In a major setback for gay rights in Africa, Chad is poised to become the 37th country on the continent to outlaw homosexuality.
Government ministers voted to make same-sex relations punishable by up to 20 years in prison, The Guardian reports. Chad's penal code did not "explicitly mention homosexuality," but Section 361 in the code's new draft says that anyone who has intercourse with someone of the same sex can be jailed for 15 to 20 years and fined 50,000 to 500,000 Central African francs, or around $98 to $980.
The decision hasn't yet been ratified by President Idriss Déby. While the cabinet says that the ban would "protect the family and comply with Chadian society," Graeme Reid of Human Rights Watch sees it as a way to isolate the country. "This is a setback for legal reform in Chad," he said. "The revisions to the penal code are intended to integrate national law with international law, whereas this provision would do exactly the opposite."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Icarus programme – the ‘internet of animals’The Explainer Researchers aim to monitor 100,000 animals worldwide with GPS trackers, using data to understand climate change and help predict disasters and pandemics
-
Experience Tanzania’s untamed wilderness from Lemala’s luxury lodgesThe Week Recommends The vast protected landscapes are transformed into a verdant paradise during ‘emerald season’
-
Codeword: October 9, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-offSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
