Tag Archives: Mozambique

Mozambique officially makes gay sex legal | Gay Star News

New law will make clear that security measures cannot be taken against those who engage in ‘vices against nature’

29 JUNE 2015 | BY JOE MORGAN

Lambda

Gay sex was officially made legal in Mozambique today (29 June).

The southern African nation has officially been added to the list of countries with no law against same-sex relations, 180 days after the government agreed to the revised Penal Code.

Legislators specifically revised the penal code that allowed ‘security measures’ to be taken against people ‘who habitually engage in vices against nature’.

This was used to discriminate against and prosecute LGBTI people that could have sent them to a workhouse for up to three years.

A hangover from when it was colonized for the Portguese, the law was rarely enforced and it was considered by many to be a meaningless clause in the statute books.

via Mozambique officially makes gay sex legal | Gay Star News.

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In Mozambique, decolonization includes decriminalizing gay sex

The persecution of gay men and lesbians in much of Africa is a tragic hangover of the colonial period. It is not homosexuality that was introduced by the colonists and missionaries, but homophobia. Historians and social anthropologists have amassed extensive empirical evidence that a wide range of same – sex relationship patterns and gender variant behaviours were common-place in many traditional societies in all regions of the continent. An ILGA guide to LGBT rights worldwide has noted that only eight countries worldwide have never made homosexual activity illegal: ALL are in Africa.

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So it is, that when Mozambique undertook a comprehensive review of its statute book to remove all outdated colonial laws, one of those discarded was a colonial law that allowed “security measures” to be taken against those engaging in so-called “social perversion” .

Gay Star News has the details.

Mozambique officially makes gay sex legal

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