Both Gabon’s houses of parliament have now voted to decriminalize homosexuality, making it one of the few African countries to scrap the law.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill. Presidential spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha said it passed ‘with a large majority of 59 votes’.
Meanwhile just 17 senators voted against and four abstained. That’s an even bigger majority than the bill achieved in the National Assembly on 23 June.
Then 48 lawmakers voted to make gay sex legal, with 24 voting against and 25 abstentions. Now the bill will go to President Ali Bongo Ondimba for his ratification and signature.