Africa
Remembering Eric Lembembe and Martin Luther King Jr.
International LGBT rights activist the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle writes about the similarities and differences between Eric Lembembe and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the causes they fought for. An excerpt from the full column: “They shared a common dream of human dignity and equality, a sense that they may not live long… Read more »
Writer Tells Africa What He Couldn’t Tell ‘Mum’
Nairobi, Kenya — When the Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina published his acclaimed memoir three years ago, he concealed an important part of his life from the public eye. Last Saturday, he unveiled “a lost chapter” of the book on the Internet titled, “I am a homosexual, mum.” The chapter, about missing the opportunity to tell… Read more »
GALZ Statement On The Arrest Of Transgender Activist, Ricky Nathanson.
GALZ deplores the arrest , detention and trial of Ricky Nathanson, a transgender person in Bulawayo on the 16th of January for using a ladies toilet. We are concerned that Ricky may have been treated in an inhumane and undignified manner during the arrest and subsequent detention in police custody before her court appearance. We… Read more »
Famous Kenyan author comes out as gay in birthday article
A prominent author in Kenya has come out as gay, in a country where homosexuality remains illegal. Binyavanga Wainaina made the announcement in an article for his 43rd birthday entitled: “I am a homosexual, mum.” “Nobody, nobody, ever in my life has heard this,” Mr Wainaina wrote in the article published first on the Africa… Read more »
Mauritania: discreet inclusion of gays in the HIV response.
Any news concerning the struggles of LGBTI is rare out of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a West-African country of about 3.5 million souls that achieved independence from France in 1960. One of four African countries where same-sex relations between men are punishable by death, article 308 states: “Any adult Muslim man who commits an… Read more »
Malawi Rights Group Seeks Review Of Imprisoned Gays’ Jail Sentences
A Malawi high court on Monday began hearing a petition by a leading rights group seeking to obtain the review of jail sentences of three gays and to overturn laws that criminalise homosexuality. “We want the court to declare the laws that criminalise homosexuality in Malawi unconstitutional,” Gift Trapence, director of a rights group, the… Read more »
Former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano pleads for tolerance for LGBTIs
Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, has pleaded with African leaders to show more tolerance for sexual minorities and to respect their human rights in an open letter Joaquim Chissano, president of Mozambique from 1986 to 2005, has pleaded for African leaders to be respectful of the human rights of sexual minorities and move… Read more »
Six men arrested for gay wedding in Gabon
Despite same-sex weddings or gay sex not being explicitly illegal in the African country, police arrested the men on grounds of ‘obscenity Despite same-sex weddings or gay sex not being explicitly illegal in the African country, police arrested the men on grounds of ‘obscenity’ While homosexuality is not explicitly illegal in Gabon, unlike 38 other… Read more »
President of Uganda refuses to sign ‘jail the gays’ bill into law
Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter! The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has refused to sign a controversial new bill into law that could have seen gay men and women jailed for life. Mr Museveni says that there are better ways to “rescue” people from homosexuality. According to… Read more »
Zimbabwe LGBTI rights group GALZ wins High Court victory
Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled police must return seized property to LGBTI rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), finding the group does not need to be registered with the government Zimbabwean LGBTI rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) have scored a major victory, with the country’s High Court ruling that the… Read more »
Uganda’s Gay Porn Obsession: Why A Nation With Anti-Gay Laws Is Leading The Way
Uganda might have vehemently anti-gay legislation in place, but that hasn’t stopped the nation from becoming one of the world’s top consumers of gay pornography, according to reports. HuffPost Live host Ahmed Shihab-Eldin spoke with Roger Ross Williams, director of the award-winning documentary “God Loves Uganda,” to figure out why one of the world’s most… Read more »
Nigeria’s Gay ‘Witch Hunt’ Has Lead To Arrests In 4 States: Amnesty International
Lagos, Nigeria (AP) — A “witch hunt” for gay people has led to arrests in at least four of Nigeria’s 36 states, Amnesty International said Wednesday, blaming a new law criminalizing gay organizations and meetings as well as same-sex marriage. It said the law’s disregard for human rights mirrors that of the military dictators who… Read more »
Call for probe: Family let Mbede die to exorcise gayness?
Grieving friends and allies of gay rights icon Roger Mbede are calling for an investigation into his family’s role in his death on Jan. 10. After Mbede, 34, left a hospital in Yaoundé last month, he was reportedly denied access to health care and was confined by his family to one room in their home… Read more »
38 gay men arrested in Nigeria, 130 more to go
Human rights activists claim police have a list of 168 gay men in northern Nigeria and will arrest every last one Dozens of gay men are being arrested in northern Nigeria, human rights activists have said. The police have allegedly drawn up a list of 168 wanted gay men. 38 have been arrested in recent… Read more »
Nigeria: 11 Muslim men accused of being gay face possible death sentence by religious court
Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter! An Islamic court in Nigeria has put on trial 11 Muslim men accused of violating their religion due to their alleged sexuality – if found guilty they could be sentenced to death by stoning. The trials are taking place in the country’s… Read more »
Nigeria bans gay marriage, gay meetings
Abuja, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s president has signed a law that bans same-sex marriage and criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act on Monday. It was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan and dated Jan.… Read more »
Gay ‘prisoner of conscience’ dies in Cameroon
Yaounde, Cameroon (AP) — A gay man in Cameroon who was jailed for sending a text message to another man saying ‘‘I’m very much in love with you,’’ and who was later declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, has died, according to a lawyer who worked on his case. Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, 34,… Read more »
Ugandans top Google results for searches on ‘gay porn’
African nations including Kenya and Ethiopia also rank highly for gay porn searches Uganda tops search report for ‘homosexuality’ A new report on the most popular search terms of 2013 has revealed Uganda to be a nation obsessed with homosexuality online. According to Google’s Zeitgeist report of 2013, which lists the most popular terms used… Read more »
South African activists demand action against ‘corrective rape’ epidemic
Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter! Campaigners have warned that sexual attacks by men against lesbians in South Africa are continuing to increase. Corrective rape is a hate crime in which men rape lesbians in what they see as an attempt to ‘correct’ their sexual orientation. Clare Carter… Read more »
DR Congo looks to ban gay sex
African country is one of the few to not explicitly ban homosexuality, but that could all change with the introduction of new legislation National Assembly member Steve Mbikayi wants to ban gay sex from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Gay sex could be banned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). National Assembly… Read more »
Namibians turn to gay sex work to escape eating from garbage bins
Young LGBTI people who are forced out of their families homes through homophobia are particularly vulnerable Poverty-stricken Namibians are turning to gay sex work to escape widespread unemployment, which is so bad it forces people to eat out of the garbage. That’s according to leading Namibia sex workers rights campaigner Nicodemus ‘Mama Africa’ Aoxamub who… Read more »
A Graveyard For Homosexuals
Spurred by zealous American missionaries, Ethiopia has declared war on gay men In a bleak little apartment on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, nearly a dozen men in their 20s take turns trying on a pair of black skinny jeans and watching Project Runway episodes downloaded off YouTube. There’s no plumbing, Internet or furniture, but… Read more »
Ugandan Government ministries split over gay HIV clinics
Uganda’s Health Minister plans to roll out a series of HIV clinics targeting the needs of LGBTIs and sex workers in the East African nation, but the country’s Minster for Ethics and Integrity is outraged by the plan 18 months after attacking activists for opening a HIV clinic for LGBTIs in Kampala, Uganda’s Health Ministry… Read more »
Namibia Celebrates Pride
What’s been billed as Namibia’s first LGBT Pride march took place without incident in Windhoek on Saturday morning. The event was held in the city’s township of Katutura and saw about 100 people taking to the streets to proudly express their pride. The marchers held up placards calling for LGBT equality, with messages such as… Read more »
Cameroon LGBT activist granted asylum in US after receiving death threats for taking part in film
A Cameroonian LGBT activist has been reunited with her family in San Francisco after receiving death threats for appearing in a documentary on LGBT rights. The film documents how the LGBT community in Cameroon is forced to remain at the margins of society. The activist in the film, known only as Gertrude, has been granted… Read more »
A new anti-homosexuality law in Nigeria
The legislature of Katsina State in northern Nigeria added to that country’s patchwork quilt of anti-gay laws on Dec. 3, passing a law providing for 14 years in prison for same-sex relations between either men or women. The same state law also applies to anyone convicted of same-sex sexual harassment of students, job-seekers, employees and… Read more »
“It’s Nature, Not a Crime”
Discriminatory Laws and LGBT People in Liberia Biological sex: The biological classification of bodies as female or male based on such factors as external sex organs, internal sexual and reproductive organs, hormones, and chromosomes. Bisexual: The sexual orientation of a person who is sexually and romantically attracted to both women and men. Closeted/being in the… Read more »
Cameroon HIV support group honored with award
Alternatives-Cameroun awarded for HIV education and medical support, particularly for sexual minorities, in difficult circumstances An organization who provide HIV education and medical support for sexual minorities in Cameroon, in the midst of increasing violence against LGBT people, has won the 2013 Awards for Action from the Canadian HIV/Aids Legal Network. ‘Alternatives-Cameroun is on the… Read more »
Cameroon: Man sentenced to 9 years behind bars for gay sex
Reports say a man has been sentenced to nine years in jail for breaking Cameroon’s laws against homosexuality – even though the country’s penal code stipulates a maximum sentence of five years for those found guilty of same-sex sexual acts. LGBT campaign blog Erasing 76 Crimes, which charts 76 countries with anti-gay laws, said last… Read more »
Gay activists protest arrests
Anger is brewing in the gay community at home and abroad, as a criminal case against the chairman of a sexual minorities group starts today at the Nabweru Magistrate’s court in Wakiso district. Samuel Ganafa, executive director of Spectrum Uganda and chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, was arrested last week and paraded before the media… Read more »
Cameroon: 9 years in prison for gay sex; no witnesses
A Cameroon man was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday (Nov. 20) on homosexuality-related charges. The sentence imposed on Cornelius Fonya, 35, in the coastal city of Limbe was for same-sex relations with a youth between age 16 and 21. In Cameroon, the maximum sentence for same-sex relations between adults is five years, but… Read more »
Senegalese women accused of lesbian acts freed by judge
Four women who were arrested in Senegal earlier this month after they were accused of kissing in public have been set free because of insufficient evidence by police, while the fate of another remains to be seen Four of five women who were arrested 11 November at a restaurant in Dakar’s Yoff district have been… Read more »
Ugandan President takes HIV test as part of prevention campaign
The President of Uganda.Yoweri Museveni, has taken an HIV test in public, saying he wants all Ugandans to know their HIV status if the country is to reduce new infections. President Museveni conducted the test at the Kiswa Health Centre in Kampala, in front of government officials and reporters on Friday. Politicians in Uganda rarely… Read more »
Kenya judges get ready for major gay legal battle
Kenya’s refusal to register an LGBTI organization is set to become a legal showdown between gay activists and anti-gay forces, raising ‘deep’ constitutional issues Kenya is forming a three-judge panel to review whether officials breached the Constitution by refusing to register an LGBTI organization. It could be a landmark case as it raises the question… Read more »
Torture Of LGBT Prisoners
In a shocking development, an HIV and LGBT human rights organisation has discovered a group of 10 previously unknown people jailed for homosexuality in a Cameroon prison. In a statement, CAMFAIDS said that it identified the prisoners, who had been arbitrarily detained on the basis of their perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity,… Read more »
Malawi Imam Backs Gay Rights
Lilongwe – A new controversy has hit Malawi after an imam has come out in the open to champion rights of homosexuals, sparking angry comments from Muslim scholars who advocate full enforcement of laws that criminalize same sex marriages in the southern African nation. “The stand of Islam on homosexuality is very clear. It’s against… Read more »
Global court to consider arresting author of Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ bill
The International Criminal Court may arrest a Uganda MP who put forward the bill, a tabloid newspaper who called on the public to ‘hang’ gay people, and a pastor who shows gay porn to stir up hatrd The International Criminal Court is considering arresting the author of Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ bill. Magembe Norman, a… Read more »
How to help victims of anti-gay laws in Zambia
How can people help those who are facing criminal charges in Zambia on the basis of their sexual orientation or their advocacy of LGBT rights? The Southern Africa Litigation Center has a suggestion — write to your government to find out what your embassy in Zambia is doing on this issue. “Embassies are involved in… Read more »
Being gay in Algeria: ‘I’ll never live with the one I love’
Thursday was the seventh national LGBT day in Algeria, a country in which homosexuality is illegal. FRANCE 24 spoke with Amelle, an Algerian lesbian who hides her sexual preference rather than risk prison time and familial shame. Under Algerian law, Amelle* is guilty. Her crime: a sexual preference for women. In order to avoid the… Read more »
New gay apartheid sees LGBTs openly banned in Cameroon
As homophobic attacks continue to rise in the African country, several public venues have posted signs banning gay people A new gay apartheid in Cameroon has seen LGBT people being openly banned from several public venues. In the capital Yaoundé, a video taken by gay rights activists shows a bar with the sign ‘Espace Interdit… Read more »
ADS
