Overturning Section 250: Campaigning to End LGBT+ Discrimination in Mauritius
“As a citizen and a human being, I am now free to love whoever I want to without fear. Above all, it also means that the next generations can fully and freely embrace their sexuality without fear of being arrested.”
This online event, hosted by QSA partners UNISON Middlesex University Branch, will highlight Ryan Ah Seek’s historic legal victory, which toppled 185 years of state-sanctioned stigma against LGBT+ people in Mauritius. With the support of the Collectif Arc-en-Ciel and the Human Dignity Trust, Ryan challenged the constitutionality of Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code, a colonial-era law that criminalised same-sex intimacy and carried a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
The landmark decision by the Mauritius Supreme Court in 2023 not only transformed the lives of the LGBT+ community in Mauritius, but also sent a powerful message to other countries with similar outdated laws. The court’s ruling emphasised the right to non-discrimination and recognised the colonial legacy of such laws.
Join UNISON MIddlesex University Branch for this important LGBT+ History Month and National Queer Students’ Day celebration to learn more about this momentous victory for human rights and its implications for the future around the world. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from key figures involved in the case and to celebrate this significant step towards equality.