A legal bid to recognise same-sex marriage in Botswana has sparked strong opposition from churches and cultural organizations, which argue that such a move contradicts the country’s traditions, cultural values, and predominantly Christian beliefs.
The groups have urged the courts to reject the application, insisting that marriage should remain exclusively between a man and a woman.
The case is expected to reignite debate over LGBTQ+rights in Botswana, where same-sex relations were decriminalised in 2019 but same-sex marriages are not legally recognised.
Same-sex relationships in the country were decriminalised by Botswana’s High Court back in 2019. Before then, it was punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Botswana is one of the 22 African countries, including Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda, that have legalized same-sex relations, reversing colonial-era laws.
Botswana is the only one of three countries in the continent that have anti- discrimination protections for LGBTQ+people in place, alongside Mauritius and South Africa. The latter is also the only African country that allows same-sex marriages.
In April this year, Botswana officially removed its anti-sodomy law, closing the chapter on a colonial-era provision that criminalized same-sex intimacy.
However, Section 164 of the country’s Penal Code had already been ruled unconditional in 2019 by the High Court of Botswana, with Judge Micheal Leburu saying at the time: “Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized”.
-9News Nigeria.
