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Loading...Liberian Senate Passes Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage
The Liberian Senate this week passed an amendment to the state’s constitution that would ban same-sex marriages.
The amendment was made to section 2.3 of the constitution, which bans marriage between people who are already wedded to others and between close family members.
It adds “or persons of the same sex” to the text, as read by the chairman of the judiciary committee Joseph Nagbe.
[...]
“My bill seeks to ensure that the fact that people of the same sex under our law should not be allowed to get married,” Taylor said.
Homosexuality in Liberia is criminalized under anti-sodomy provisions, though they are rarely fully enforced, but the issue of same-sex marriage has not been explicitly addressed in the state’s constitution.
The measure seems a direct response to local gay rights groups demanding same-sex marriage provisions among other nondiscrimination laws.
A second bill that would make same-sex relations a capital offense, currently before the House of Representatives and dubbed a sister to the Ugandan ‘Kill the Gays’ bill, has yet to be moved.
Both bills have received strong backing from the country’s religious conservatives. However, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has stated that she would use her veto power to block any such bills, whether pro-gay or anti-gay. She maintains that Liberia’s current stance on homosexuality is sufficient.
As a Nobel peace prize recipient, Sirleaf’s defense of her country’s anti-gay stance has angered some.
Related Reading:
Campaign Launched to Kill Gays in Liberia
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Supports Gay-Bashing, Blair Looks On In Silence
Liberia Introduces ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill
Read more: africa lgbt, anti-homosexuality bill, criminalizing homosexuality, gay death penalty, human rights, kill the gays bill, liberia, uganda lgbt
Photo credit: Wikipedia.
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Great reminder:) Thank you!
Thanks for sharing.
ty
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44 comments
+ add your ownOne suspects that there are some who have already made comments here that secretly or otherwise ache that the laws in the U.S. would become a copy of one of the proposed bills making same sex relations a capital offence.
Meh, it's not like I had plans on visiting on such a backwards and ignorant place like Liberia...
:p
Dennis V. I am a Liberian, an Atheist, and statist (I believe in the state as entirely separate and distinct from religion).
I am a straight man who believes that rights are universal and religion is the only thing that binds the worst offenders.
My wife an I have raised our two children to accept, without condition, the intrinsic value of every human being. Their first moment of living this is that they have chosen to never eat at chic-fil-a again. Not a big sacrifice, but they get it! And I am proud.
You can find the original posting at http://www.fahnbulleh.net/gkfblog/
sigh
Why is Africa even an issue here in the U.S. when the U.S. already has more important mounting issues to deal with on a daily basis. I hate to sound cold and uncaring here but geez, let the Africans handle their own issues. We have republicans trying to destroy the U.S. on a daily basis, and the religious kooks out there trying to run the country as if they own it and shoving their doctrin down everybody elses throat whether or not they want it. The U. S. has a huge debt problem, a high unemployment population and no jobs, homelessness is increasing at a maddening speed, we have a healthcare battle going on, crime is running rampid like a bad epidemic of rabies in this country and we have to worry about other countries and their issues???? We really need to tend to our own and get our noses out of other countries issues and let them grow up the way we did in the revolution... we fought our way out and we won the right to rule ourselves. Thats how people learn to solve problems. lets stop coddling and meddling in other's affairs.
Gays will overcome and we will keep pressure on until they do. Gays are normal people just like the rest of us. God bless and keep all oppressed people, everywhere.
If this amendment upset you, show your feelings by boycotting anything associated with Liberia, like cruise ships registered in Liberia. And of course, if you are inclined to buy diamonds, ask wheere they are from. Liberia is a producer of diamonds and does it through child slave labor.
Liberia, founded as a free state for black people, but not homosexual black people.
Sad day.
Isn't it nice to know that the Republicans are saving us all by spending $ we can't afford defending DOMA? We can take a step forward and be just like Liberia...or is that a step backward?
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