Military junta in Niger bans homosexuality with 5 to 10 years in prison

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Military junta in Niger bans homosexuality with 5 to 10 years in prison

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/06/military-junta-in-niger-bans-homosexuality-with-5-to-10-years-in/ 🔗

Alex Bollinger (15 June 2026)

The military junta that took over the Sahara nation of Niger in 2023 announced the country's new penal code last Friday. The new penal code criminalizes homosexuality and imposes a prison sentence of five to ten years.

The AP notes that homosexuality wasn't formally illegal in Niger before 2025, but that LGBTQ+ people faced heavy stigmatization. It wasn't until last year that homosexuality was criminalized. On June 11, that criminalization was formalized in the new penal code, which was publicly announced the day after.

According to Colin Stewart of 76crimes.com, this means that there are now 66 countries that ban homosexuality. Stewart notes that Niger's criminalization soon followed after neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali banned homosexuality, along with nearby Senegal and Ghana, which recently increased the penalties for homosexuality.

The new penal code states that it is illegal to commit or attempt to commit "an immodest or unnatural act or practice[] lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, Queer, intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) acts." It also bans same-sex marriage and provides for prison sentences "to persons who officiated the marriage, to the witnesses of the alleged spouses, as well as to persons who have given their consent for the celebration of the marriage and to the organizers."

[Lori Dee ✅]

I have never understood the logic of prison for homosexuality.

Do they segregate so all the men are imprisoned together?
Then, when the men in prison do what men in prison do, what is the punishment? Throw them in prison?

Legislated morality never works.

[Devlyn ✅]

Then, when the people in prison do what people in prison do, what is the punishment? Throw them in prison?

Fixed that for you... because women aren't saints.

[Lori Dee ✅]

because women aren't saints.

To quote someone I admire named Devlyn:

"Speak for yourself!"

🤣

[Devlyn ✅]

Touché. 😀