Gabon lawmakers have approved a bill
that seeks to decriminalize gay sex in the African nation.
The law, approved in 2019, prohibits
sexual relations between members of the same sex.
The National Assembly approved the bill
last week and it cleared the Senate on Monday, Reuters
reported.
The government has not commented on why
it has reversed course. The United States last year began a campaign
to encourage nations to drop their bans.
Seventy-three countries or
jurisdictions around the world have similar laws making gay sex
illegal.
"Gabon now joins African states
such as Seychelles, Angola, Mozambique, and Botswana who have chosen
to rid their lawbooks of archaic provisions which enable
discrimination, violence and harassment against LGBT people,"
Victoria Vasey, legal chief at the London-based Human Dignity Trust,
told Reuters.
The local Roman Catholic Church had
called on senators to vote no on the bill.