• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Botswana Scraps Anti-Gay Laws in Landmark Decision

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
06/11/19
in Featured, World
Demonstrators march in an LGBT pride parade in Uganda.

Demonstrators march in an LGBT pride parade in Uganda. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Botswana’s High Court ruled Tuesday in favor of decriminalizing homosexuality, handing down a landmark verdict greeted with joy by gay rights campaigners.

Under the country’s 1965 penal code, homosexuality is punishable by a jail term of up to seven years.

But Judge Michael Elburu declared it was time to “set aside” the “provisions of a Victorian era” and ordered the laws be amended.

In a courtroom packed with activists, the judge declared that the current laws oppressed a minority of the population.

“There’s nothing reasonable in discriminating,” he said.

“We say the time has come that private, same sexuality must be decriminalized.”

“It is a variety of human sexuality,” he said.

Jubilation erupted in the courtroom as the decision was announced, with some campaigners kissing, while others applauded or waved the rainbow flag – a symbol of gay rights.

“We are making history so that people may know who they are and express their feelings, express love because God talks about love,” an ecstatic Thabo Otukile told AFP outside the court.

Scenes of joy as decriminalization Of homosexuality made official in Botswana #repeal164 pic.twitter.com/pBch7o6kdh

— Ryan Lenora Brown (@ryanlenorabrown) June 11, 2019

In Geneva, the U.N. agency UNAIDS added to the applause.

“This is a historic ruling for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Botswana,” Gunilla Carlsson, UNAIDS’ executive director, said in a statement.

“It restores privacy, respect and dignity to the country’s LGBT people, and it is a day to celebrate pride, compassion and love.”


‘Groundbreaking’ Ruling 

Activists had launched the legal battle after the Home Affairs ministry rejected an application to register the Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) organization.

The main applicant, identified only by initials LM for security reasons, challenged sections 164 and 167 of the penal code.

LEGABIBO chief Anna Mmolai-Chalmers was overwhelmed by the outcome saying it was the culmination of “twenty years hard work” and signaled “the end of the exclusion.”

“For a lot of us it has not sunk in,” she said.

In March, the court postponed a ruling on the issue, sparking fears that the much-awaited decision could be delayed indefinitely.

But on Tuesday, Judge Elburu stressed that the country’s highest judicial body took the matter deeply seriously.

“Sexual orientation is human, it’s not a question of fashion,” he said. “The question of private morality should not be the concerns of the law.”

Anneke Meerkotter, of the Southern Africa Litigation Center (SALC), described the judgment as “groundbreaking,” adding that it allows LGBT rights to be protected under the charter.

“Culture cannot be excused to violate constitutional rights. The judgment showed the world how it can be done,” she said.


International Resonance 

Last month, Kenya’s High Court upheld laws against same-sex relations, dealing a blow to activists campaigning to roll back anti-gay laws and stigma which are widespread in Africa.

Many Kenyans hailed the Botswana decision on social media saying it gave them hope for their country.

“As a queer activist in Kenya, after the disappointment of #Repeal162 ruling, the #Repeal164 ruling is the turbo charge my engine needed to continue the fight. Congratulations to all LGBTI in Botswana, in Africa,” Kenyan activist Gigi Louisa tweeted.

At present 28 out of 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Botswana, have laws penalizing same-sex relationships, according to Human Rights Watch.

The death penalty is on the books, under sharia, in Mauritania, Sudan, and northern Nigeria, although there have been no known executions in recent times.

In southern Somalia, gay men are believed to have been put to death in territory ruled by the Al Shabaab jihadist group.

However, Angola, Mozambique, and Seychelles have scrapped anti-gay laws in recent years.

Rights groups say many laws punishing homosexuality in Africa date from the colonial area. Even in countries where they are not implemented, their existence on the statute books entrenches discrimination and encourages harassment.


AIDS Fight 

UNAIDS said decriminalization would help the fight against AIDS.

The large southern African country has a population of only 2.3 million, but is struggling with one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world.

According to UNAIDS figures, 22.8 percent of adults aged between 15 and 49 in Botswana are living with the AIDS virus.

Outreach worker Thato Game Tsie said scrapping the anti-gay laws would help the community access health care and treatment more easily.

“There are many services we require as gay men that some nurses are not aware of, and if we go to a government hospital there will be those negative comments said to you,” Game Tsie told AFP.

“So we just want to be free to access these services.”

Legal and political steps in favor of liberalization had come before Tuesday’s historic decision.

In 2016, the country’s appeals court ruled that the government was wrong to refuse to register an organization representing homosexuals and other minority sexual groups.

Last December, President Mokgweetsi Masisi addressed a meeting on gender-based violence, saying there are “many people of same sex relationships in this country who have been violated and have also suffered in silence.”

“Just like other citizens, they deserve to have their rights protected,” he said.


More on the Subject 

Anti-Gay Laws Widespread in Africa Despite Gains

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

No corruption campain billboard, Lake Kivu, Gisenye, Rwanda.
Opinion

In Africa, Corruption Remains a Barrier to Investment

by Herman Cohen
August 8, 2024
A woman plants some seeds as part of a tree plantation project to reforest the Sahel
Environment

‘Human-Induced’ Climate Change Behind Deadly Sahel Heatwave: Study

by Staff Writer with AFP
April 18, 2024
Man holding up a colored LGBT flag
World

France Sets Up Embassy Fund to Defend LGBTQ Rights

by Staff Writer
September 19, 2023
African women working in a factory
World

Algeria Announces $1B for African Development

by Staff Writer
February 20, 2023
Central African Republic
World

C.Africa Special Court Sentences Three for Crimes Against Humanity

by Staff Writer
October 31, 2022
Agnes Callamard
World

Amnesty Head Calls for ‘New Mandela’ in Africa, Denounces Shrinking Freedoms

by Staff Writer
October 28, 2022
Next Post
A man looks at his phone on the corniche in Qatar capital Doha

Is the Blockade of Qatar a Blessing in Disguise?

Yemenis stand at the site of a Saudi air strike against Huthi rebels near Sanaa Airport in March, 2015

Conditions for Civilians in Yemen Worsen After Stockholm Deal: Report

Recommended

Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
An Iranian walking in front of a wall painting of the Iranian flag in Tehran

How Much Damage Has Israel Inflicted on Iran’s Nuclear Program?

June 16, 2025
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on November 19, 2017

Israel MPs to Vote on Opposition Bid to Dissolve Parliament

June 11, 2025
Two protesters wave Mexican flags while standing on a vandalized Waymo vehicle during a demonstration in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025, following a series of aggressive federal immigration operations in the city.

Unrest in Los Angeles Over Immigration Raids as Troops Sent by Trump Fan Out

June 9, 2025
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on August 4, 2020. Photo: Drew Angerer/AFP.

US Steel, Aluminum Tariff Hikes to Take Effect Wednesday: W. House

June 4, 2025
textile workers in Kenya

Workers’ Rights in ‘Free Fall’ Globally: Report

June 2, 2025

Opinion

Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
A Black Lives Matter mural in New York City.

Fuhgeddaboudit! America’s Erasure of History

April 2, 2025
Bust of Deputy Rubens Paiva in the Chamber of Deputies

Democratic Brazilians Are Still Here

March 18, 2025
A woman from Guatemala

Dispatch From Central America

January 28, 2025
US President Donald Trump

Dear Trump Supporters: Is This the America You Wanted?

January 28, 2025
Putin talks to Trump in Hamburg

From Roosevelt to Trump: The Complicated Legacy of Personal Diplomacy

November 15, 2024
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post