Burkina Faso becomes the latest African country to ban homosexuality

Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament has passed a law banning homosexuality, with offenders facing up to five years in prison. 

The Persons and Family Code law, making Burkina Faso the latest in a series of African countries to criminalise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activity, also tightens rules on nationality and stateless people.

The military that took over Burkina Faso in a 2022 coup has grown increasingly intolerant of dissent amid worsening Islamist militant violence in the West African country.

The legislation was passed unanimously by the unelected, 71-member transitional parliament on Monday and is awaiting the signature of military junta leader Ibrahim Traore.

‘The law provides for a prison sentence ranging from two to five years and a fine,’ Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on state television on Monday night.

‘A person who (engages in) homosexual practices … will appear before a judge and, in the event of a repeat offence, be deported if you are not a Burkinabe national,’ he said.

He also said the law goes into effect immediately and condemned  hom0s£xual acts as ‘bizarre behaviour.’

Anti-gay laws are in place in various conservative African countries including Senegal, Uganda and Malawi, though some others, including South Africa, Botswana and Angola, have decriminalised LGBTQ practices or enacted protective measures.

The laws, although criticised by the West, enjoy popularity in the countries where locals and officials have criticised homosexuality as behaviour imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation. 

Burkina Faso has been run by the military following a coup in 2022.

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