anti-gay law

African academics have used scientific evidence to argue against such laws and to urge African nations to abandon them. In a report published on 10 June by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF), the academics, most of whom are scientists, make the case that laws criminalizing homosexuality have no basis in science and hamper efforts to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Gay Nigerian man living with HIV, Kenny Brandmuse, has congratulated Muhammadu Buhari on his win in the presidential elections. He also urged the president-elect to do good by the gay people in Nigeria by striking out the anti-gay laws introduced by the Jonathan administration. Brandmuse said in his Facebook post: "Now, the real hard work begins. Let's test our democracy and make real demands like electricity and good roads.

The US has stripped Gambia of its special trade status, after the country introduced an anti-gay law. Gambia had previously been afforded special benefits due to its status, under the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000, which allowed it to export goods worth $37 million each year to the US without paying duty. However, it was announced yesterday that the country would be removed from the scheme, after President Yahya Jammeh signed a law punishing homosexuality with life imprisonment.

Constitutional court petitioned to scrap the tough anti-gay law currently effective in Uganda. Signed in February this year by Uganda's veteran president, Yoweri Museveni, the law calls for homosexuals to be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and obliges Ugandans to denounce gay people to the authorities.

On 7th January 2014, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed an anti-gay bill into law, with punishments including 14 years imprisonment for anyone that enters into same-sex marriage, 10 years for any organization or people that support gay rights as well as any individual who displays same-sex affection in public. This invasive law made Nigeria the 36th country in Africa to prosecute gays.

Days after Uganda's president signed into law an anti-gay bill that punishes sex between homosexual couples with a maximum sentence of life in prison, Richard Lusimbo was outed in the most public of manners. He was alerted by a friend that his picture was splashed across a tabloid newspaper under the headline 'How I Became Homo'. "I just went silent, I didn't know what to do," Lusimbo recalled of that day.