Angola: Decriminalisation of homosexuality to ‘deepen debate’ – Association

Freire said homosexuality “did not stop being a crime” just because of the government’s move to decriminalise it, saying that culturally the country had Christian values that were “rooted” and which were against LGBT rights.

He said homosexuality had “never been a problem” in Angola but that society had evolved and that that would lead eventually to the discussion on same-sex marriage among other issues.

Angola’s new penal code, approved on Wednesday by the country’s parliament, has lifted a ban on homosexuality, a move welcomed by Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

The new laws adopted are part of its first new penal code since gaining independence from Portugal in 1975.

Angola’s provision from 1886 included that measures would be applied to those who practised “vices against nature.”

The new penal code also defines the prohibition of discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation.

Under the new law, an employer refusing to employ someone based on their sexual orientation could face up to two years in prison.

However, the country’s new penal code doesn’t include any clear measures regarding the marriage of same-sex couples.

This is the second time the government of president João Lourenço, who came into power in September 2017, has approved a measure against sexual orientation discrimination, after legalising the Íris Angola association, which defends LGBT rights, in June 2018.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday congratulated Angola’s decision to decriminalise homosexuality, saying it had “finally shed the divisive ‘vices against nature’ provision in its law.”

The organisation added that there were still 69 countries around the world that criminalise homosexual behaviours.