Burkina Faso Moves to Outlaw Homosexuality

Burkina Faso’s military government has taken the regressive step of criminalising same-sex intimacy, ironically harkening back to colonial-era attitudes.

While African countries have typically sought to shed the negative influences of their former colonial masters, many continue to uphold their colonial-era laws against homosexuality, misguidedly and uncritically believing these represent African values.

Meanwhile, Burkina Faso, which has never criminalised homosexuality, is set to start persecuting its LGBTIQ+ citizens with new anti-human rights legislation.

On Wednesday, the interim Minister of Justice, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, announced that the cabinet had agreed that: “From now on, homosexuality and similar practices are prohibited and punishable by law.”

The West-African country’s undemocratic government, which came to power following a September 2022 coup, has taken a fiercely anti-French position, asserting that its former colonial ruler has remained too influential in the country following independence in 1960.

The new draft family code, which includes the criminalisation of homosexuality, must still be ratified by the military-controlled Parliament and interim leader Captain Ibrahim Traore before it formally comes into effect.

This development sees Burkina Faso joining the approximately 30 other African countries that currently impose criminal provisions against consensual same-sex intimacy. Such laws have historically been used to justify discrimination, violence, and human rights abuses against LGBTIQ+ people across the continent.

In April, Uganda’s Constitutional Court refused to strike down that nation’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act, stating that the law overall complies with the constitution, a decision that was met with international condemnation.

In a recent positive step, the High Court in Namibia last month declared that the country’s colonial-era ban on same-sex intimacy was unconstitutional and invalid. The ruling was seen as a significant victory for LGBTIQ+ rights in Africa.

The contrasting developments in Burkina Faso and Namibia underscore the varied and complex landscape of LGBTIQ+ rights across the continent.

While some nations are moving towards greater acceptance and legal recognition, others are regressing, imposing harsher penalties and reinforcing outdated prejudices.