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Botswana decriminalizes gay sex in landmark Africa case
Source: Associated Press
Botswana decriminalizes gay sex in landmark Africa case
By CARA ANNA
June 11, 2019
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.
Jubilant activists in the packed courtroom cheered the unanimous decision in the southern African nation that is seen as one of the continent’s most stable and democratic. The ruling came less than a month after Kenya’s High Court had upheld similar sections of its own penal code in another closely watched case.
“Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“Consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain criminalized in at least 67 countries and territories worldwide,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
More than two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa have laws criminalizing gay sex, often holdovers from colonial times. Earlier this year, the southern African nation of Angola decriminalized same-sex activity and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
-snip-
By CARA ANNA
June 11, 2019
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.
Jubilant activists in the packed courtroom cheered the unanimous decision in the southern African nation that is seen as one of the continent’s most stable and democratic. The ruling came less than a month after Kenya’s High Court had upheld similar sections of its own penal code in another closely watched case.
“Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“Consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain criminalized in at least 67 countries and territories worldwide,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
More than two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa have laws criminalizing gay sex, often holdovers from colonial times. Earlier this year, the southern African nation of Angola decriminalized same-sex activity and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/3872487731374ea18b5b27e5fe16105a
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