Botswana appeals urt upholds lg that crimalised gay sex | Rters

Contents:

• A W FOR GAY RIGHTS BOTSWANA IS A ‘STEP AGAST THE CURRENT’ AI
• BOTSWANA APPEALS URT UPHOLDS LG THAT CRIMALISED GAY SEX
• BOTSWANA SCRAPS GAY SEX LAWS BIG VICTORY FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS AI
• BOTSWANA PRINT VOWS TO HONOUR GAY RIGHTS JUDGMENT
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) TRAVEL TO BOTSWANA

A W FOR GAY RIGHTS BOTSWANA IS A ‘STEP AGAST THE CURRENT’ AI

Gay rights mpaigners exprsed joy at the Botswana urt of appeal’s cisn to uphold a lg that crimalised same-sex relatnships, sayg the untry’s judiciary had set an example for other Ain ernment had appealed a 2019 lg that crimalisg homosexualy was unnstutnal. The lg had been hailed as a major victory for gay rights mpaigners on the ntent, followg an unsuccsful attempt Kenya to repeal lonial-era laws crimalisg gay sex. ”Before the 2019 lg, gay sex was punishable by up to seven years jail.

I have all sorts of emotns, but the bottom le is I am really happy, ” said Cae Youngman, head of policy and legal advocy for the anisatn Lbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana. Homosexualy is illegal many Ain untri, wh nvictns rryg a ath sentence some stat.

Tshekiso Tebalo/Agence France-Prse — Getty ImagJune 11, 2019In a momento se that prompted celebratn among gay people and civil rights activists around the ntent of Ai, Botswana’s High Court overturned laws on Tuday that crimalized the lg was livered only weeks after the High Court of Kenya upheld laws that crimalize gay sex, unrsrg the wi differenc how L.

BOTSWANA APPEALS URT UPHOLDS LG THAT CRIMALISED GAY SEX

Said, “We are not lookg for people to agree wh homosexualy but to be tolerant.

Deliverg the lg, Judge Michael Lebu said the laws were “discrimatory” toward gay people and vlated Botswana’s Constutn, argug that overturng them was a matter of protectg human do the rt of Ai pare? ]South Ai beme the first natn on the ntent to crimalize homosexualy 1998, when the Johannburg High Court led that the natn’s sodomy laws vlated the untry’s newly adopted, post-apartheid 2010, several more untri Southern Ai have crimalized same-sex relatns, cludg Mozambique, Angola and Lotho. In 2006, South Ai legalized gay marriage, beg the fifth untry the world to do chang often followed general efforts to reform the penal and mpaigns by public health officials to unter the spread of H.

V., said Neela Ghoshal, a senr rearcher wh Human Rights said that broad societal movements, such as the end of apartheid South Ai the 1990s or the Arab Sprg uprisg that began Tunisia 2010, had also created space for gay rights movements to spe South Ai’s tolerant laws, gay and transgenr people rema the target of vlence there, exemplifyg the wi dispari some Ain untri between what the legal says and how the thori choose to enforce some untri, Ms. Ghoshal said, longstandg laws crimalizg homosexualy are not enforced at all, while untri that have never had anti-gay laws, there remas social stigma, vlence and noted that Kenya — where the High Court upheld laws that crimalize gay sex last month — people the pal were largely tolerant while those parts of the untrysi tend to be more ernments have taken an active role crackg down on gay people.

BOTSWANA SCRAPS GAY SEX LAWS BIG VICTORY FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS AI

Ghoshal said, movements for gay rights were stifled after the Arab Sprg by the rise of Print Abl Fattah el-Sisi, and the police began to target activists. Siarly, Uganda’s legislature has adopted hostile posns toward gay people, part fluenced by nservative evangelil Christian misters, said Adotei Akwei, the puty director for advocy and ernment relatns for Amnty Internatnal.

A Ugandan urt stck down a punive anti-gay law 2014, but left open the possibily that the measure uld be Akwei said that the Botswana cisn was “a wonrful step agast the current” a ntent that largely “has had a very nservative and hostile view of L. Many of the anti-gay laws have been place sce the 19th century, when Ai was rved up to loni by European powers.

Homosexualy had been illegal Botswana sce the late 1800s, for stance, when the terrory was led by Bra and lled Bechuanaland.

BOTSWANA PRINT VOWS TO HONOUR GAY RIGHTS JUDGMENT

Bra had crimalized male homosexualy sce 1553, and extend siar polici to the loni veloped around the the time Bra began to crimalize homosexualy, 1967, anti-gay stigmas and laws had bee well entrenched former loni, often cludg piec of the Victorian language that the Brish left behd. Around the world, more than half of the natns that crimalize homosexualy were once Brish Ain ernments have found the laws eful, Mr.

Conservative relig nstuenci, both Christian and Mlim, have also fluenced some ernments: While evangelil Christiany is fluential Uganda, nservative Islam has helped shape attus toward gay people Sudan and Somalia, where homosexualy is punishable by there prospects for further change? Many Kenyans hold strong anti-gay views — 90 percent of Kenyans said society should not accept homosexualy, acrdg to a 2013 Pew survey — and the judg last month’s cisn Kenya argued that homosexualy clashed wh tradnal attempt to strike down Botswana’s anti-sodomy laws failed 2003, but activists ma “cremental” progrs later, said Anna Mmolai-Chalmers of Lbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana. Botswana, which is regard as one of Ai’s most stable mocraci, changed s employment act to prevent discrimatn agast LGBT people 2010, and the High Court led favor of a transgenr man who sought legal regnn as a male last September, Print Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana exprsed tentative support for gay people, sayg, “Jt like other cizens, they serve to have their rights protected.

GABORONE, Nov 29 (Rters) - Botswana's Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a 2019 lg that crimalised gay sex, a cisn hailed by gay muny as tablishg the southern Ain untry as a "te mocracy"'s cisn effect stck off two sectns of the penal that had outlawed the 2019 High Court lg, which was praised by ternatnal anisatns and activists, engagg gay sex Botswana was punishable by up to seven years state had argued on appeal that the penal outlawed gay sex and there was no evince that people's attu towards homosexualy had changed.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

Readg the unanimo cisn by five judg, Court of Appeal Judge Print Ian Kirby said the crimalisatn of nsensual same-sex activi vlated the nstutnal rights of lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr persons to digny, liberty, privacy and equaly. Wearg rabow-loured masks, members of the gay muny at the urt reacted wh loud cheers.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) TRAVEL TO BOTSWANA

Fally the state will have no bs what two nsentg adults do their privacy, " Sethunya Mosime, chairperson the Lbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO), said outsi the urt. The lg jt a month after Kenya’s high urt upheld s laws crimalizg homosexualy. The se was brought to urt March by Letsweletse Motshidiemang, a 21-year-old stunt at the Universy of Botswana, who argued that society had changed and that homosexualy was more wily accepted, lol media reported.

While homophobic attus ntue to prevail parts of the untry, Botswana’s LGBTQ activists and supporters have marked some victori for the movement recent years.

Tudays’ historic lg is w for LGBTQ activists and supporters a untry – and regn – where homosexualy remas largely taboo. Out of 54 Ain untri, at least 31 of them have enacted laws makg illegal to have gay sex, acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA). Mozambique removed anti-gay laws 2015, while São Tomé and Cape Ver have also abolished laws crimalizg gay relatnships.