Government to appeal historic gay ruling

Botswana's Government will appeal the June High Court ruling that decriminalised homosexuality. A SowetanLIVE report notes that Abraham Keetshabe, the government's chief legal adviser, said he would take the case to the Court of Appeals which ‘erred in arriving at (its) conclusion’. Under Botswana's 1965 penal code, homosexuality is punishable by a jail term of up to seven years. However, Judge Michael Elburu ordered the laws be amended in a 11 June ruling that was widely hailed. The previous month, Kenya's High Court upheld laws against same-sex relations, shocking activists campaigning to roll back anti-gay laws and stigma still widespread in Africa.

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