Africa
Egyptian Police Said to Track LGBTQ+ On Dating Apps
Source – Peter Tatchell Foundation
LGBTQIA+ LIFE CHALLENGES IN Ivory Coast
Legal ChallengesSame-gender sexual activities for both men and women are legal in private and have never been criminalized in Ivory Coast. However, public same-gender sexual acts will be punished with imprisonment for 3 months to 2 years and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 francs (75–450€). Same-gender couples are not legally recognized and are not… Read more »
Eswatini: murder of pro-democracy activist prompts outrage
Fears security agencies may have been involved in shooting of Thulani Maseko in his home on Saturday Authorities in Eswatini have promised a full investigation of the murder of a leading pro-democracy activist amid widespread fears that state security agencies may have been involved. Thulani Maseko, chairperson of a coalition of pro-democracy groups, was shot… Read more »
Edwin Chiloba: LGBTQ activist found dead in Kenya
Police in Kenya are investigating the death of young fashion designer and LGBTQ activist Edwin Chiloba after his body was found dumped in a metal box by the roadside near the town of Eldoret. A suspect believed to be a friend of the victim has been arrested but police have not spoken about a motive.… Read more »
Edwin Chiloba: LGBTQ activist found dead in Kenya
Police in Kenya are investigating the death of young fashion designer and LGBTQ activist Edwin Chiloba after his body was found dumped in a metal box by the roadside near the town of Eldoret. A suspect believed to be a friend of the victim has been arrested but police have not spoken about a motive.… Read more »
19 Arrested at Same-Sex Wedding in Nigeria
Marriage equality and same-sex sexual relations are illegal in the country. Members of Islamic police enforcing sharia law in the northern Nigerian state of Kano arrested 19 men and women yesterday, accusing them of attending a same-sex marriage. A spokesperson for the religious police, known locally at the hisbah, said they acted after receiving a… Read more »
Ugandan LGBTQ+ Rights Organization Forced to Shut Down by Government
CNN — Uganda’s government shut down operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a non-governmental organization for LGBTQ rights, accusing it of operating illegally in the country, according to a statement from the government. Uganda’s National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO Bureau) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs said Friday the group operated without being registered… Read more »
Will Ghana introduce some of the harshest anti-gay laws in the world?
West Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu describes how a backlash against the opening of an LGBTQ+ safe space in Ghana has fuelled homophobic legislation In February 2021, a community centre for LGBTQ+ people in Ghana was closed down weeks after it had opened, following a wave of protests. As our west Africa correspondent, Emmanuel Akinwotu, explains… Read more »
Police arrest leading gay activist in crackdown on Tunisia rally
Young people join anti-Saied demonstrations amid growing anger at president’s proposed new constitution. Tunis, Tunisia – Police have arrested a leading gay rights campaigner in a violent pushback against young people during a rally against the upcoming referendum on the Tunisian president’s newly proposed constitution. Police violently shoved protesters marching on Friday in a vocal… Read more »
Sudan woman faces death by stoning for adultery in first case for a decade
Campaigners say sentence amounts to torture amid fears that country’s new regime is rolling back women’s rights A woman in Sudan has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, the first known case in the country for almost a decade. Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab, 20, was arrested by police in Sudan’s White Nile state last… Read more »
Three men sentenced to death by stoning for being gay in Nigeria
An Islamic sharia court in Nigeria has sentenced three gay men to death by stoning – including a man who was 70 years old. A Ningi court in the northern state of Bauchi convicted the men of engaging in homosexuality, the state’s religious police force, the Hisbah Vanguard, said 1 July. According to Reuters, the… Read more »
Lesbian ‘stoned to death’ in South Africa after receiving ‘rape and death threats’
A 24-year-old Zimbabwean lesbian was found “stoned to death” in South Africa after allegedly receiving rape and death threats by local men in the area. Ruth “Nickki” Chigowe was found dead on 27 May in Katlehong, a large township in the country’s Gauteng Province, according to Mamba Online. She leaves behind a one-year-old daughter. Her… Read more »
Rwandan LGBTIQ people warn: It’s unsafe to send queer asylum seekers here
The UK intends to send asylum seekers to the east African country. Rights groups say LGBTIQ people will be particularly at risk Gerald* and his boyfriend fled Rwanda in February this year to escape persecution from their families and church. “They beat us, starved us and refused to give us shelter,” he told openDemocracy from… Read more »
Rwandan LGBTIQ people warn: It’s unsafe to send queer asylum seekers here
The UK intends to send asylum seekers to the east African country. Rights groups say LGBTIQ people will be particularly at risk Gerald* and his boyfriend fled Rwanda in February this year to escape persecution from their families and church. “They beat us, starved us and refused to give us shelter,” he told openDemocracy from… Read more »
Ghanaian chief threatens to storm parliament with 10,000 homophobes to force through anti-LGBT+ bill
A regional chief in Ghana has threatened to storm the country’s parliament with 10,000 people to force through a cruel anti-LGBT+ bill. The “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021”, leaked in July this year, would criminalise everything from sex toys, to trans medical care, to simply being an LGBT+… Read more »
First-ever Malawi Pride sees brave activists deliver demands to the president
Braving the threat of persecution, dozens of queer people packed the streets of the capital of Malawi for the country’s first-ever Pride parade Saturday (26 June). Organised by the Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, some 50 LGBT+ people marched through the streets of Lilongwe in a show of defiance. After an hour-long march through winding but silent… Read more »
Namibia Considers Ending Its Ban On Gay Sex
A colonial-era law that criminalizes sex between men could be on the chopping block in Namibia. According to Reuters, a reform commission has advised the government to abolish the law. Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab told Reuters that the law is “outdated and discriminatory.” “The LGBTQI community are human beings and we must not allow them… Read more »
Namibia Considers Ending Its Ban On Gay Sex
A colonial-era law that criminalizes sex between men could be on the chopping block in Namibia. According to Reuters, a reform commission has advised the government to abolish the law. Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab told Reuters that the law is “outdated and discriminatory.” “The LGBTQI community are human beings and we must not allow them… Read more »
Nigerian police raid suspected ‘gay party’ and drag ‘scores’ of men to anti-cult office
Police have reportedly raided a hotel in Anambra, Nigeria, where a group of “suspected gays” were having a party, following an anonymous tip-off. According to a local source who spoke to Nigerian publisher Punch Newspapers: “The gays were holding a party at the facility when trouble ensued, leading to the invitation of policemen from the… Read more »
The “Deviant” African Genders That Colonialism Condemned
European travellers and anthropologists found that their gendered worldview didn’t easily map onto the societies they encountered. In “pre-colonial times,” wrote the late feminist scholar Niara Sudarkasa, women in West Africa were “conspicuous in high places.” They led armies, often played important consultative roles in politics, and in the case of the Lovedu people (present-day… Read more »
‘Nowhere to go’: the young LGBT+ Ugandans ‘outed’ during lockdown
Student tells how he and others were arrested on Covid-related charges, publicly humiliated and left without a place to stay When you ask Ronald Ssenyonga, a 21-year-old Ugandan, to tell you about his arrest, he asks: “Which one?” Like many gay people struggling to survive in a country that has used Covid-19 as an excuse… Read more »
Judge throws out case of 47 Nigerian men accused of gay sex after prosecutors fail to even show up
A Nigerian judge threw out a case against 47 men accused of gay sex after the prosecutors failed to show up in court or call any witnesses. he high-profile case was widely seen as a test of the country’s same-sex marriage prohibition act (SSMPA), which punishes homosexual relationships by up to 14 years in prison.… Read more »
Dozens of students handed prison sentences for the alleged ‘crime’ of attending a ‘gay wedding’
A court in Algeria, where same-sex relations are illegal, has sentenced more than 40 people to prison for attending a “gay wedding”. On September 3, a court in the North African country sent two men immediately to prison and sentenced 42 other people to suspended prison sentences for being at a “gay wedding”, according to… Read more »
Mauritius defiantly celebrates Pride with a kaleidoscopic march and calls for an end to its colonial-era gay sex ban
Mauritius hosted a rare, kaleidoscopic LGBT+ Pride parade amid the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on lawmakers to decriminalise same-sex relations. The LGBT+ Pride event, which took place on Saturday (October 10), was organised by the Collectif Arc-en-Cieland. It saw more than 500 people march the streets in hopes of being heard, recognised and seen. Mauritius is… Read more »
How young, queer Nigerians use Twitter to shape identity and fight homophobia
Nigeria continues to be largely homophobic, mainly as a result of cultural and religious conventions. Negative perceptions of homosexuality led to the criminalisation of same-sex relations in 2014. The Nigerian environment is therefore toxic for LGBTI people. They become easy prey to oppressive and exploitative state security apparatus. They are also vulnerable to public “moral… Read more »
‘Gay People Have Always Existed In Africa – It”s Time For Us To Start Telling Our Stories’
Former pastor Edafe Okporo sheds more light on the little-known history of African queer culture. Despite the recent decriminalisation of homosexuality in countries like Gabon and Angola, it remains a sad fact that same-sex sexual relations remain illegal across more than half of the continent. Many of these antiquated laws were imposed on African nation… Read more »
‘Don’t come back, they’ll kill you for being gay’
For years Mohamed’s family tried to make him more like other boys – tougher, more “masculine”. They even sent him to have a female spirit driven out with hallucinogenic drugs. Eventually, writes Layla Mahmood, they decided to kill him. The heat enveloped 20-year-old Mohamed, as he zig-zagged through the alleyways of Hargeisa. It was around… Read more »
Sudan has dropped the death penalty as a punishment for gay sex. Queers will instead be thrown in prison for loving who they love
The African nation of Sudan has dropped flogging and the death penalty as punishments for gay sex – but queer people can still be thrown in prison under the country’s archaic laws. The law was amended to remove the death penalty and floggings for gay sex last week, according to LGBT+ rights organisation Bedayaa. The… Read more »
Lawmakers in the Central African country of Gabon just voted to decriminalise homosexuality
Lawmakers in the Central African country of Gabon just voted to decriminalise homosexuality, after making gay sex illegal just last year. In 2019, Gabon, on the west coast of Central Africa, criminalised same-sex relations with a penalty of up to six months in prison as well as a fine of 5 million CFA francs (£6,393).… Read more »
Zambian President Pardons Two Gay Men After Ousting US Ambassador
Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has released two gay men from prison months after he booted the US ambassador to Zambia in a diplomatic spat that centered on LGBTQ rights and international aid. Zambia’s president has pardoned two gay men whose arrests and 15-year sentences on anti-LGBTQ sodomy charges triggered diplomatic friction and culminated in… Read more »
Kenya’s Judges Uphold Laws That Criminalize Gay Sex
Kenya’s High Court has chosen to uphold colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex, dashing the hopes of activists who believed the judges would overturn sections of the penal code as unconstitutional and inspire a sea change across the continent. Three judges said Friday that the laws in question did not target the LGBTQ community. They… Read more »
Opinion: ‘You can’t be a lesbian in Tanzania’
* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation. Tanzania’s president John Magufuli has been on a morality crusade, reinforcing discrimination against women and the LGBT+ community in particular Kiara Ethan is an activist at Eagle Wings Youth Initiative in Tanzania Being a lesbian in… Read more »
Homeless queer Ugandans brutally whipped by mayor before being falsely arrested under coronavirus laws
Shivering and scared, 23 LGBT+ people sat on the forecourt of a charity-run facility near Kampala, Uganda. A municipal mayor carries a four-foot cane as he paces in front of them before beginning to brutally whip and interrogate them, tying them up and marching them through the streets, locals jeering as they walk across the… Read more »
Queer refugees subjected to daily anti-LGBT+ violence say they were ‘teargassed and brutally assaulted’ by police while protesting their plight
A protest staged by embattled and exhausted LGBT+ refugees from a camp in Kakuma, Kenya ended in violence as police officers allegedly “teargassed, beat and brutally assaulted” demonstrators. Queer refugees donned rainbow face masks for a peaceful protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) office in the northwestern town. The group –… Read more »
Tunisia quashes LGBT report it recognized gay marriage
Tunisia’s president Kais Saied supports the criminalization of homosexuality. He has termed gay people “deviants” and favors Sharia law. He defends capital punishment. Berlin – The Republic of Tunisia has denied a report from the Tunisian LGBTQ organization Shams that the North African country recognized same-sex marriage, dashing hopes for marriage equality among gays and… Read more »
Tunisia just became the first Arab country to recognise same-sex marriage – but there’s a catch
The Republic of Tunisia has become the first Arab state to recognise a same-sex marriage, a Tunisian LGBT+ rights organisation has announced. According to Association Shams, a marriage settlement between a Frenchman, 31, and a Tunisian man, 26, was legally recognised in Tunisia for the first time on Friday. Homosexuality is illegal in the north… Read more »
Lesbians, Gays Live in Fear of Attacks in Kenyan Refugee Camp
Nairobi — Eva Nabagala hoped she and her young son would be safe from her family when they fled Uganda for a Kenyan refugee camp – but instead, the 28-year-old says she was attacked and raped there as punishment for being a lesbian. “I have been threatened with death, I have been beaten, I have… Read more »
Gay men abused in Morocco after photos spread online
Gay men are being harassed and abused in Morocco after photos taken from gay chat apps were circulated online. Photos spread after a social media influencer told her followers to make fake accounts on apps to see how common homosexuality is. Homosexuality is illegal in the conservative Muslim country, which is in lockdown because of… Read more »
Dozens of Gay Men Are Outed in Morocco as Photos Are Spread Online
The idea was to show the hypocrisy of Moroccan society by showing how many gay men are living quietly in straight society. It backfired badly. Paris — At least 50 to 100 gay men were outed in Morocco over the last two weeks, rights activists say, after the men were identified on location-based meeting apps… Read more »
After Beating the Odds, Tunisia’s Queer Festival Postponed Due to Coronavirus
The third edition of the Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival was supposed to open this weekend in Tunis. Islamic discourse has not managed to stifle LGBTQ activity in the country, but the coronavirus may have Tunisia has done it again. It has sprung surprises in the past and continues to do so now – from toppling… Read more »
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