Liberia's Senate this week passed an amendment to the country's constitution that bans same-sex marriage, a move that has human rights activists angered. According to reports, section 2.3 of the constitution, which already banned marriage between family members and those in marriages. The new amendment will now read, “or persons of the same sex” announced Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Joseph Nagbe. “My bill seeks to ensure that the fact that people of the same sex under our law should not be allowed to get married," Senator Jewell Taylor said. The ex-wife of war criminal Charles Taylor said that she wanted to ensure the dignity of the country. Homosexuality in Liberia is a criminal offense under anti-sodomy laws, although police rarely enforce the regulations. Care2 Causes reported that the measure “seems a direct response to local gay rights groups demanding same-sex marriage provisions among other nondiscrimination laws.” A second bill that would make same-sex relations a capital offense, currently before the House of Representatives and is dubbed a sister law to the Ugandan ‘Kill the Gays' bill, is being promoted, but has yet to be moved. That Uganda bill makes being convicted of being gay an offense that carries the death penalty. Both bills have received strong backing from the country's religious conservatives. However, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has stated that she would use her veto power to block any such bills, whether pro-gay or anti-gay. She maintains that Liberia's current stance on homosexuality is sufficient. As a Nobel peace prize recipient, Sirleaf's defense of her country's anti-gay stance has angered some. “We like ourselves just the way we are,” Sirleaf said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “We've got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve." Her statements have angered LGBT activists in the country, who say that as a Nobel winner she should promote and support all marginalized groups in the country.
