Acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tarique Rahman has recently announced of his plan to transforming Bangladesh into a “rainbow nation”, which is a copied concept from South African gay archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Tutu became known for his strong advocacy on issues of sexuality, in particular the rights of lesbian and gay people. Desmond Tutu was by far the most high-profile African, if not global, religious leader to support lesbian and gay rights. This had added to his international reputation as a progressive thinker and activist, especially in the western world. But his stance was met with suspicion on the African continent itself. A fellow Anglican bishop, Emmanuel Chukwuma from Nigeria, even declared him to be “spiritually dead”.
More than a decade later, Tutu used very similar words to denounce homophobia and heterosexism. He wrote that it was “the ultimate blasphemy” to make lesbian and gay people doubt whether they truly were children of God and whether their sexuality was part of how they were created by God.
Tutu’s own church, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, continued to struggle with gay issues. In 2015 his daughter, Mpho Tutu, had to give up her position as an ordained priest after she married a woman. Tutu gave the newlywed couple a blessing anyway.
The question of same-sex relationships and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people continue to be controversial across the world. In this context, Tutu was an influential figure who used his moral authority to help shape the debates.
Recently in a report in Blitz, it was reported that despite being proclaiming itself as Islamist and even pro-caliphate political force, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has told Western policymakers that BNP would legalize same-sex marriage in Bangladesh once it returns to power with the “help of Western policymakers”. As the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recommended to allow abortion and divorce and to legalize same-sex marriage as part of ensuring human rights, BNP leaders did not hesitate in giving nod to it stating it is ready to implement “any recommendations from the international community, including the United Nations Human Rights Council in establishing rule of law and ensuring human rights of international standard”.
According to a credible source, BNP men has been telling the Western policymakers, including the United Nations Human Rights Council that it is ready to “massively reshuffle” Bangladesh’s laws thus making provisions of abortion and divorce and to legalize same-sex marriage”. BNP leaders also are saying that their acting chairman Tarique Rahman considers same-sex marriage as “part of LGBT rights and human rights”.
It may be mentioned here that the government officials in the Philippines said the nation will not follow the recommendation of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to allow abortion and divorce and to legalize same-sex marriage.
Tarique Rahman’s proposed “rainbow nation”
A rainbow country is a broad umbrella term of rainbow communities that cover diversity of sexual orientations, as well as gender and sex identities. Due to formidable influence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African government made vast strides in the fight for LGBT equality, strides that are unparalleled by any other nation on the African continent.
Tarique Rahman, who in his personal life is a bi-sexual clearly understood that his theme of transforming Bangladesh into a “rainbow nation” would receive massive support from the Western policymakers as implementation of Tarique Rahman’s plan would make Bangladesh the first Muslim-majority country to emerge into the haven of gays, lesbians and bi-sexual individuals.
