South Africa's Timeslive website reported last month that a gay group in Botswana has filed papers to take the government to court to challenge the constitutionality of its anti-sodomy laws. Section 164 of the Penal Code criminalises same-sex relationships.
The case was filed on March 4 by Caine Youngman, founder of a group called Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (Legabibo), which the government refused to register in 2009 on the grounds that the republican Constitution does not recognise homosexuals, according to the Botswana Gazette.
Youngman, 29, argues that the sodomy law violates his constitutionally protected freedom of expression, and he has won support from the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV (BONELA) and other civil forums.
"I never freely express my sexuality because of the law that criminalises sex between people of the same sex," Youngman said in an affidavit. He first announced the lawsuit two years ago, but delays in gathering paperwork for the court meant it was only filed early this month.
During that time, Botswana's former president Festus Mogae who is now head of the National AIDS Council has spoken out against sexual discrimination and prejudice was hindering efforts to fight HIV in a country where one in four adults had the disease.
"We do not want to discriminate. Our HIV message applies to everybody," he said last year in his first remarks on the issue, reported Timeslive.
"If we are fighting stigma associated with sex, let's apply it to sexual discrimination in general." He has continued speaking out, telling the BBC last weekend that during his 10 years in office he had instructed police not to arrest or harass gays.
According to the Botswana Gazette, High Court Judge Zibani Makhwade has been allocated the case although the date has not been set.ginally announced the lawsuit two years ago, but delays in gathering paperwork for the court meant it was only filed early this month.