Fun Fast Facts:
- Homosexuality is a taboo subject in Botswana. It is commonly seen as a “Western” “disease” and “un-African”.
- Botswana laws do not specifically criminalise homosexuality despite the fact that most people in Botswana appear to believe homosexuality is illegal.
- The Employment Act has prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation since 2010.
- In February 2011, the Deputy Speaker of the Botswana National Assembly, Pono Moatlhodi, responded to a proposal to provide condoms to prison inmates engaging in same-sex sexual acts. Moatlhodi said that if he had the power, he would have those who practice homosexuality killed.
LGBT-friendly organisation: LeGaBiBo
- Botswana’s primary LGBT rights organization is Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LeGaBiBo).
- To build an independent non-partisan organisation that promotes the recognition, acceptance and equal protection human rights of the LGBTI community in Botswana.
- The government has twice rejected its application to be registered; therefore, LeGaBiBo’s ability to raise funds is limited. The registrar said that it could not register any group that “is likely to be used for any unlawful purpose or any purpose prejudicial to or incompatible with peace, welfare or good order in Botswana”.
- In August 2013, fourteen members of LeGaBiBo sued the Botswana government to force it to register the organisation.
W3JOY interviewed: Caine Youngman, LGBTI coordinator at LeGaBiBo
We don’t get…people being killed, people being raped like in other countries, we don’t get the government coming in….reading things, we don’t get that here.
What we get is we have to be on the down-low basically. It could be in the family set-up…. this position in the hospitals, with the police, at the counselors. Just about anywhere in general.We have travelling documents or other identity documents, when you are questioned by that person, maybe you portray yourself as a man, but you were born female–you are a trans male–your passport says you are female, but your body [appears] that you are male. One [of my friends] has given up on travelling.One has gone through a lot when he was transitioning from being female to a man. When he was travelling from one airport to another, he would be moved from one office to another, sometimes even missing his connecting flights.Since 2007, almost every year, we’ve had trainings with the police on how to be with the LGBTI community.Many people, services providers, have difficulties helping LGBTI people because of what the laws say.Published on: December 24, 2013 @ 21:32
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