In eight years, the tiny African islands of Seychelles have changed from a country that threatened LGBTQ people with prison into a land that protects LGBTQ people from hate-fueled violence.
Up until 2016, the law in Seychelles provided for prison sentences of up to 14 years for same-sex intimacy between men. Now a newly revised law calls for increased prison sentences for violent crimes motivated by hostility toward the victims because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, race, religion or disability. “After South Africa, the Seychelles is now the second country in Africa to protect against all forms of hate-based victimisation,” the Human Dignity Trust (HDT) stated.