Burundi defeats homophobic bill

What happened in Burundi- according to IGLHRC

In an overwhelmingly positive vote for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Central African nation of Burundi, the country's Senate has rejected a provision that would have criminalized consensual same-sex activity. Legislation to revise the Penal Code was introduced in the Burundian Senate in November 2009 after having first been passed the National Assembly. The revision had a number of key advances for human rights, including the abolition of the death penalty, and the rendering of torture and genocide as crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law. However, the revision also included a penalty of up to 2 years in jail for “anyone who has sexual intercourse with a person of his/her own sex.”

The provision criminalizing consensual same-sex activity survived various revisions to the overall Code and was included in the final version of the bill that was submitted to the Burundian Senate on February 6, 2009. On February 17, 2009, however, 36 out of 43 Senators voted to strike it from the bill.

Read the rest on GayUganda.