Angola finally decriminalizes homosexuality

On the 9th of February 2021 in Angola, the law decriminalizing the ban on homosexual relationships entered into force, after being passed with 155 favourable votes in the Angolan Parliament in 2019. Positively surprisingly, only one deputy voted against the draft and only seven were the abstentions. Before such provision, the Angola Penal Code included dispositions against the so-called “vices against nature”, punishable with imprisonment.    

Most importantly, the bill not only did legalize homosexual unions, but introduced in the Angolan Penal Code dispositions prohibiting any kind of discrimination based on sexual orientation: for instance, in case of firing, defamation or refusal to deliver goods and services. Discrimination grounded on sexual orientation will be severely sanctioned from now on: penalties go from the payment of a mere fine up to two years of imprisonment.   

Furthermore, the revision of the Penal Code is also important for another aspect, besides the guarantee of fundamental rights of LGBTQIA+ people: it constitutes, in fact, the first revision of the Penal Code since the official independence of the country (1975) and a further step towards the elimination of the cultural imposition dating back to the colonial period.   

In fact, before the Portuguese invasion – traceable in the second half of the 19th century – homosexuality was not condemned. The ban on non-binary couples came, effectively, with the Catholic European colonizers, who introduced the now-banned provision in 1886. 

The recently approved law is a great victory, not only for all the human rights activists who fought for it and for the Angolan LGBT community, but for the entire African one. The hope is that the Angolan example might encourage other neighbouring countries to adopt similar provisions (struggles for recognition are going on, for example, in Namibia, Mozambique or Uganda and not only). Of course, Angola is not the first country to introduce such change, if we think about South Africa, for instance – the first African country (and the fifth country in the world) to allow same-sex marriage.   
 

However, too often these recognitions are only formal and do not effectively prevent hate crimes. Activists or LGBT people are still victims of murders and discrimination and, thus, what is needed is also a cultural revolution and education, given that, according to “Associacao Iris Angola” – an organization advocating for LGBT rights, legally recognised in 2018 – the influence of the Catholic Church might have constituted a significant hurdle to the introduction of the above-mentioned provision.  

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that a first step towards actual equality is by law and that the entrance into force of the revision of the Angola Penal Code can be still considered a significant achievement.  

 

Rebecca Marchegiani  

Sources:  

L’omosessualità in Angola è legale

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-53231922

https://www.dw.com/en/as-angola-decriminalizes-homosexuality-where-does-the-african-continent-stand/a-47434461

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