WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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britain did so many awful things during

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its empire

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it's hard to know where to start but if

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you want an example of something that's

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still

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ruining lives today it will be hard to

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think of a better example than the

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british

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penal code also known as section 377

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this homophobic law is the reason why

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being gay is still illegal

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in at least 30 former british colonies

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empires of dirt a series about europeans

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getting rich at the expense of everyone

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else

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previously we found out how britain got

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china hooked on opium

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and how it stole 45 trillion dollars

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from india

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when the british were busy colonizing

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the world between the 16th and 19th

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centuries

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they also exported their own laws to the

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places they took over

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it was kind of like the rest of the

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world were school kids who had to play

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by their rules

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one of the laws they exported was the

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charmingly named

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buggery act of 1533 which was passed by

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parliament during the reign of henry

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viii

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you know the one with the six wives the

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burglary act did pretty much what it

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said on the tin

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it banned male homosexuality and made

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gay sex punishable by

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death but it didn't bother to ban

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lesbianism probably because nobody

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really thought about women at the time

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when the british empire got going the

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authorities were keen to enforce

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their idea of morality on the people

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they'd colonized they also wanted to

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make sure that

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soldiers and administrators weren't

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tempted to shag each other

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or their new subjects so they imported

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this anti-buggery law

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overseas homosexuality was finally

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decriminalized in england and wales in

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1967

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but not before the uk had done some

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extremely uncool stuff

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like force war heroes like alan turing

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to undergo chemical castration

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or throw people in jail simply for being

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gay but although gay sex stopped being

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illegal in the rest of the uk by 1982

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the laws that forbid homosexuality are

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still in the penal codes of many of our

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former colonies

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it's the reason why lgbtq people in

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countries like

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barbados pakistan guyana kenya

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ghana and singapore where i'm from still

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don't have equality today

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many of britain's former colonies don't

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have histories of being hateful towards

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lgbtq

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people basutu women in present-day

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lesotho

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africa still engage in socially accepted

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relationships with each other

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they call each other their matsuale or

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special friend

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muwanga ii the 19th century king of what

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is now

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modern-day uganda had sex with men until

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white missionaries brought christianity

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to

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his kingdom and everyone changed their

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minds about their gay king

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britain literally exported hatred and

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homophobia to the countries it colonized

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it's not like these laws just gather

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dust on the statute books

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they continue to be used against lgbtq

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people to this day

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between 2010 and 2014 almost 600 people

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were prosecuted under kenya's anti-gay

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laws

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according to official government figures

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in 2010

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two gay men were sentenced to 14 years

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hard labor in malawi

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after being convicted of gross indecency

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and unnatural

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acts they attracted the attention of the

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authorities after holding an engagement

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party

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when the judge passed the sentence he

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said he wanted to protect the public

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from

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people like you in august 2018

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20 men were charged with illicit

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behavior after a raid on a gay club

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in kuala lumpur malaysia uganda still

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actively persecutes gay people to this

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day

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in november 2019 police raided an lgbtq

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bar in kampala

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dragging out at least 120 people and

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arresting them and throwing them into

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the backs of vehicles

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because institutional homophobia runs

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deep in so many former colonies

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some countries have chosen to keep these

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regressive laws in their penal codes

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in march 2020 despite the best efforts

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of lgbtq

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activists a court in singapore ruled in

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favor of keeping homosexuality illegal

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jamaica was once known as the most

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homophobic country on earth

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with gay people being lynched by angry

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mobs into the 21st century

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these days we've mainly left up to lgbtq

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campaigners to sort out the trouble that

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the uk left behind

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would these countries be such difficult

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places for queer people if it wasn't for

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the british

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even former prime minister theresa may

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doesn't think so

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in 2018 she said she deeply regrets the

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role that the uk had to play in

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introducing these anti-gay laws to its

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former colonies

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it's a nice gesture although extremely

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belated

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but saying sorry doesn't mean anything

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to the people who've had to live

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in fear in hiding all because of their

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sexual orientation

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some sins you just can't apologize away