Ian McKellen leads London Walk of Shame against Commonwealth anti-gay laws

Ian McKellen led a Walk of Shame through London yesterday to protest Commonwealth anti-gay laws

The 87-year-old actor and activist joined Peter Tatchell and queer refugees from affected countries outside the High Commissions of eight Commonwealth nations on Saturday 30 May.

Twenty-nine Commonwealth countries still criminalise homosexuality under colonial-era laws originally written and imposed by Britain. Six of them carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. In Uganda, Brunei and parts of Nigeria, same-sex relations can carry the death penalty.

On Saturday, Ian McKellen walked through London to say so out loud.

The Commonwealth Walk of Shame, organised by the Peter Tatchell Foundation and the Out and Proud African LGBTI Network, brought together McKellen, Tatchell, queer refugees who had fled persecution in affected countries, and activist groups including Let Voice be Heard Bangladesh, Gay Indian Network and the African Equality Foundation. The group marched from the Nigerian High Commission through central London, rallying outside the High Commissions of Nigeria, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana, Jamaica, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

McKellen said before the march: "Those old laws, those British laws, those foreign laws remain stuck in the remnants of the British Empire now known as the Commonwealth. Our plea to them today is to live up to the standards and declaration of the Commonwealth and repeal them."

He acknowledged the scale of the demonstration plainly. "This is a heartfelt demonstration," he said, "and I hope word will get back to people who are some of them living in hiding because they're frightened of the laws of the land."

Tatchell called on the newly appointed Commonwealth Secretary-General, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey of Ghana, to act on what he described as 77 years of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting refusing to recognise LGBTQ+ human rights or allow any discussion of the issue.

Deborah Birunji Nabisere of Out and Proud Africa LGBTI, who fled Uganda as a lesbian, told the march: "I know what it means to live under laws designed to erase your humanity. For many LGBT+ people across Africa and the Commonwealth, these laws shape every part of daily life: whether you can speak openly, whether you can find work, whether you are safe walking home."

Reporting: Press Association

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