Rainbow rises in Bhutan.
Both houses of Bhutan’s parliament approved a bill that legalizes gay sex, amending Sections 213 and 214 of the penal code that criminalized “unnatural sex”, which was widely interpreted as referring to homosexuality. With this development, the Himalayan kingdom becomes the latest Asian nation to take steps to ease restrictions on same-sex relationships.
In total, 63 of the 69 members of both houses of parliament voted in favor of amending the code to scrap the discriminatory provision. There were six members who were absent at the time of voting.
Worth noting: The changes still need to be approved by the King of Bhutan to become a law in the majority-Buddhist nation of 800,000 people.
