LGBT rights in Sudan

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Sudan face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. In July 2020, Sudan removed the death penalty,[2] which had never been enforced, as well as corporal punishment as a punishment for anal sex (male or female), leaving imprisonment as the penalty for a male perpetrator. The penalty for a third offense remains life in prison, but there are no documented cases of this being applied.

LGBT rights in Sudan
StatusIllegal since 1899 (as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan)[1] Also Islamic Sharia Law is applied
Penaltyfirst time anal sex: five years in prison

second time anal sex: seven years in prison

third time anal sex: life imprisonment
MilitaryNo
Discrimination protectionsNo
Family rights
Recognition of relationshipsNo recognition of same-sex unions
AdoptionNo

Law regarding anal sex

Anal sex is illegal in Sudan, whether the couple is same- or opposite-sex, according to Article 148 of the Criminal Act (Penal Code) of 1991. The penalty however applies only to a male participant. The original wording of the sodomy law was as follows (translated):[3]

Article 148: Sodomy

(1) Any man who inserts his penis or its equivalent into a woman's or a man's anus or permitted another man to insert his penis or its equivalent in his anus is said to have committed Sodomy.
(2) (a) Whoever commits Sodomy shall be punished with flogging one hundred lashes and he shall also be liable to five years imprisonment.
(b) If the offender is convicted for the second time he shall be punished with flogging one hundred lashes and imprisonment for a term which may not exceed five years.
(c) If the offender is convicted for the third time he shall be punished with death or life imprisonment.

On 9 July 2020, Sudan abolished the death penalty as a punishment for anal sex.[4] [5] There are no documented cases of executions. The Sudanese Sovereign Council also eliminated the imposition of 100 lashes, and added two years to the sentence for a second offense. They changed the penalty for a third offense from death or life imprisonment to life imprisonment. A first offense is now punished with up to five years and a second offense with up to seven years.[4] [6] Sudanese LGBT+ activists hailed the reform as a 'great first step', but said it was not enough yet, and the end goal should be the decriminalisation of gay sexual activity altogether.[7]

Nuba tribal society in the 1930s

Siegfried Frederick Nadel wrote about the Nuba tribes in the late 1930s. He noted that among the Otoro, a special transvestitic role existed whereby men dressed and lived as women. Transvestitic homosexuality also existed amongst the Moru, Nyima, and Tira people, and reported marriages of Korongo londo and Mesakin tubele for the bride price of one goat.[8]

In the Korongo and Mesakin tribes, Nadel reported a common reluctance among men to abandon the pleasure of all-male camp life for the fetters of permanent settlement.

Both tribes feel strongly that marriage and sex life are inimical to physical strength. ... Young married men ... will spend four or five nights with their wives in the village and then return for a fortnight or month to the cattle camp.... They would tell you that they "dislike living in the village". I have even met men of forty and fifty who spent most of their nights with the young folk in the cattle camps rather that at home in the village. ... Behind this grudging submission to marital and adult life in general, behind the secondary sentiments of fondness of camp life and male company, we discover the primary, and quite open, fear of sex as the destroyer of virility. Not sex in the ephemeral, physical sense – the adolescent incontinence of these tribes precludes this – but sex transformed into a permanent fetter, spiritual (as love) and social (as marriage). We will not probe the psychological depth of this antagonism. Let me only point out two things: first, that it occurs in a matrilineal society, that is, a society in which the fruits of procreation are not the man's. And, secondly, that it is accompanied, not only on the strong emphasis on male companionship, but also, in the domain of the abnormal, by widespread homosexuality and transvesticism.[8]:pages: 299–300

Politics regarding LGBT rights

In the United Nations on 4 February 2011, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association application for consultative status for the UN's Economic and Social Council was called for a vote.[9] Sudan then called for a No Action Motion to prevent voting on the consultative status for the LGBT group, and their motion passed 9-7 so the issue was not voted on.[9]

Also, Sudan voted against every supportive resolution of LGBT rights at the United Nations.

Social attitudes

Same-sex sexual relations have divided some religious communities. In 2006, Abraham Mayom Athiaan, a bishop in South Sudan, led a split from the Episcopal Church of Sudan for what he regarded as a failure by the church leadership to condemn homosexuality sufficiently strongly.[10]

The U.S. Department of State's 2011 human rights report found that,

The law prohibits sodomy ...; however, there were no reports of antisodomy laws being applied. There were no known lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) organizations. Official discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity occurred. Societal discrimination against LGBT persons was widespread. Vigilantes targeted suspected gay men and lesbians for violent abuse, and there were public demonstrations against homosexuality.[11]

The first LGBT association of the country is Freedom Sudan, founded in December 2006.[12] However, no internet presence is seen from the group after 2013 on Facebook page.[13] Another group Rainbow Sudan,[14] was founded on 9 February 2012.[15] Its founder, known as Mohammed, said,

A dear friend of mine gave me the idea of funding Sudan Rainbow. We started working together for it and even now he helps me a lot in this project. Now we have a couple of groups that work online and offline. We form a small network of people working in an organized way to advance as much as possible LGBTQ issues, to show who we are, to stop discrimination, to see our rights recognized. We provide sexual education, psychological and emotional support, protection.[15]

There is also no continued internet presence for Freedom Sudan after January 2015.[16]

In the 2019 Arab Barometer Survey, 17% of Sudanese said homosexuality is acceptable.[17]

Summary table
Same-sex sexual activity legal (female) / (male: imprisonment for anal sex, becoming life imprisonment for a third offense)[18]
Equal age of consent
Anti-discrimination laws in employment only
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech)
Same-sex marriages
Recognition of same-sex couples
Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples
Joint adoption by same-sex couples
LGBT people allowed to serve openly in the military
Right to change legal gender
Access to IVF for lesbians
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples
MSMs allowed to donate blood

See also

References
  1. "Where is it illegal to be gay?". 10 February 2014 – via BBC.
  2. Savage, Ban Barkawi, Rachel (16 July 2020). "'Great first step' as Sudan lifts death penalty and flogging for gay sex". Reuters. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  3. "Sudan: 1991 Criminal Act as Amended in 2009". Refworld. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  4. "Sudan drops death penalty for homosexuality". Erasing 76 Crimes. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  5. https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-president-alphonso-david-on-the-removal-of-death-penalty-for-same-sex-r
  6. Ban Barkawi, Rachel Savage (16 July 2020). "'Great first step' as Sudan lifts death penalty and flogging for gay sex". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  7. Ban Barkawi, Rachel Savage (16 July 2020). "'Great first step' as Sudan lifts death penalty and flogging for gay sex". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  8. Nadel, S. F. "The Nuba; an anthropological study of the hill tribes in Kordofan" – via Internet Archive.
  9. Lee, Matthew Russell (4 February 2011). "Sudan immediately countered with a No Action Motion, to block voting on Belgium's proposal and the group". Inner City Press. ProQuest 849330331.
  10. "South Sudan Anglican Church rejects tribalism and homosexuality - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan". www.sudantribune.com.
  11. "2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Sudan, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, page 41" (PDF).
  12. "Freedom Sudan, the sudanese LGBT association". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. "Freedom Sudan, the sudanese LGBT association". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  14. "Rainbow Sudan". Rainbow Sudan.
  15. Notaro, Pier Cesare (12 January 2013). "LGBT rights in Sudan: someone fights for the rainbow | Il Grande Colibrì".
  16. "January | 2015 | Rainbow Sudan". rainbowsudan.wordpress.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  17. "The Arab world in seven charts: Are Arabs turning their backs on religion?". BBC News. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  18. https://76crimes.com/2020/07/15/sudan-drops-death-penalty-for-homosexuality/
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