48 votes in favour, 24 against and 25 abstentions. At first the Gabonese media published the news that the homosexuality decriminalization proposal in the African country had been rejected because last night it didn’t obtain the absolute majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. Then the important denial: abstentions do not count for a majority- the Assembly decided that homosexuality is no longer a crime. The history of criminalisation of same-sex consensual sexual relations between consenting adults in the Central African state was actually quite short: the rule condemning lesbians, bisexuals and gays to six months in prison only entered the penal code in July 2019 and therefore did not even last a year.
Tolerant traditions…
Decriminalisation was strongly advocated by Julien Nkoghe Bekale- who became Prime Minister in January this year- under the banner of the Parti Démocratique Gabonais (Gabonese Democratic Party; PDG), a centre-right political force that split up in the vote last night. Following the debate in the country, the opposite parliamentarians were much more visible and noisy, even though a more tolerant silent majority prevailed in the House towards sexual minorities.
What really changes is explained by a university professor, who has significantly chosen to remain anonymous: “The government does not want to legalize homosexuality, but to decriminalize it: which are two very different things. With legalization, it would legally consecrate this sexual orientation and grant its rights, while with decriminalization it is simply a matter of not condemning to prison and paying fines to those who have this orientation, without granting them rights.” The teacher said he was in favour of the reform because it “conforms to the tolerant spirit and traditions that prevail in Gabon: discriminating against a person on the basis of his sexual orientation is as abject as discriminating on the basis of the colour of his skin.”
…and intolerant reactions
In the population, however, seems to prevail discontent, fed also by local stars such as the singer Creol, who wrote that she does not want “a Gabon with the rainbow colors of the LGBT community“. Comments on social networks are mostly unedifying: “The people must rise up against this government of fags“, “Don’t you fear the wrath of God? Don’t let them see you in church anymore!“, “God save us, Gabon will become a brothel for homosexuals!“, “Men break into other men, the devil is conquering the children of the Eternal One“… If they wanted to show that decriminalization is not enough, they certainly did it.
Pier Cesare Notaro
translation by Yuma
©2020 Il Grande Colibrì
immagine: Il Grande Colibrì
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