Mali moves to criminalize homosexuality with new anti-gay law
Lawmakers in the West African nation of Mali have voted to criminalise homosexuality.
Mali’s National Transitional Council voted 131-1 in favour of the proposed legislation, which, if signed into law by military leaders, who seized power in 2021, would outlaw gay sex between men.
It isn’t yet known what sanctions will be placed on those convicted.
The head of the country’s junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, removed French as one of Mali’s official languages in June last year, and minister of justice and human rights Mamadou Kassogue has previously warned that “there are provisions in our laws that prohibit homosexuality in Mali”, adding: “Anyone who indulges in this practice, or promotes or condones it, will be prosecuted.
“We will not accept our customs and values being violated by people from elsewhere.”
In July, Ghana’s supreme court dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the country’s Criminal Code of 1960, which prohibits same-sex acts – branding them “unnatural carnal knowledge” – with punishment of up to three years in jail.
Under the criminal code, which dates back to British colonial times, LGBTQ+ people in the country face discrimination, but if the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill passes into law, things are only likely to get worse.