William Hague urged to raise gay rights on Middle East trip
Gay rights activists are urging Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise the issue of gay rights on a trip to the Middle East this week.
Mr Hague has asked for questions about foreign policy to be tweeted at him (@WilliamJHague) with a #askFS hashtag which he will answer tomorrow.
In December, gay activists criticised him for not answering their questions in a similar Q&A session.
Mr Hague did not answer most questions on LGBT rights but did say that human rights “are fundamental to this government”.
Dan Littauer, of GayMiddleEast.com said: “I think it’s important to urge readers to ask him questions on twitter.
“There are several cases of people accused of alleged homosexual acts due to be executed in Iran, the incident in Bahrain, and hunting down of LGBT people in Iraq, and generally discrimination and persecution of LGBT people throughout the Middle East and North Africa.”
The Foreign Secretary is on a three-day tour of the region, which includes Tunisia, Israel and Palestine.
He was the subject of rumours about his sexual orientation last summer and was forced to issue a statement denying that his marriage was in trouble.
