Question: Which country has decriminalized homosexuality?
(a) Chad
(b) Niger
(c) Zambia
(d) Angola
Answer: (d)
Related facts:
- Angola has decriminalized homosexuality after shedding the divisive “vices against nature” provision in its law, widely interpreted to be a ban on homosexual conduct as per reported by Amnesty International.
- Taking things one step further, the government has also prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation. And so anyone refusing to employ or provide services to individuals based on their sexual orientation may face up to two years in prison.
- The changes came on January 23 as Angola’s Parliament adopted its first New Penal Code since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and removed the provision, inherited from its Portuguese colonizers.
- While there have been no known prosecutions under the law, provisions like this one curtail the rights and freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, subjecting their intimate lives to unwarranted scrutiny.
- Last year Angola gave legal status to Iris Angola (country’s only gay rights lobby group) which was established in 2013 – a move that can now be seen as a forerunner for this latest step toward equality.
Links:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/23/angola-decriminalizes-same-sex-conduct