|
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Cyprus may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Cyprus and civil unions became legal in November 2015. In Cyprus, the socially conservative Eastern Orthodox Church has a significant influence over public opinion when it comes to LGBT-rights. However, ever since Cyprus sought membership in the European Union it has had to change its human rights legislation, including its laws regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. ==Law regarding same-sex sexual activity== Although administered by the British Empire from 1878, Cyprus remained officially part of the Ottoman Empire until 1914, when it was annexed by the British Empire following the decision of the Ottoman Turks to side with Germany in the First World War. Even then, Cyprus was not officially claimed by the British Empire until 1925, following recognition of British ownership of the island by the newly created Republic of Turkey through the Treaty of Lausanne, signed by Britain and Turkey in 1923. Up until this time Ottoman laws were technically in force on the island, albeit administered by local and British colonial officials, and in respect to homosexuality Ottoman Turkish law had been liberalised in 1858, when it had ceased to be a criminal offence throughout the Ottoman Empire.〔Ishtiaq Hussain, ''The Tanzimat: Secular reforms in the Ottoman Empire'' (London: Faith Matters, 2011 p.10 (URL link )〕 Although Britain assumed full legal ownership of Cyprus in 1925, Ottoman law was not formally replaced on the island until 1929, when Ottoman legal tolerance of homosexuality was finally ended, with the incorporation of the British Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 into Cyprus Law. For the first time since 1858 this made male homosexuality a criminal act in Cyprus. Female homosexuality was not recognised or mentioned in the law. With independence from Britain in 1960 Cyprus retained British colonial law on the island almost in its entirety, with the relevant parts of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 becoming Cyprus Law CAP 154 articles 171 to 174.〔Robert T. Francoeur and Raymond J. Noonan (eds.), ''The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality'' (London: Continuum, 2003) 294〕 The articles were first challenged in 1993, when Alexandros Modinos, a Cypriot architect and gay rights activist won a legal court case against the Government of Cyprus, known as ''Modinos v. Cyprus'', at the European Court of Human Rights. The Court ruled that Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus violated Modinos's right to a private life, protected under the European Convention on Human Rights, an international agreement ratified by Cyprus in 1962. Despite the legal ruling, Cyprus did not formally revise its criminal code to comply with the ruling until 1998, when failing to do so meant losing membership in the European Union. Even then, the age of consent for homosexual conduct was set at eighteen, while that for heterosexual conduct was at sixteen. Aside from the unequal age of consent, the revised criminal code also made it a crime to "promote" homosexuality, which was used to restrict the LGBT-rights movement. In 2000, the discriminatory ban on "promoting" homosexuality was lifted, and the age of consent was equalised in 2002. Today, the universal of consent is seventeen years of age. Sexual conduct that occurs in public, or with a minor, is subject to a prison term of five years. The Cyprus military still bars homosexuals from serving, believing that homosexuality is a mental illness. Gay sexual conduct is also, technically, still a crime under military law; the term is 6 months in a military jail although this is rarely, if ever, enforced. In Northern Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot deputies passed an amendment on Monday, January 27, 2014 repealing a colonial-era law that punished homosexual acts with up to five years in prison by a new Criminal Code. It was the last territory in Europe to decriminalise sexual relations between consenting, adult men. In response to the (vote ), Paulo Corte-Real from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, a rights advocacy group said that "We welcome today's vote and can finally call Europe a continent completely free from laws criminalising homosexuality". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「LGBT rights in Cyprus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|