Couple from Botswana Sues to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

Bonolo Selelo and Tsholofelo Kumile have gone to court to legalize same-sex marriage in Botswana. Hearings are scheduled for July 14 and 15. If successful, Botswana will become the second country in Africa, after South Africa, to allow same-sex unions.

The couple met in October 2023 at a Pride event in Gaborone and got engaged six months later. A local government office refused to register their marriage. After that, the couple decided to challenge the refusal in court. According to Selelo, who works as a lawyer, an official marriage is primarily necessary for the legal protection of her partner in unforeseen situations.

In 2019, Botswana decriminalized same-sex relations: the High Court ruled a colonial-era law banning them unconstitutional. In 2021, an appeals court upheld this decision.

However, the government is currently defending the ban on same-sex marriage. A representative of the Attorney General of Botswana stated that the Marriage Act implies a union exclusively between a man and a woman. The plaintiffs, in turn, refer to the Interpretation Act, according to which words in legislative acts denoting one sex automatically include the other.

The case has sparked resistance from traditional and religious organizations. About 80% of Botswana’s population is Christian. The Dingwetsi Association, a women’s group defending heterosexual marriages and traditional culture, opposes legalization. They were joined by church representatives. Moshe Morebodi of the Botswana House of Prayer and Transformation called the rights of same-sex couples “a subset of a satanic sect.”

Polls indicate that public attitude towards LGBT people has worsened since the decriminalization of homosexuality. In 2021, a study by Afrobarometer showed that half of the respondents did not mind having gay neighbors. Three years later, this figure dropped to 41%. To reverse the trend, the human rights group Legabibo launched the campaign “Lorato Ke Lorato” (“Love Is Love”).

The situation with LGBT rights in Africa remains diverse. In 32 out of 54 countries on the continent, same-sex relations remain a criminal offense. At the same time, laws in southern Africa are milder: since 2012, consensual homosexual relations have been legalized in Lesotho, Mozambique, Seychelles, Angola, Mauritius, and Namibia. However, South Africa remains the only African country where same-sex marriage has been allowed since 2006.

Source: The Guardian