Same-sex ban officially removed

Botswana has officially removed the remaining colonial-era provisions that criminalised consensual same-sex intimacy, more than six years after the courts first struck them down. The government published the amendment in March, removing paragraphs (a) and (c) of section 164 of the Penal Code, which had covered so-called ‘unnatural offences’. The Citizen reports that the change leaves only bestiality under that section, bringing the written law into line with the 2019 High Court ruling that decriminalised homosexuality and the 2021 Court of Appeal decision that upheld it. The change was made by Attorney-General and Law Revision Commissioner Dick Bayford, who found that criminalising consensual same-sex activity violated constitutional rights to dignity, liberty, privacy and equality. Legabibo, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) group in Botswana, welcomed the move as a long-overdue reform. It said the old provisions had fuelled stigma, discrimination and fear, even after the courts had already ruled against them.

Meanwhile, a same-sex couple in the country is still challenging the country’s Marriage Act in court, arguing that it denies them the right to marry, with the case due back in the High Court in July. Bonolo Selelo and Tsholofelo Kumile have taken their government to court, arguing that the Marriage Act discriminates against them by failing to allow civil same-sex marriages. The Citizen notes that the couple said the law denies them equal protection and blocks access to the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage, including economic security, inheritance and the power to make medical decisions for one another.