377 Officers Could Simply Do Misled British Colonial Law Transmits An Anti-LGBTQ Legacy Into Asia.

For the last two centuries being gay in much of the world has been illegal - thanks to British colonial rule. Today, colonial laws prohibiting homosexuality exist in former British territories, including parts of Africa and Oceania.

But in Asia, they have a significant impact. This is a region where, before India legalized homosexual sex in 2018, at least one billion people lived under anti-LGBTQ laws. This can be traced back to the particular rules first conceptualized in India and one man's mission to "modernize" the colony.

"The exotic and mystical East"

It is currently illegal to be gay in about 69 countries, nearly two-thirds of which were under British control at the same time. This is no coincidence, say, Anze Han and Joseph O'Mahoney, who wrote British Colonialism and the Criminalization of Homosexuality. Dr. Hahn told the BBC that the British authorities introduced such a law because of "the Victorian, Christian-Puritan concept of sex."

"They wanted to protect innocent British soldiers from the 'exotic and mystical East' - there is such an oriental view of Asia and the Middle East that they are too erotic. "They thought that if there were no rules, the soldiers could easily be misled."

Although several penal codes were used in British colonies worldwide. Several laws were used prominently in Asia - the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which was drafted by British historian Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay and entered into force in 1862.

It contains article 377, which states that "whoever has voluntary intercourse with a man, woman or animal contrary to the natural order" is punishable by imprisonment or a fine.

Lord Macaulay, who modeled the passage after 16th-century British rebuttal laws, believed that the IPC was a "reward" for India because it would "modernize" its society, according to a book by Dr. Hahn and Dr. O'Do. Mahogany. The UK continues to use the IPC as a basis for criminal law in many other areas they control.

To date, 377 exist in various forms in several former Asian colonies such as Pakistan, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. The penalties range from two to 20 years in prison. In Muslim-majority areas where Sharia law also applies, LGBT people can also expect more brutal punishments such as flogging.