In Three Weeks, Being Gay Won’t Be a Crime Anymore in Mozambique

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — On a continent where being gay is still overwhelmingly considered a crime, Mozambique is taking a rare progressive step forward.

The country’s new penal code, which removes articles criminalizing homosexuality, will come into effect June 29 having been signed into law late last year. This means that no longer will “security measures” be allowed against people “who habitually engage in vices against nature.”

While the Mozambican LGBT rights group Lambda is cheering this move as “a victory,” the group had also wanted the new penal code to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to MambaOnline. As well, Mozambique’s government has persistently refused to register the group as a non-governmental organization.

But with the change to its penal code, Mozambique is bucking a trend. Uganda, Nigeria and the Gambia have all recently passed harsher anti-gay laws.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2015/06/three-weeks-gay-wont-crime-anymore-mozambique/