10 most anti-gay nations

The State Department report on human rights details anti-gay abuses around the world. The nations with the most egregious records are highlighted here.

Some critics said the United States should improve its own record regarding anti-gay discrimination. In the U.S., it is legal under federal law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment. Sodomy was criminalized in some states until 2003. President Bush has repeatedly called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and similar bans have already passed in numerous states.

1.) Uganda: Last July, the government of Uganda approved a constitutional amendment banning equal marriage rights for gays. Consensual homosexual sex can be punished by life in prison.

2.) Iran: People with HIV face discrimination in employment and at school. Intercourse between two men is punishable by death and homosexual acts that do not involve intercourse are punishable by 100 lashes. Two young men, at least one a minor, were executed in Mashad in July, some claim, for being gay. Two more men were executed for being gay last November.

3.) Egypt: While Egyptian officials claims that homosexuality is not illegal, Human Rights Watch says that it is. Egyptian law prohibits fujur, which courts have interpreted to mean "homosexual relations between men." Rights groups have documented hundreds of cases in which gay men were arrested and tortured. Men are subjected to abusive anal examinations.

4.) Saudi Arabia: Some gays who are convicted of homosexuality are flogged with 2,000 lashings, according to Ariel Herrera of Amnesty International’s OUTFront program. Gay men have been beheaded in public squares for the crime of consensual homosexual sex.

5.) Nigeria: Homosexuality is outlawed in the Nigerian penal code and Muslim law. However, in northern states under Muslim law the punishment can be death; in the civil penal code homosexuality can carry up to a 14-year prison sentence. The numbers of people arrested and sentenced for sodomy are unknown. A new law forbids same-sex marriage and prohibits gays from assembling and petitioning the government. It also allows prosecution of newspapers that publish information about same-sex relationships and religious groups that allow same-sex unions. Those who violate the law can be sentenced to five years in prison.

6.) United Arab Emirates: Civil and Muslim law criminalize homosexuality in the UAE. Last November, 26 gay men were arrested and reportedly given hormone treatments and therapy.

7.) Cameroon: Last May, 17 men were arrested for homosexuality. Twelve were charged and detained. The suspects were given a "medical examination" to find evidence of homosexual conduct, the State Department reported, citing IGLHRC as the source of the information.

8.) Poland: "Right wing groups attempted on several occasions to disrupt Gay Pride marches," states the report. In 2005 Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, who is now Poland’s president, denied Gay Pride groups the right to march because he "would not allow the promotion of gay culture," the report states. However the marchers assembled anyway and spoke about discrimination they faced.

9.) Nepal: While homosexuality is not criminalized, government authorities harass and abuse gays and transgender people. In April, police attacked 18 transgender women who were on their way to a festival.

10.) India: Violation of India’s sodomy law is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The sodomy law is often used to harass and detain AIDS prevention workers and gays.