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Can you imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning to discover that it was suddenly illegal for you to be you? That the law said because you had blue eyes, or were short or because you wrote with your left hand you could go to jail.
If it's hard to picture, just take a look at this short video released today on the internet. There's a guy being beaten up who could so easily be you. Or maybe you could be the woman being subjected to all that verbal abuse.
The images had a really profound impact on me because for millions of people like me who just happen to be gay it's not some grotesque Kafkaesque horror story. It's the every day reality of their lives.
The character I'm best known for - Captain Jack in Torchwood - spends his life fighting every kind of threat to humanity you could think of. That's all fantasy, of course, but this is real. People are being killed and many, many more live in daily fear for their lives. And the threat comes from something that is much harder to fight than fictional aliens - homophobia based on prejudice, hatred and ignorance.
The video has been launched by an inspirational new global LGBT rights charity called the Kaleidoscope Trust. When they gave me the figures for just how many countries still make it a crime to be a gay I could scarcely believe it. No fewer than 78 states around the world criminalise homosexuality. In five of them the maximum penalty is death.
When we demand our rights to complete equality under the law, including the right to marry, we need to remember that for literally millions of gay men and women the right not be beaten up, arrested or even killed would be a massive step forward.
And don't think the situation worldwide is gradually getting better. I wish it were.
In Nigeria a new law that claims to be about the 'defence' of marriage not only bans gay unions, it makes any campaigning for LGBT rights punishable by five years in prison. In parts of the country, where Sharia law applies, the punishment for homosexuality is already death by stoning.
Uganda's notorious 'Kill the Gays' bill was amended under international pressure to remove the death penalty, but it will still make it a crime not to report homosexuals to the police. And for gay men and women themselves the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
Just this week in Ukraine they are voting on a law to make all 'promotion' of homosexuality illegal. Local activists think it will be against the law even to say the word 'gay' in public. Ukraine was the first ex-Soviet republic to decriminalise homosexuality. Now they are planning to throw gay people in prison once again.
Millions of us will be in London this week celebrating 'World Pride'. There will be a lot of partying and a lot of fun, but Pride now carries a serious message too. It is a simple one. LGBT rights are human rights and human rights are LGBT rights. Hillary Clinton spelt that out in a brave and eloquent speech to the United Nations last year. Tomorrow she is being recognised by a special award from Pride London and the Kaleidoscope Trust. But today - American Independence Day - is an appropriate occasion to remember that freedom can't be taken for granted. It has to be fought for. And once won it has to be protected at all costs.
The freedom to express yourself and be who you are is a fundamental one. As long as there are people just like us who are suffering because their basic human rights are being denied we all have a duty to speak out.
I get up on stage night after night and can sing my heart out and nobody can stop me. But what if it was illegal for me to want to sing? Just think of something that is so fundamental to your nature that you couldn't change it even if you wanted to. Now imagine if that - whatever it is - turned you into a criminal.
I hope you'll take a look at the video and share it with your friends. And add your name to a campaign that has a simple message for all of us, gay, straight or whatever. It should never be illegal for you to be you.
To find out how you can save lives the lives of persecuted gay people across the world, visit www.kaleidoscopetrust.com
To see more about John Barrowman go to www.johnbarrowman.com
To be kept up to date on this issue, follow the Kaleidoscope Trust on Twitter at @kaleidoscope_T
Follow John Barrowman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Team_Barrowman
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And yes, there are straight events. I've just come from an equivalent of a straight parade in Tambov, Russia. It's a holiday for straight married families with children. I did not broadcast that I was a single mother because I didn't want people to look down at my child like she was second-rate.
In St Pete gay pride was cancelled because straight married folk were scared their children would turn gay. Straight people (and honestly, some gay ones, too) often think that just because someone refuses to lie about their sexuality and do the same thing that straight couples do, they want to take away our "straight" rights. It's mind-boggling how people are scared of perceived non-existent threats when there are so many real problems. There are no "straight" or "gay" rights, we should all have the exact same rights.
Everyone should be just who they are.
People are born straight/ gay/ bi/ transgender, just as people are born with the colour of their skin, or male or female. It is not a choice. We are all people. As long as you aren't going out and murdering or harming someone, then just be who you are.
Why should two people who love each other not marry, whatever their gender. Marriage is an expression of two PEOPLES love for each other, man or woman, gay or straight.
To the same end, as long as a child is brought up in a loving and supportive environment, who cares if he or she has a Mum and Dad, two Mum's, two Dad's, or just one parent. There are too many kids out there who are abused by a 'traditional' family, as long as a child is raised in love that is the main thing.
Everyone has the right to be who they are, and to celebrate who they are.
We are all people together. Xxx.
I just accept people as they are, not what they used to be, or for what others think they should be.
I have no interest in their sexuality, as long as they are happy, then I am happy for them.
But I do wonder just what the reaction would be if, and it's a big IF as there is probably a law against it, someone organised a 'Straight Pride' march or Demo.
At what point, does anyone think, will people just accept that everyone is different and just get on with living.
One of the biggest problems that comes to the surface when this subject arises is the inequality of it all.
There is bigotry on both sides. It is illegal for a shop, bar, restaurant etc. to refuse service on the grounds of sexuality. But there are Bars, for instance, that advertise the fact that they are 'Gay Bars'. If I owned a Bar and advertised it as a 'Straight Bar' I would be arrested, and rightly so, under the Sex Discrimination Act.
It is this inequality that annoys so many 'straight' people.
The sooner people learn to 'live and let live' the better.
But I must admit that those who attend that Gay Pride marches and gatherings sure do know how to have a great time
'Uganda's notorious 'Kill the Gays' bill was amended under international pressure to remove the death penalty, but it will still make it a crime not to report homosexuals to the police. And for gay men and women themselves the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.'
This wrong. The death penalty has NOT been amended. Instead the part of the bill which invoked the death penalty has been replaced by a paragraph which refers to ANOTHER piece of already enacted legislation, where the proscribed punishment is, guess what - the DEATH PENALTY!
For an in-depth review of the progress of this horrific bill, please check out this website which has been closely following the news:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/slouching-toward-kampala
Thanks John Barrowman, for your excellent article - I've been looking at the materials from Kaleidoscope, and they are extremely enlightening.
Additionally, you probably have met other gay men and women without knowing it. Nobody seems to agree on the statistics, but even the lowest estimates I can find from studies say that LGBT people make up around 3 percent of the population. So it's likely that one in every thirty or so people you meet has an 'alternative' sexual or gender identity.
Over the years I realised I was bi and had a handful of girlfriends but I prefer guys on the whole. I've watched a lot of programmes on TV about “gayness” and I've decided that my sexuality could have gone one way or the other with with a tweek of chemistry in the womb. The product of this is a 60 year old woman who's happy with her 3rd husband, has 2 sons; rides an 1100cc Bulldog; read sci-fi; watches superhero movies; and works with computers. On the other hand I love pretty dresses, always wear my slap to go out, adore my red shoes and am waiting to finally give my second granddaughter a proper cuddle.
I try to imagine what it would be like if women were banned from riding bikes; it's isn't important but it's one of the things that defines me. It shouldn't be important to anyone else and the thought that some fanatic could cause my death because of it is simply appalling.