Ian McKellen has joined a march against the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people in Commonwealth countries, calling it an “appalling situation”. The Lord of the Rings star and activist joined protesters in central London on Saturday to highlight laws in 29 Commonwealth countries where same-sex relationships remain illegal. In six of those countries, LGBTQ+ people face life imprisonment, while Uganda and Nigeria still carry the death penalty. Before addressing the crowd, McKellen told PA Media: “When Britain had an empire, it introduced into countries far away from here the laws that we had in this country, including the laws against gay people. “Those laws have quite rightly been repealed in this country where gay people live freely and openly alongside the rest of the population, but those old laws, those British laws, those foreign laws remain stuck in the remnants of the British empire now known as the Commonwealth.…