Watch Botswana’s queer community rejoice as cruel bid to re-criminalise gay sex fails

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12/5/21

The LGBT+ community in Botswana, and indeed around the world, breathed a huge sigh of relief on Monday (29 November) after the country’s Court of Appeal upheld the 2019 ruling that decriminalised gay sex. Now, in a touching video shared on Twitter by Openly, you can watch the immediate aftermath of members of Botswana’s LGBT+ community hearing the news and celebrating this historic win. In the video, which has been shared nearly 2,000 times, people can be seen rejoicing, waving flags and cheering at the result. Others seem overcome with emotion, embracing each other in floods of tears. Announcing the court’s unanimous decision, Court of Appeal judge president Ian Kirby said sections of the penal code banning same-sex relations “have outlived their usefulness, and serve only to incentivise law enforcement agents to become key-hole peepers and intruders into the private space of citizens”. Prior to the 2019 decriminalisation, homosexuality had been banned in the country since 1965 and offenders could face up to seven years in prison if caught engaging in homosexual acts. Botswana is one of only a handful of African countries to have decriminalised homosexuality including South Africa, Mozambique, the Seychelles, Angola and Gabon.

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