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The world's '''homosexuality laws''' are currently diverse. For example, while the [[Netherlands]] recognizes same-sex marriages, under [[Saudi Arabia]]n law a person might face the death penalty for homosexual acts, although other penalties may be used instead of the death penalty.<ref>[http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=156&department=CFI&categoryid=cfreport Media Cry ‘Marriage’ As Homosexual Couples Tie the Knot in Germany ]</ref><ref>[http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/islam.htm Homosexuality and Islam]</ref>
The world's '''homosexuality laws''' are currently diverse. For example, while the [[Netherlands]] recognizes same-sex marriages, under [[Saudi Arabia]]n law a person might face the death penalty for homosexual acts, although other penalties may be used instead of the death penalty.<ref>[http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=156&department=CFI&categoryid=cfreport Media Cry ‘Marriage’ As Homosexual Couples Tie the Knot in Germany ]</ref><ref>[http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/islam.htm Homosexuality and Islam]</ref>
== Religious conservatism and homosexuality ==
''See also:'' [[Religious conservatism and politics]]
In 2016, the ''Independent'' reported that [[homosexuality]] is illegal in 74 countries.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/gay-lesbian-bisexual-relationships-illegal-in-74-countries-a7033666.html LGBT relationships are illegal in 74 countries, research finds], Independent, 2016</ref> Islamic countries ban homosexuality. [[Russia]] which has seen [[Collapse of atheism in the former Soviet Union|a resurgence of religion]] now has a law against promoting homosexuality.<ref>[https://www.rt.com/news/russia-gay-law-myths-951/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome Gay rights in Russia: Facts and Myths]</ref>
A study conducted by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life says that [[Africa]]ns are among the most religious people on Earth (see also: [[Black atheism]]).<ref name="ffrf.org">[http://ffrf.org/outreach/item/13652-why-so-many-africans-are-religious Why so many Africans are religious: Leo Igwe]</ref> In addition, evangelical Christianity is growing quickly in Africa. In North Africa Islam is the majority religion. In 2015, out of the 55 states recognised by the United Nations or African Union, 34 of countries outlaw homosexuality.<ref>[https://africacheck.org/reports/same-sex-relations-illegal-in-34-african-states-likely-35/ How many African states outlaw same-sex relations? (At least 34)], Africa Check</ref>
A British [[Islam|Muslim]] interviewed by a British journalist said she thought homosexuals "are a lost cause".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8vvHMYPHY4 'Gays are a Lost Cause' Says Moderate Muslim]</ref>
==In the United States==
==In the United States==
Homosexual activists and their political allies have introduced 41 bills in 24 states that provide special legal protections for “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” (code for cross-dressers and transsexuals). A total of 146 pro-homosexual bills are under consideration in state legislatures in 2003. Only 31 pro-family bills have been offered in 2003 — and only two have passed. Homosexuals are clearly winning and pro-family forces are losing.<ref>http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/Homosexuality101.pdf</ref>}}
Homosexual activists and their political allies have introduced 41 bills in 24 states that provide special legal protections for “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” (code for cross-dressers and transsexuals). A total of 146 pro-homosexual bills are under consideration in state legislatures in 2003. Only 31 pro-family bills have been offered in 2003 — and only two have passed. Homosexuals are clearly winning and pro-family forces are losing.<ref>http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/Homosexuality101.pdf</ref>}}
==Judgment of founders of America on homosexuality==
Sir [[William Blackstone]], whose authored extensive ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' from 1765-1769 became the preeminent legal authority that were admired and used by America’s Founding Fathers, stated:
{{cquote|IV. WHAT has been here observed..., which ought to be the more clear in proportion as the crime is the more detestable, may be applied to another offence, of a still deeper malignity; the infamous crime against nature, committed either with man or beast.... But it is an offence of so dark a nature...that the accusation should be clearly made out....
I WILL not act so disagreeable part, to my readers as well as myself, as to dwell any longer upon a subject, the very mention of which is a disgrace to human nature. It will be more eligible to imitate in this respect the delicacy of our English law, which treats it, in it’s very indictments, as a crime not fit to be named...This the voice of nature and of reason, and the express law of God, determine to be capital. Of which we have a signal instance, long before the Jewish dispensation, by the destruction of two cities by fire from heaven: so that this is an universal, not merely a provincial, precept.<ref>Book the Fourth, Chapter the Fifteenth, “Of Offences Against the Persons of Individuals”</ref><ref>http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk4ch15.htm</ref>}}
The first law book of the America, authored by founding jurist Zephaniah Swift, referring to sodomy, stated,
<blockquote>
This crime, tho repugnant to every sentiment of decency and delicacy, is very prevalent in corrupt and debauched countries where the low pleasures of sensuality and luxury have depraved the mind and degraded the appetite below the brutal creation. Our modest ancestors, it seems by the diction of the law, had no idea that a man would commit this crime. . . . [H]ere, by force of common law, [it is] punished with death. . . . [because of] the disgust and horror with which we treat of this abominable crime.<ref>Zephaniah Swift, ''A System of Laws of the State of Connecticut'' (Windham: John Byrne, 1796), Vol. II, pp. 310-311.</ref>
</blockquote>
General [[George Washington]], after being informed about the actions of a homosexual in the army, made a prompt and decisive response, issuing “General Orders” from Army Headquarters at Valley Forge on Saturday, March 14, 1778:
At a General Court Martial whereof Colo. Tupper was President (10 March 1778) Lieutt. Enslin of Colo. Malcom’s Regiment tried for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier; Secondly, For Perjury in swearing to false Accounts, found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th Article 18th Section of the Articles of War and do sentence him to be dismiss’d the service with Infamy. His Excellency the Commander in Chief approves the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such Infamous Crimes orders Lieutt. Enslin to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return; The Drummers and Fifers to attend on the Grand Parade at Guard mounting for that Purpose.<ref>Orders of his Excellency George Washington, 1778</ref><ref>George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1934), Vol. XI, pp. 83-84, from General Orders at Valley Forge on March 14, 1778</ref>
Massachusetts General Laws, section 272 orders,
{{cquote|Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with a beast, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years.<ref>[http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Mass.Gen.Laws.html Massachusetts General Laws: CRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES TITLE I. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS, CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER Section 34: Crime against nature]</ref>}}
Sodomy was a criminal offense at common law and was forbidden by the laws of the original 13 States when they ratified the Bill of Rights. In 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, all but 5 of the 37 States in the Union had criminal sodomy laws. Until 1961, all 50 States outlawed sodomy, with about half in 2003 continuing to provide criminal penalties for sodomy performed in private and between consenting adults.<ref>JOHN GEDDES LAWRENCE and TYRON GARNER, PETITIONERS v. TEXAS</ref>
Miller<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/3769Dave Miller, Ph.D, ''The Founders on Homosexuality'', Apologetics Press]</ref> reports that the penalty for homosexuality in several states was death — including New York, Vermont, Connecticut, and South Carolina.<ref>Barton, 2000, pp. 306,482</ref> Thomas Jefferson advocated “dismemberment” (castration) as the penalty for homosexuality in his home state of Virginia, and even authored a bill to that effect, reducing the penalty from death.<ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefVirg.html Jefferson, Thomas (1781), ''Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library'']</ref><ref>1781, Query 14; cf. 1903, 1:226-227</ref>
==In the European Union==
==In the European Union==
Same-sex couples can legally adopt any child in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the [[United Kingdom]], and can adopt the children of one of the partners in [[Germany]] and [[Denmark]]. In Ireland, both partners can foster children, but only one can adopt, and in [[France]], a single homosexual person can adopt. The other eighteen member states do not allow same-sex couples to adopt any child. Forty-four percent of EU citizens agreed that same-sex marriages should be legal across the EU; more than half agreed in Belgium, the [[Czech Republic]], Denmark, Germany, [[Luxembourg]], the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden; and less than 15% agreed in [[Bulgaria]], Cyprus, Greece, Latvia and Romania.<ref>[http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/14203 Eight EU Countries Back Same-Sex Marriage]</ref>
Same-sex couples can legally adopt any child in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the [[United Kingdom]], and can adopt the children of one of the partners in [[Germany]] and [[Denmark]]. In Ireland, both partners can foster children, but only one can adopt, and in [[France]], a single homosexual person can adopt. The other eighteen member states do not allow same-sex couples to adopt any child. Forty-four percent of EU citizens agreed that same-sex marriages should be legal across the EU; more than half agreed in Belgium, the [[Czech Republic]], Denmark, Germany, [[Luxembourg]], the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden; and less than 15% agreed in [[Bulgaria]], Cyprus, Greece, Latvia and Romania.<ref>[http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/14203 Eight EU Countries Back Same-Sex Marriage]</ref>
==See Also==
==See also==
*[[Homosexuality]]
*[[Homosexuality]]
==References==
==References==