XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: bugchasers@queers.com   
      
   A human rights lawyer has described the horrendous treatment   
   experienced by gay people in Cameroon – where drinking a Baileys   
   could put you in prison.   
      
   Michel Togue, a Cameroonian lawyer, said he had defended dozens   
   of gay people but few were ever caught in the act.   
      
   Mr Togue, speaking to the ThinkProgress blog, said the African   
   country uses gender stereotypes to convict gay individuals.   
      
   Homosexuality is banned in Cameroon and since 1972 has carried a   
   prison sentence of five years.   
      
   In one instance, a client of Mr Togue’s was convicted for his   
   feminine mannerisms and drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream – a choice   
   which the judge felt was a woman’s drink.   
      
   He says police rely on gender stereotypes to arrests suspected   
   gay individuals, with people arousing suspicion for being – for   
   example – a male hairdresser.   
      
   Mr Togue says that stigma fuels the accusations and arrests,   
   with a lifestyle choices such as cross-dressing used as evidence   
   a man is gay.   
      
   The atmosphere is having a negative effect on healthcare in the   
   country, particularly HIV testing.   
      
   “They can’t go to the hospital for the treatment or even for a   
   test because they’re afraid,” Togue explained.   
      
   In one case he had heard of an individual who was investigated   
   by police after he admitted to a nurse that he’d had same-sex   
   relations and she informed the authorities.   
      
   Earlier this year Alice Nkom, a 69-year-old lawyer, claimed   
   Cameroon was suffering under an “anti-homosexual apartheid”.   
      
   http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/man-who-drank-   
   baileys-irish-cream-jailed-for-being-a-homosexual-one-case-of-   
   how-gay-people-are-treated-in-cameroon-30588353.html   
      
   Gay means dirty, demented, mentally ill and disgusting.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)