by Rex Wockner
A move to ban gay sex in the Central African nation of Burundi was rejected by the Senate Feb. 16 after having passed the National Assembly unanimously in November.
"Burundi's Senate, after significant pressure and 'heated debate,' today rejected the proposed amendment to criminalize homosexual conduct. Victory – for the moment," said Scott Long, head of Human Rights Watch's LGBT Rights Division.
The proposal, part of a much larger bill, set a punishment of between three months and two years in prison, along with a large fine, for engaging in consensual adult gay sex.
The Senate and Assembly must now form a commission to reconcile the two versions of the bill before sending it to President Pierre Nkurunziza.
"Any reconciliation could, potentially, reinstate the provision criminalizing same-sex conduct," said the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "Whatever the outcome, the fact that the majority of senators voted against the provision shows a growing recognition that all citizens are entitled to the full enjoyment of human rights irrespective of their sexual orientation."
Eighty-four of the world's 195 nations ban gay sex.
