Botswana high court decriminalizes homosexuality

The high court of Botswana Tuesday overturned anti-gay sections of the country’s penal code that criminalized homosexuality for more than a century.

“This victory is a historic landmark for LGBTQ people in Botswana and a positive step toward the inclusion of our community across Africa and the world,” said Tashwill Esterhuizen, a 2017 Human Rights Campaign global innovator who led the Southern Africa Litigation Center’s efforts to litigate this case, in a news release from the organization announcing the June 11 ruling.

HRC director of global partnerships Jean Freedberg called the decision “historic” and praised Botswana, the plaintiff in the case (a gay man known only as L.M.), and the work of the country’s LGBT activists.

“We congratulate Botswana’s LGBTQ advocates and their legal teams who fought vigorously to achieve this victory and honor the courage of the plaintiff in this case whose voice has given hope to the LGBTQ community in Botswana and so many other places across Africa and the world,” said Freedberg in the release.

Since 1885, same-sex relationships have been criminalized under British era colonial rule in three sections of Botswana’s penal code.

L.M. filed a complaint in May 2018 against Botswana’s attorney general challenging the constitutionality of the penal code sections. He claimed that they violated Botswana’s 1966 constitution, which guaranteed him the right to equal protection of the law and freedom from discrimination; the right to liberty; and the right not to be subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment.

In 2017, Botswana’s high court ruled in favor of recognizing gender identity and the registration of LGBT organizations with the government.

In other decriminalization news, the parliament in the small Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan overwhelmingly voted in favor of repealing the country’s colonial era anti-sodomy laws.

The bill needs to be passed by the National Council, the upper chamber. Once passed by the upper chamber it will be sent for royal assent.

Originally published by the Bay Area Reporter.

Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp: 415-517-7239, or Skype: heather.cassell or oitwnews@gmail.com.