One of two proposed bills in Liberia would make gay marriage a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail -paper
LONDON (TrustLaw) – Nobel Peace Prize winner and president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has defended a law that criminalises homosexuality, saying people in the West African country liked themselves “just the way we are”, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Sirleaf defended her nation’s laws which say “voluntary sodomy” is punishable by up to a year in prison.
“We’ve got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve,” Sirleaf, the first woman elected president in modern Africa, told The Guardian, in a joint interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Anti-gay activists have proposed two new bills in Liberia, one of which would make gay marriage a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail, the newspaper said. The other bill could put a man or woman in prison for up to five years for encouraging someone of the same gender to engage in homosexual activities, the paper said.
Across Africa anti-gay sentiment has gathered momentum since U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced in December that U.S. foreign aid would be used to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by governments to criminalise homosexuality.
Opposition senator Jewel Taylor, Liberia's former first lady, whose husband Charles Taylor is on trial for war crimes at an U.N.-backed court, has launched a bid to toughen anti-gay laws.
Since Clinton’s remarks, Liberian newspapers have published numerous articles describing homosexuality as abusive and an abomination, and there has been an increase in attacks on gay people, The Guardian reported.
In the past month alone there have been at least six homophobic attacks in the capital, Monrovia, the newspaper said.
Blair, who was on a visit to Liberia in his capacity as the founder of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), a charity that aims to strengthen African governments, refused to comment on Sirleaf’s remarks, The Guardian said.
When British prime minister, Blair championed the legal equality of gay people by pushing through a laws on civil partnership, lifting a ban on gay people in the armed forces and lowering the age of consent for gay people to 16.
Homosexuality is illegal in 37 African countries, including three where it is punishable by death.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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