Libreville, GABON
Lawmakers in Gabon’s
lower house of parliament on Tuesday voted to decriminalise homosexuality,
becoming one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa to reverse a law that
punishes sexual relations between people of the same sex.
Forty-eight members
of parliament backed the proposed initiative by the government to revise an
article of the 2019 law that criminalised homosexuality. Twenty-four voted
against, while 25 others abstained.
“Forty-eight
lawmakers have shaken an entire nation and its customs and traditions,” one Member
of Parliament who voted against the revision, told reporters.
Same-sex marriage is
still not allowed in the central African state, where homosexuality is still
broadly seen as a taboo.
Gabon is one of 73 countries or jurisdictions worldwide that criminalises sex between men, and sex between women, with punishments of up to six months imprisonment and a fine of 5 million FCFA ($8,715), according to London-based rights group Human Dignity Trust. -Africa
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