| LGBT rights in South Sudan | |
|---|---|
South Sudan |
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| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Male illegal; female unknown. (see article) |
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Penalty:
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Up to ten years imprisonment. |
| Recognition of relationships |
No recognition of same-sex relationships |
| Adoption | – |
| Military service | – |
| Discrimination protections | None |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in South Sudan face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal and carries a penalty of up to ten years' imprisonment.
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South Sudan was formerly part of Sudan, and subject to its interpretation of Sharia law, under which homosexual activity was illegal, with punishments ranging from lashes to the death penalty. In 2008 the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan adopted its own penal code, which prohibits "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and prescribes a sentence of ten years' imprisonment.[1]
In July 2010 Salva Kiir Mayardit, now President of South Sudan, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that homosexuality is not in the "character" of Southern Sudanese people. "It is not even something that anybody can talk about here in southern Sudan in particular. It is not there and if anybody wants to import or to export it to Sudan, it will not get the support and it will always be condemned by everybody," he said.[2]
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.[3]
The U.S. Department of State's 2010 Human Rights Report on Sudan (of which South Sudan was at that time a part) found that "societal discrimination against homosexual persons was widespread both in the North and the South".[4]
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