LESBIAN KIDNAPPED BY FAMILY

A Mauritian woman was kidnapped and held hostage by her family because they are opposed to her being a lesbian.

According to Behind the Mask, KotZot News reported that 20 year old Shalina was earlier this month attacked, beaten and kidnapped by family members from the home that she shares with her girlfriend.

“It all happened very quickly. There were many of them, six or seven, I can remember and they were telling me: ‘you are not like this. That girl wishes you ill’”, Shalina told the newspaper.

She was thrown into the back of a van and taken to her family’s house where she was held against her will.

While police initially resisted opening a case of kidnapping, Shalina girlfriend’s persistent demands and the intervention of the local LGBT rights organisation Arc-en-ciel, finally led to the authorities forcing the family to release the woman.

Arc-en-ciel said that they are pursuing legal action against the family.

While consensual sexual acts between same-sex adults remain illegal in Mauritius, the nation is one of 66 countries that signed on to a 2008 UN declaration calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality around the world.