According to multiple reports, Gambian
President Yahya Jammeh signed a bill into law in October that
prescribes life in prison for gay sex.
The law calls for life imprisonment for
people repeatedly convicted of having consensual sex with a member of
the same sex. The harsh sentence can also be imposed in cases where
one of the partners is HIV-positive, a minor or disabled. Similar
legislation approved last year in Uganda was struck down by a court
in July on technical grounds.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate,
called the law “draconian.”
“These draconian laws have no place
in the 21st century, and the United States must send a
clear message that the Gambian government cannot trample on the
rights of its LGBT citizens,” Griffin said in a statement. “We
call on the Obama Administration to conduct a full diplomatic review
of the United States' relationship with The Gambia.”
Rodney Ford, a State Department
spokesman, told the Washington
Blade that the U.S. “strongly opposes any legislation that
criminalizes consensual relations between adults.”
“We are especially concerned by the
recent decision by The Gambia's president to sign into law a bill
that provides for punishment up to life imprisonment for consensual
same-sex conduct between adults,” he added.
Gay sex was already illegal in the West
African nation, where violators faced prison sentences of up to 14
years.
Jammeh has a long history of anti-gay
rhetoric; in February he
described gays as “vermin.”