Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - Burkina Faso's transitional parliament has passed a law banning hom0s£xuality, with offenders facing up to five years in prison.
The Persons and Family Code law, making Burkina Faso the
latest in a series of African countries to criminalise lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender activity, also tightens rules on nationality and
stateless people.
The military that took over Burkina Faso in a 2022 coup has
grown increasingly intolerant of dissent amid worsening Islamist militant
violence in the West African country.
The legislation was passed unanimously by the unelected,
71-member transitional parliament on Monday and is awaiting the signature of
military junta leader Ibrahim Traore.
'The law provides for a prison sentence ranging from two to
five years and a fine,' Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on state
television on Monday night.
'A person who (engages in) homosexual practices ... will
appear before a judge and, in the event of a repeat offence, be deported if you
are not a Burkinabe national,' he said.
He also said the law goes into effect immediately and condemned
hom0s£xual acts as 'bizarre behaviour.'
Anti-gay laws are in place in various conservative African
countries including Senegal, Uganda and Malawi, though some others, including
South Africa, Botswana and Angola, have decriminalised LGBTQ practices or
enacted protective measures.
The laws, although criticised by the West, enjoy popularity
in the countries where locals and officials have criticised homosexuality as
behaviour imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.
Burkina Faso has been run by the military following a coup
in 2022.
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