Powys County Council (PCC) will be asking Jeremy Hunt MP, the Foreign Secretary, to condemn persecution of gay people in Brunei, after pledging support for its LGBT+ staff.
The motion to condemn the South Asian country on the island of Borneo was moved by Cllr Mathew Dorrance and backed by Gareth Ratcliffe and also wants to see Brunei’s membership of the Commonwealth suspended. The motion also included setting up a network for LGBT+ network for Council staff.
At the Full Council meeting, Cllr Dorrance said: “I hope the membership of this council was, like me, horrified with the news of Brunei with the introduction of incredibly harsh capital and corporal punishment for LGBT+ members of their society. We have undoubtedly come a long way for equality for LGBT+ people all around the world.
“I sat down recently with a group of people who are a generation or two older than me who told me that those in same-sex relationships had to have HIV tests to get mortgages.
“As someone who has just bought a house I nor my partner had to go through that. That’s achieved by people putting their shoulder to the wheel and fighting for equality. If we are not on watch all the time the rights we have won will be taken away.”
Cllr Dorrance added that he had felt sick and cried after finding out that gay people in Brunei could be stoned to death or given lashes.
“I was fortunate that I wasn’t born in a country that’s prepared to punish people for who they love,” said Cllr Dorrance.
The motion was passed unanimously.
On Sunday, Brunei announced it would not be enforcing laws that would have made sex between men punishable by stoning to death. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah extended a moratorium on the death penalty to cover the new legislation. The rethink follows global outcry over the laws, including boycotts and celebrity protests.