In dozens of African countries, people who already face discrimination and ostracization for being members of the LGBT2SQIA+ community face time in prison for consensual sexual activity with a same-sex partner! However, especially since the beginning of global pressure to expand LGBTQ rights during the Obama administration, progress has been made in Africa. 

     One example of how much progress has been made comes in the form of Tunisia, Morocco, Namibia, and Mauritius, three of which are conservative, Muslim-majority countries, proposing a decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity and an implementation of an equal age of consent. If some of the most staunchly anti-gay countries, countries in which jail sentences are regularly handed to gay people, were to succeed in passing this legislation, there would be no excuse for the rest of the world not to follow.

     While some claim that these laws exist because of public opinion, that is rarely true. Most of the laws criminalizing gay people stem back to European imperialism in the nineteenth century. The case of Lawrence v. Texas in the United States, a 2003 Supreme Court hearing that ended anti-gay laws, saw support for gay rights skyrocket in the following years; these laws exist to influence public opinion, not adhere to it.

     We, the undersigned, express our strong support for this massive leap forward for human rights!