung parts of the world," Nossel reports. "... In much of Africa, the Mideast, and Central Asia -- including Russia -- a nasty backlash has ensued that, at least for now, may be making life worse for some of the world's most vulnerable gay populations."