Liberia’s House of Reps to Review Proposal to Amend Anti-Homosexuality Law

The Liberian House of Representatives has mandated its committees on Gender, Health, and Judiciary to consider the proposed amendment of the country’s anti-homosexuality law, according to reports.

It followed a proposal already introduced by Johnson S. N. Williams of River Gee County District #3 to amend Chapter 14, Subchapter D of the “Anti-Homosexuality Law of Liberia 2024.”

Representative Williams argued that the amendment, which shall add a new Subsection 14.8 to the New Penal Code, is to satisfy Article 5(b) of the 1986 Liberian Constitution.

This article emphasises the Republic’s obligation to “preserve, protect and promote positive Liberian culture, ensuring that traditional values which are compatible with public and national progress are adopted and developed as an integral part of the growing needs of the Liberian society.”

According to Williams, the amendment would criminalise homosexuality and put out Liberia’s stance on gay rights rather than remain silent.

“This bill seeks to lay to rest and to recuse this country the same way we wage war on drugs. It’s the same way we need to do for homosexuality in our country. As we speak, young people are contaminated by this act, and it’s about time for it to come to an end,” Williams stated.

It is considered that LGBT people in Liberia are highly discriminated against, harassed, and under death threats or sometimes attacked.

In 2012, two anti-LGBT bills were introduced but failed to pass into law. Representative Clarence Massaquoi’s bill proffered increased penalties for homo-sexual activity to a second-degree felony with a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Then, Senator Jewel Howard Taylor had a separate bill in another breadth, which aimed at categorising same-sex marriage as a first-degree felony with a maximum ten-year prison sentence.

Both bills ultimately failed, and then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf threatened to veto them to defend existing misdemeanour laws as reflective of traditional values therein.

The amendment from Williams was read on the House floor in open plenary on Thursday, July 18, and has been forwarded to a joint committee for review.

The committee is expected to report back within two weeks when the House returns from its second-quarter break. This could bring far-reaching legal and social changes for LGBT individuals in Liberia.

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