Prime Minister David Cameron is considering legalising gay marriage in the UK – despite the European Union’s failure to export the policy to Cameroon -a former British colony.

The move come after Mr Cameron reiterated at the annual Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on October 5 , 2011, that he was planning to build on the legalisation of civil partnerships between same-sex couples introduced by his Labour predecessors by extending to them full marital rights.

Mixed ethnicity gay couple The Bridge MAG image

“I once stood before a Conservative conference and said it shouldn’t matter whether commitment was between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man,”

He said. “You applauded me for that. Five years on, we’re consulting on legalising gay marriage. And to anyone who has reservations, I say, ‘yes, it’s about equality…commitment so I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative.”

If there are any western ‘rights’ some former French and British colonies still find hard to mimic, those secured by the gay and lesbian movement are among them. 

In January 2011, the Cameroon government strongly disapproved of a 300,000 Euro grant given to support gay rights groups by the EU.

The diplomatic row made headlines in the state’s daily newspaper, Cameroon Tribune, and provoked fierce criticism. According to Cameroon daily: “Cameroon’s laws ban homosexual acts, with penalties of up to five years in prison.”…

A five-year jail sentence…

Overcrowding is endemic, with open toilets, very poor diets, bribery and sexual abuse common….

Gay couple expressing their love The Bridge MAG image

The activist Pauline Biyong, of the League for the Education of Women and Children, welcomed the government’s action, saying: “Homosexuality is banned by our laws, and goes against our morals and our religious convictions.”…

Despite International human Rights Organisation such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch campaigning for its wholesale decriminalisation, there are still 76 countries criminalising homosexuality and 10 punishing it by death…

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Rachel Tcheungna, Author, Writer of 

The Bridge Books and 

The Bridge Magazine Editor.