Bhutan decriminalizes homosexuality

Bhutan’s LGBT community celebrated yesterday after the tiny Himalayan kingdom’s parliament became the world’s latest to decriminalise homosexuality. The lower house overwhelmingly voted late Friday to repeal two sections of the 2004 criminal code which made “unnatural sex” illegal. The law had never been used, but Finance Minister Namgay Tshering, who submitted the recommendation to repeal sections 213 and 214 of the penal code, said they had become “a stain” on the country’s reputation. Namgay Tshering said the sections had become redundant since Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008. “There is a high degree of acceptability of the LGBT community in our society,” he said. The minister added that he was optimistic that the code sections would be definitively scrapped when the upper house in the country of 750,000 people votes on Monday. Once the bill is passed by the National Council, the upper chamber, it will be sent for royal assent.