Samoa lifts ban on gay sex

News from Samoa;

According to The Fiji Times, the Samoa National Olympic Committee recently lifted a ban on gay sex for athletes competing in the upcoming South Pacific Games in August. The memo was published last week and encouraged members not to "embarrass yourself, your family and your country by trying this in the village—[because] it's against the law of God." Committee President Tapasu Leung Wei tried to explain away the statement by saying that the rules represented an "internal memo" not meant to be published, and maintained that Samoa "treats everybody as equal" (New Zealand Herald). But homosexuality is illegal under Samoan law, with penalties for indecency of up to five years in jail. Gay activist Roger To'otooali said that "if [the SNOC] wants to ban sex than they should ban all sexual activity, regardless of sexual orientation."