Africa countries where LGBT relationships are accepted
1. Angola
Angola decriminalized same-sex relationships, after passing a new law that came into effect in February 2021. The new law overturned a ban on same-sex relationships that dates back to when the country was a Portuguese colony; and states that discrimination based on sexual orientation can be punishable by imprisonment of up to two years.
2. Botswana
In a landmark moment for the country, Botswana’s High Court decriminalized both male and female same-sex relationships in 2019. It replaced a law that had been in place since 1965, when the country was under British rule, which outlaws “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” and was punishable by up to seven years in jail.
3. Mozambique
In 2015, Mozambique dropped a colonial-era clause outlawing same-sex relationships as “vices against nature” from its penal code. According to the Globe and Mail, the UN’s independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, visited Mozambique in late 2018, and said it had a “high level of tolerance” — but warned that LGBTQIA+ people still face discrimination and violence at home, work, school, and when accessing health services or police support.
4. Lesotho
Before the current Penal Code Act, homosexuality was illegal for men, but in 2010 homosexuality was decriminilized entirely. Once the law came into effect, activism work with regards to HIV/AIDS was able to reach more people within the community in order to offer prevention strategies, as Lesotho is one of the countries hardest hit by HIV.
5. Seychelles
Seychelles decriminalized “same-sex acts” in May 2016, after lawmakers voted to amend section 151 of the country’s Penal Code Act that referred to sodomy as a felony and made it punishable with up to 14 years in prison. The amendment came just three months after a national address by the nation’s President James Michel, saying that his government would introduce a bill to abolish Section 151.
6. Mauritius
Mauritius has become the latest African country to decriminalise same-sex relationships, joining a growing list of African countries scrapping such discriminatory colonial-era laws. In October 2023, the country’s supreme court ruled that Section 250 of the Mauritian Penal Code, which criminalised “sodomy”, was discriminatory and unconstitutional. In the ruling, the Court said the previous law “criminalises the only natural way for the plaintiffs and other homosexual men to have sexual intercourse, whereas heterosexual men are permitted the right to have sexual intercourse in a way which is natural to them.”
7. South Africa
Protected since 1996 but formally legalized in 2006