Burkina Faso parliament passes anti-gay law in latest blow to LGBTQ rights in Africa

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00:00The government says it's an effort to modernise laws, but LGBT organisations will be viewing

00:06it as another step back for people's rights on the continent.

00:11Fines and prison sentences await anybody engaging in or promoting homosexual or transgender

00:17activity after Burkina Faso's junta passed legislation outlawing LGBT practices.

00:23A law that was passed unanimously on Monday by Burkina Faso's transitional parliament.

00:29A person who engages in homosexual practices will appear before a judge and, in the event

00:35of a repeat offence, be deported if you are not a Burkina Faso national.

00:40The move comes less than a year after the country's neighbouring ally, Mali, which is also ruled

00:45by a military junta, adopted a law criminalising homosexuality.

00:51Ghana and Uganda have also recently toughened their laws.

00:55And while same-sex relationships are outlawed in around a third of the world's countries,

01:00a large number of African nations remain particularly hostile.

01:06This map charts an equality index, measuring the current laws and public attitudes towards

01:11LGBT people.

01:13The higher the number, the more friendly the country is deemed to be.

01:17In some countries, anti-LGBT laws date from the colonial era, while in others, a religious

01:23resurgence has seen a growth in anti-gay opinions and laws.

01:29Over half of Africa's 54 countries criminalise same-sex activity, and the relaxing of laws in

01:35some has been met with demonstrations.

01:39Such as here in Namibia and in Kenya.

01:45Cape Verde and South Africa are by large deemed the friendliest.

01:50South Africans became the first on the continent to be allowed to marry people of the same sex

01:55in 2006.

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