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The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) have firmly stated that homosexuality had no place in Zambia.
The three Christian organisations have requested to join a case before the Constitutional Court where civil activist, Isaac Mwanza, and the Zambia Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU) are challenging the legality of homosexuality in the country.
Read more: Group seeks to join Constitutional Court case on decriminalising homosexuality
They argued that the current criminalization of homosexuality infringes on human rights.
The petition aimed to declare Section 155(c) of the Penal Code unconstitutional, arguing it discriminates based on sexual orientation and gender, thus violating Article 8(d) of the Zambian Constitution, which promotes equality before the law.
In their supporting affidavit, Fr. Emmanuel Chikoya (Secretary General of CCZ), Fr. Francis Mukosa (Secretary General of ZCCB), and Bishop Andrew Mwenda (Executive Director of EFZ) asserted that the petition’s true objective was to legalise and normalise same-sex relationships, which they expressed believe undermined Zambia’s moral fabric.
They referenced Zambia’s 1997 declaration as a Christian nation, which they argued should guide the nation’s legal and moral standards.
They contend that this declaration, enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution, was integral to understanding and interpreting Zambian law and ethics.
“We believe that the ascriptions and dictates of values, ethics, and morality in the Constitution are, to a large extent, to be defined within the precincts of the Christian doctrine, notwithstanding a person’s freedom of conscience and religion.
“We believe the petitioner’s petition herein seeks to lacerate the moral fabric of the nation, which we verily believe ought to be rooted in the Christian doctrine,” they argued.
The Christian leaders stressed their crucial role in maintaining the Christian values embedded in the nation’s laws and asserted their right to participate in this case as interested parties.
Mwanza and ZCLU had argued that Section 155(a)(c) of the Penal Code is discriminatory and infringes upon fundamental human rights, including dignity, privacy, and equality as enshrined in the Constitution.
Their petition contended that the language used in the section was vague and ambiguous, failing to provide clear guidelines on what constituted “against the order of nature.”
This ambiguity, they argued, led to the unjust invasion of privacy for consenting adults engaged in same-sex relations, amounting to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
Moreover, Mwanza and the ZCLU pointed out that the provision was not gender-inclusive, criminalising only male same-sex activity while excluding female same-sex relations.
This selective enforcement, they asserted, perpetuates inequality and discrimination based on gender.
The petitioners are seeking a declaration from the Constitutional Court to clarify and amend Section 155(a) to ensure legal certainty and eliminate discrimination.
They proposed either exempting consenting adults engaged in different sexual orientations from criminal liability under this provision or revising the law to provide a comprehensive list of sexual activities deemed acceptable under the “order of nature.”
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