According to various reports, a man was arrested last weekend in Malawi for putting up posters that read “Gay Rights are Human Rights”.

Peter Sawali, 21, was arrested when police found him placing the posters along a main road in Blantyre. Police are conducting an investigation to find out where the posters came from and suspect they’re part of a movement being promoted by gay advocacy organizations outside of Malawi.

The Malawi police have released a statement saying Sawali will be charged with “conduct likely to cause breach of peace,” and if convicted, he faces fines and/or jail time of up to three months.

Homosexuality is against the law in the African country and two gay men arrested on gross indecency charges in December are still in custody after they held a formal commitment ceremony and have been denied bail twice as authorities claim they’re being held in custody for their own protection against the hostility many Malawi citizens have for LGBT persons.

Update from Nyasa Times:

Blantyre Magistrate Court on Friday convicted a man who was arrested for putting up posters championing gay rights in a continued anti-gay clampdown in Malawi.

Peter Sawali, 21, was found with stacks of expertly and expensively printed posters displaying such messages as “Gay rights are human rights” was answering charges of conducting himself in a manner likely to cause breach of peace. He was arrested on January 29.

Sawari who claimed that he could neither read or write, told the court that he was not aware of the message that was on the placards.

Original Text:

http://www.gayagenda.com/2010/02/another-gay-arrest-in-anti-gay-malawi/

Same-sex marriage

This week in Buenos Aires, Judge Gabriela Seijas granted Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello, a gay couple, permission to become legally wed, a ruling considered by many as the catalyst for change, setting a precedent which is likely to pave the way for Argentina to become the first in Latin America nation to allow same-sex marriage. Her ruling however, much like what has happened here in the U.S., could be overturned by city officials.

In her ruling Seijas stated:

“The law should treat everyone with the same respect according to their singularities, without the need to understand or regulate them.”

Buenos Aires became the region’s first city to approve civil unions in 2002, but the judges decision is expected to lite a fire under the lawmakers to reach a decision on the issue as the debate over a gay marriage bill currently deadlocked in their congress.

Hopefully the law will pass in the largely Catholic country, setting a precedence for other nations to follow, including the U.S.

Source Text:

http://www.gayagenda.com/2009/11/argentinian-judge-oks-gay-marriage/