Angola has decriminalised homosexuality

Angola just ended its colonial-era gay sex ban

Angola has decriminalised homosexuality, lifting an archaic ban on same-sex relationships and introducing anti-discrimination protections.

A new law overturned a ban on same-sex relationships which was inherited from when the country was a Portuguese colony. The ban described same-sex relationships as a “vice against nature”.

Activist Jean-Luc Romero-Michel tweeted that the law was a “great step forward” in the fight against state-sponsored discrimination against the LGBT+ community in the Southern African nation.

He wrote: “The law decriminalising homosexuality adopted in Angola in 2019 took effect today.

“Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is now reprehensible and even punishable by prison.

“A great step forward for human rights which calls for others.”

The new law also prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sexuality.

The changes were passed in January 2019 after 155 of Angola’s lawmakers passed a bill to update their penal code, but were not signed into law by the country’s president until November 2020.

Source: PinkNews