Congo to consider new anti-gay bill
MP says criminalizing homosexuality is needed to promote ‘cultural sovereignty’
A Congolese legislator has proposed a bill to criminalize homosexuality in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony that is home to 99 million people, where gay sex has never been criminalized.
Constant Mutamba, an opposition member of the Dynamique Progressiste Révolutionnaire (DYPRO) party, put forward the bill, noting that homosexuality is socially frowned upon in Congo. Mutamba ran for president in the December 2023 elections, placing sixth with approximately 0.2% of the vote.
The bill aims to criminalize “persons of the same sex who engage in sexual intercourse or sexual activity, even in a private circle.” It stipulates that such persons “will be punished by penal servitude of 5 to 10 years and a fine ranging from 7.5 million to 15 million Congolese francs” (between USD $2,600 and $5,300). The average salary in the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated at $49 per month.
In addition, the bill imposes sanctions of 15 years’ penal servitude and a fine of 30 million Congolese francs ($10,600) for “any recruiter, employer or any other person exercising hierarchical power or belonging to the medical profession who imposes homosexual relations on a job seeker during the hiring process, or on an employee or subordinate with a view to maintaining his or her job or obtaining a promotion, or on a patient entrusted to his or her care.”
Finally, the bill supplements the existing provisions on rape, indecent assault and public indecency with sections specifically targeting LGBT+ people, in each case with penalties of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The bill is the fifth proposal to criminalize homosexuality to be considered in the last 21 years, so far to no avail.
Mutamba says his bill to repress homosexuality was proposed in the name of “cultural sovereignty,” the fight against “neo-colonialism,” and the protection of children’s interests in the face of “deviations” aimed at “encouraging homosexuality” or “apologizing for homosexuality under the aegis of the fight for gender.”
You can sign a petition against this bill here.
