Politicians in Lebanon have called for the government to decriminalise same-sex intercourse. Right-wing Christian Democrat party, the Kataeb party, announced plans to scrap the law on television over the weekend.

Discussing a 131-step plan that the party will put in place if they win the May 6 elections, officials from the party stressed that it was a crucial part of their social agenda to scrap the current criminalising laws. Currently, article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code prohibits sexual relations that are “contradicting the laws of nature”.

The law is technically punishable with jail time of up to a year. However, numerous courts in the country have ruled that the article should not be used to arrest people for engaging in same-sex sex. Read more via Pink News