00:00DL Congo's new Justice Minister Constant Mutamba is outspoken with his homophobia and is trying
00:07to crack down on the LGBTQ plus community.
00:11Now, DL Congo has no legislation persecuting homosexuality and historically has been less
00:16concerned about its citizen sexuality than some of its neighbours, but Mutamba is hoping
00:22to change that.
00:23Emmett Livingston brings us more from Kinshasa.
00:27Congo's Justice Minister Constant Mutamba has only been in office for two weeks and
00:31he's already pushed the courts to crack down on the promotion of homosexuality.
00:35The move is unsurprising.
00:37The 36-year-old ran unsuccessfully for president late last year, promising during the campaign
00:42that he would ban homosexuality in the Congo.
00:45As an opposition MP, he also submitted a proposal in Parliament to criminalise homosexual acts,
00:51suggesting jail sentences of between five and ten years.
00:56Homosexuality is completely legal in Congo, marking it out as relatively liberal compared
01:00to some of its neighbouring countries.
01:02But Congo's LGBT community fears that Mutamba in government will lead to repression.
01:08Named as the Justice Minister in late May, Mutamba asked the state prosecutor on June
01:1315th to pursue people who apologise for homosexuality, group sex and, I quote, other forms of sexual
01:21deviance.
01:22On Tuesday, the state prosecutor responded, saying that the judicial authorities should
01:27instead issue summons to people who apologise for homosexuality.
01:31This measure is considered relatively soft, but an LGBT activist who asked not to be named
01:37told us that the minister was undoing a lot of the outreach work that gay groups have
01:40done over the years in Congo.
01:42The danger, the activist said, is that the climate of homophobia could lead to arrests
01:47and potentially violence.
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