Peru Bans Gay Police

Peru shows signs of slipping backwards into officially approved homophobia, while other nations, including Uruguay, which recently lifted a ban on gay military servicemembers, move forward.

Whereas Uruguay has no integrated its military, Peru's Ministry of the Interior has decided to chuck gay officers off the police force lest they bring "scandal" onto the force and "discredit the image of the institution."

In a press May 26 press release, British LGBT equality leader Peter Tatchell stated, "The British Ambassador to Peru has confirmed that left-of-center Lima government plans to ban people from serving as police officers.

"Hundreds of existing gay and bisexual officers could face the sack," Tatchell added.

The release noted that the new law barring gays from service on the police force is most likely in violation of the nation's constitution.

Peru's Supreme Court tossed a similar law in 2004, but the new measure promises to punish not sexual conduct, but rather the "scandal" that gay sex engaged in by police officers would theoretically occasion.

Tatchell's press release quoted the Ambassador as writing, "We are seeking the views of local human rights groups and the office of the Ombudsman and will be considering with our European Union colleagues what action to take.

Tatchell's press release was based on a report carried by the BBC News that said Peruvian Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas had advanced the new measure, along with several others regulating the conduct of police officers.

Another new regulation holds up a similar punishment for police officers who commit adultery.

Another South American nation, Uruguay, has taken a step in the opposite direction, dispensing with a rule that barred gays from serving in the military.

U.K. newspaper The Guardian noted in a May 15 article that Uruguay's president, Tabare Vazquez, ordered the end of the ban, a relic from the country's 12-year-long dictatorship.

The Guardian quoted Vazquez as saying, "The Uruguayan government does not discriminate against citizens based on their political, ethnic or sexual identity."

The article noted that Peru's new rules were retrograde in comparison not only with Uruguay, but with policies adopted recently in Mexico, Colombia, and Paraguay, which reportedly is also contemplating lifting a ban on gay military personnel.

A gay travel site, GlobalGayz.com, warns sojourners to Peru, "Despite the magnificent scenic and historic wonders throughout Peru, from the stunning carved stones at Machu Picchu in the high Andes to the fascinating gigantic Nazco Lines near the ocean, unseen feelings run strong and hostile toward same-sex love and behavior."

The site goes on to recount how in 1993, then-president Alberto Fujimora fired 117 diplomats, justifying the mass firing by saying that they were gay.

This claim was disputed, however, by counter-claims that most of the 117 who were fired were, in fact, heterosexual.

Added the GlobalGayz article, "It is fittingly ironic that Fujimora was dismissed from office in 2000 for being "morally incompetent" and now faces indictment for corruption."