March 11th

03-11-2013 Queen Elizabeth II of England signs Commonwealth Charter with its commitment to equal rights. “We are implacably opposed to all form of discrimination,” the charter reads. “Whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds.” The reference to ‘other grounds’ is intended to refer to sexual orientation, but was kept ambiguous because more than 42 countries of the 54 within the commonwealth have staunchly antigay views and beliefs originally fostered by British colonial rule.