Botswana's parliament considers amending constitution to prohibit discrimination against intersex persons

Botswana’s minister for state president, Kabo Morwaeng, introduced a constitutional amendment bill for the first reading Wednesday. Among proposed amendments is the inclusion of a clause that would “protect and prohibit the discrimination of intersex persons and persons with a disability.” [ . . . ] Botswana’s High Court decriminalized same-sex relations in 2019, after a legal challenge. In July 2023, the government proposed a bill to incorporate gay rights into the constitution, but hundreds of opponents protested the development. [ . . . ] Lesbians, Gay and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) supported the court challenge in 2019. The group’s chief executive, Thato Moruti, says the constitutional amendments are about protecting human rights and are not a religious issue. “The nation must separate religious beliefs from human rights matters,” Moruti said. “This issue of decriminalization is a human rights matter, it is not a religious matter. It is an issue that is concerned with reducing systematic disadvantages on other people, especially the LGBTQI persons.”
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