On Nov 17, 2016 Gay Star News reported: Ivory Coast was known to have relatively tolerant attitudes to LGBTI people
Two gay men are jailed for sex in Ivory Coast17 November 2016 by Joe Morgan
The Ivory Coast has jailed two men for gay sex for the first time in its history.
The two men, aged 31 and 19, were sentenced to three months in prison in Sassandra, a coastal town in the southern part of the country.
Identified as P.L and L.A in the local press, the two men were spotted having sex by a relative who filed a complaint with the police.
The two men were immediately arrested and brought to the Sassandra’s prosecutor’s office.
‘[They] stated that they had been lovers for a long time and they did not see how their act constituted an offense,’ a report in the Invoire Matin said.
Franck Amani, advocacy director for Espace Confiance, said the men were jailed for a law against ‘public indecency’.
Ivory Coast does not explicitly criminalize gay sex. However it is not unusual for African countries to use public indecency laws to jail LGBTI people.
Read more at: The Ivory Coast has just jailed two men for gay sex for the first time
