Botswana's High Court on Tuesday struck
down a colonial-era law that prohibited consensual same-sex sexual
relations in the African nation.
Violators faced up to seven years in
prison. A three-judge panel unanimously declared the law
unconstitutional.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
largest LGBT rights advocate in the United States, cheered the news,
calling the ruling “historic.”
“Today's historic decision by
Botswana's High Court puts an end to a law that discriminated against
and violated the most fundamental human rights of an entire group of
people,” HRC's Jean Freedberg said in a statement. “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.”
Homosexuality remains mostly taboo in
Africa, where gay sex is criminalized in 31 out of 54 nations,
according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and
Intersex Association (ILGA).