Two years ago, the Cook Islands Parliament removed "indecent acts between men" and sodomy from a draft Crimes Bill. MPs in the Cook Islands have done a u-turn on promises to decriminalise homosexuality, under pressure from the churches. Cook Islands is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. COOK ISLANDS NEWS Cook Islands Party MP Tingika Elikana: "We are still going forward in those matters, nobody has been prosecuted ... but having that in the law books is probably a deterrent to people to come out in the open." Te Tiare Association, the Cook Islands' only lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBTQI) community group, had previously welcomed the decision to decriminalise homosexuality.

Source: Stuff November 02, 2019 21:00 UTC