(As posted to my Gazette blog on July 25)

450 lashes and three years imprisonment for “promoting homosexual contact.”

That is the penalty reportedly handed out to a 24-year-old man in Saudi Arabia, where convictions for being gay can include life sentences and the death penalty.

Reports Advocate.com:

“This sentence is a horrific reminder of the dangers LGBT people face in Saudi Arabia and the dozens of nations around the world where it’s a crime to simply be who you are,” said Jason Rahlan, global press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign in a statement.

Indeed, much of the focus around the world has been on Brunei’s anti-gay laws, and the case of Meriam Ibrahim in Sudan.

I wonder if Saudi Arabia will become the next country to experience international criticism and diplomatic protests and see its holdings boycotted in the West over its anti-gay laws?

– Jillian