Namibian LGBTQ+ activist Friedel Dausab on colonial-era law victory: ‘I was waiting for 25 years to happen’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Friedel Dausab (Image: Provided)

On 21 June 2024, Friedel Dausab, a gay rights activist from Tsumeb, Namibia, scored a big victory when the country’s High Court overturned colonial-era laws that penalised ‘sodomy’ and ‘unnatural sexual offences’.

Dausab, leader of the Third Sector category of  Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley (see here for the full list of the 2025 Attitude 101 Third Sector category honourees) had gone to the High Court to fight for the laws to be declared unconstitutional, saying that they discriminated against gay men in Namibia. Ruling in Dausab’s favour, the Namibian High Court stated that criminalisation of same-sex relations between consenting men “is outweighed by the harmful and prejudicial impact it has on gay men and that its retention in our law is thus not reasonably justifiable in a

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