Madonna, below, said she was “shocked and saddened” by a court in Malawi’s decision to sentence a gay couple to 14 years of hard labor in prison, Agence France-Presse reported. After their engagement party was announced on the front page of a newspaper in December, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested. Last week they were convicted of unnatural acts and gross indecency, and given the maximum sentence. In a statement on the Web site of her foundation, Raising Malawi (raisingmalawi.org), Madonna, who has adopted two children from that country, said two innocent men were being sent to prison. She wrote: “As a matter of principle, I believe in equal rights for all people, no matter what their gender, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation. This week, Malawi took a giant step backward.” She asked that the progressive people in Malawi, and around the world, “challenge this decision in the name of human dignity and equal rights for all,” by adding their names to her statement...(nytimes.com)
