Interventions by Secretaries-General In July 2011 it was reported that the Commonwealth Secretary General,
Kamalesh Sharma, had spoken out against discrimination towards people who were gay or lesbian while on a visit to
Australia, arguing that “vilification and targeting on grounds of sexual orientation are at odds with the values of the Commonwealth”. This was the first time that such a senior Commonwealth figure had spoken publicly on the issue. Sharma re-emphasised the point in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting:
Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness
Patricia Scotland, who took office on 1 April 2016, committed herself to using the first two years of her tenure to promote decriminalization of homosexuality in the Commonwealth countries that list homosexual behaviour as a crime. However, she has suggested that the way forward needs to be built through establishing consensus:
Perth Commonwealth Conference The British human rights campaigner
Peter Tatchell and the South Australian Labor MLC
Ian Hunter called for LGBT rights to be put on the agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in
Perth at the end of October 2011. This found further support when the Perth Member of the Legislative Assembly, John Hyde, called on Premier
Colin Barnett to use his access to CHOGM delegates to address the issue of human rights for gay men and lesbians. Finally, it was confirmed that the Australian Foreign Minister,
Kevin Rudd, would intervene at the October meeting with a request to scrap anti-LGBT laws. The discussion on LGBT rights at the Perth meeting received a muted response from most of the attending delegates despite strong support from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Agreement could not be reached to publish a report by Eminent Persons which looked at the Commonwealth's future relevance and demanded that all member states that outlawed homosexuality lift their bans.
Malta Conference In November 2015, Baroness Verma, Under-Secretary of State at the UK's Department for International Development, announced that she would be chairing a round table on LGBT issues at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta. Subsequently, in 2016 the Prime Minister of Malta,
Joseph Muscat, urged Commonwealth countries to remove anti-LGBT laws while speaking at the Service of Celebration for Commonwealth Day at
Westminster Abbey. Queen Elizabeth, Head of the Commonwealth, was present. In June 2017, the Commonwealth approved the accreditation of the Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN), making it the first LGBTI-focussed organisation to be officially accredited. Accreditation means that Equality Network activists will benefit from increased access to, participation in and information about Commonwealth matters.
United Kingdom The British Prime Minister,
David Cameron, indicated his support:
Malawi subsequently had £19 million of budget support suspended by the UK following various infractions including poor progress on human rights and media freedoms and concern over the government's approach to rights of its LGBT citizens. This was later reinforced by David Cameron, who emphasised that those receiving UK aid should "adhere to proper human rights". In April 2018, Britain hosted the Heads of Government meeting in London. The British Prime Minister,
Theresa May, said she regretted that many of the current laws across Commonwealth countries that criminalised homosexuality were a direct legacy of British colonialism; and offered to support any government that wanted to reform its legislation. More than 100,000 people had signed a petition calling for the issue of LGBT rights to be raised at the meeting. ==Commonwealth LGBT advocacy organisations==