LGBT group seeks acceptance

A group representing the LGBT community in the Seychelles is calling for acceptance and recognition by the island state. Spokesperson Ronny Arnephy said the country's laws should be reviewed to make them more inclusive for the LGBT community. A report on the allAfrica site notes that he said the first step in the right direction was taken last year with the decriminalisation of the act of sodomy. The law was introduced in 1955, when the group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean was still a British colony. ‘I know young men who have been slapped by their parents for watching what is considered as shows for women and some are ridiculed for being cross-dressers. We want Seychelles to be a country where all people are accepted and affirmed, regardless of their sexual orientation or their gender,’ Arnephy added.