Switzerland divided over new law against homophobia

FOR GAY rights campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, the new law being voted on in a referendum in Switzerland on Sunday might have stopped him getting beaten up four decades ago.

“And maybe I would not have been laughed at when I went to the police,” said the 71-year-old, who believes the law will be “an added safeguard against homophobia”.

The new law would widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.

The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018.

But the populist rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a small party based on Christian values, are opposed.