Africa
Out Well-Being Sets Groundbreaking Precedent In Hate Crime Case
On Friday, December 9, 2012, OUT, represented by Webber Wentzel Attorneys, was successfully admitted as amicus curiae in the sentencing phase of a hate crimes trial in the Germiston Magistrates Court. The success of OUT’s application is ground breaking on at least two fronts, firstly OUT is the first organisation to be successfully admitted as… Read more »
Botswana LGBTI Mark Human Rights Day With Calls For An End To Discrimination
The Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS (Bonela) commemorated International Human Rights Day with a colourful event and a call for an end to discrimination against LGBTI. The celebration in Gaborone began with a march from the national stadium to Main Mall where Phenyo Butale, the national director of the Media Institute of Southern… Read more »
Uganda LGBTI Press Statement on the 63rd International Human Rights Day in Uganda
A statement from Sexula Minorities Uganda (SMUG) on International Human Rights Day Today the Ugandan LGBTI community joins millions of other Ugandans in commemorating the International Human Rights Day. This day is a time for people worldwide to reflect about the meaning, importance andneed for human rights. It is an occasion for the government and… Read more »
Gay and Sex tourism growing in Ethiopia says NGO
Many Ethiopians fear that homosexuals and other Western tourists are taking advantage of the poverty and the large orphan population in Ethiopia. Ever since the news of the gay conference went public, Ethiopians have been discussing the issue mainly on digital platforms such as Facebook. Most of the statements on the social networks reflect public… Read more »
2011: Celebrating Human Rights
The Initiative for Equal Rights is dedicated to celebrating human rights and particularly commemorating the International Human Rights’ Day. The International human rights day celebrates the spirit of human rights and the efforts of Human rights Defenders around the world to end human rights violations against vulnerable members of society. Some of the most vulnerable… Read more »
Gays’ Rights Not Country’s Domestic Agenda, Says Defense Minister
Liberia’s Defense Minister, Brownie J. Samukai has said prioritizing the rights of gays is not what he referred to as the domestic agenda of Liberia. The Liberian Defense Minister’s comments come in the wake of recent statements emanating from certain western countries and their leaders that countries in Africa must ensure that gays and lesbians… Read more »
Men who have sex with men often overlooked in Africa HIV and AIDS policies
VSO is the world’s leading independent international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. VSO’s high-impact approach involves bringing people together to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and action, and change lives to make the world a fairer place for all. Earlier this week I represented VSO at… Read more »
Malawi to review anti-gay law
Malawi has announced that it will review a list of legislation, including a ban on homosexual acts. “In view of the sentiments from the general public and in response to public opinion regarding certain laws, the government wishes to announce to the Malawi nation that it is submitting the relevant laws and provisions of laws… Read more »
Africa reacts to Obama’s pro-gay rights foreign policy
Most of Africa’s 54 nations ban homosexuality, so President Obama’s promotion of gay rights as a human right draws quick ire from African governments.
Cameroon Moves To Strengthen Its Anti Homosexual Laws
Alternatives Cameroon, an LGBTI organisation, reports that government policy makers last week convened to endorse a preliminary draft of a law that imposes harsher penalties for homosexual acts. The organisation revealed that the government convened a validation meeting on Friday December 2 during which a revision of the current law regarding homosexuality was discussed. Existing… Read more »
Ghanaian gay refugee tells his horrific story
Imagine if your family published a newspaper story saying you were evil, and that the story made some neighbours feel obligated to smash your skull with rocks. There are thousands of stories like this in Africa. This one is horrific but has a happy ending. We know there’s a crisis facing lesbian, gay and transgender… Read more »
Mr. Gay Namibia Assaulted – Motive Could be Hate and/or Greed
On Sunday evening , 04 December 2011, Wendelinus Hamutenya, Mr Gay Namibia title holder, was physically assaulted near his residence in Katutura, Windhoek, in what can be described as a brutal “mugging” with monetary gain as incentive. Hamutenya arrived home around 22:00 from visiting with friends. He was dropped off at the corner of his… Read more »
Human rights key in combating AIDS among gay men: WHO
Adddis Ababa — Vast improvements in human rights and access to treatment are needed to protect gay men against HIV/AIDS, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Monday. “If you want to achieve zero new infections, you have to address the human rights issues,” WHO official Ying-Ru Lo said after a meeting about infection rates among… Read more »
We’ll Show You You’re a Woman
This 93-page report is based on more than 120 interviews conducted in six provinces. Human Rights Watch found that lesbians and transgender men face extensive discrimination and violence in their daily lives, both from private individuals and government officials. The abusers of people known or assumed to be lesbian, bisexual, or transgender act with near-total… Read more »
60,000 petition Nigerian President not to sign anti-gay law
Activists have delivered a copy of a 60,000-strong global petition addressed to the Nigerian President, urging him not to sign in new laws that target gays. Representatives from the Nigerian LGBTQI in Diaspora, and campaigners from AllOut.org, who are running the petition on their website, rallied outside the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations, New… Read more »
Bonela reiterates call for legalising sex work
Moshupa – An official of the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and AIDS (BONELA) has called on government to legalise prostitution and allow foreigners free access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) if it is serious about winning the battle against HIV and AIDS. Speaking at an event held ahead of the World AIDS Day commemoration in… Read more »
The Gray Area of Gay Refugees
A gay Ugandan couple fled to a Kenyan refugee camp after being disowned by their families and threatened by their community Nairobi, Kenya — The two tender, soft-spoken Ugandans shared a circle of good friends back in their hometown of Kampala. They were close with their families and they started a restaurant together. Life was… Read more »
Education Ministry fights homosexuality in schools
The Ministry of Education is optimistic homosexuality in the country’s Junior and Senior High Schools will soon be a thing of the past. Ahead of World AIDS day which falls on December 1, Paul Krampah, the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, in an interview with Xfm 95.1 said the Ministry’s HIV/AIDS Secretariat has trained teachers who… Read more »
Botswana President Warns Not Everyone Can Get Free ARVS
Botswana’s President Sir Seretse Khama Ian Khama warned on Thursday that Botswana does not have the capacity to extend free ARVs to everybody forever. Speaking at a function to commemorate World Aids Day 2011, the president said, “The only alternative is for the country to focus its efforts of the prevention of new infections.” This… Read more »
Lesbian/Gay issues in schools; Education Ministry steps in
The Ministry of Education’s Public Relations Officer, Paul Krampah has said that the Ministry’s HIV/AIDS Secretariat has trained teachers to educate students homosexuality and its “adverse consequences” including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. According to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSSU) of the Ghana Police Service, more teenage boys in Junior High… Read more »
Male sex workers face social stigma and poor access to care
In Cameroon male sex workers have been left out of HIV and Aids prevention and control programmes and face discrimination in gaining access to healthcare by Anne Mireille Nzouankeu, in Douala, guardian.co.uk Aurélie is a transvestite sex worker in Cameroon’s largest city, Douala. Last month, after a condom he was using broke during sex, he… Read more »
Kenya: The Gray Area of Gay Refugees
A gay Ugandan couple fled to Uganda, thousands of kilometers from home with little more than the clothes on their backs. They came as brothers to live in a scorching refugee camp in northern Kenya. Surrounded by thousands of others who have fled wars and drought in neighboring countries, they came here to save their… Read more »
Doing Nice Things for Men Who Have Sex With Men
Cape Town — Working up the courage to discuss your sex life with a health worker is challenging at the best of times. For men who have sex with men and transgender women, it’s simply too tough to contemplate and many of them simply decline seeking healthcare or delay until it is too late. A… Read more »
Decriminalising sexual orientation: Three African states compared
At the beginning of 2011, 36 states in Africa criminalised sexual orientation, with penalties ranging from fines in Algeria and Kenya, to the death penalty in Sudan and Nigeria. The ‘criminalisation of sexual orientation’ is a blanket term that refers to criminal sanctions imposed on individuals that engage in adult same-sex conduct, which in turn… Read more »
Press Conference Meant to Condemn Homosexuality Cancelled
Addis Ababa, (Ezega.com) – On Tuesday this week, religious leaders in Ethiopia called a press conference to condemn an upcoming meeting planned for Saturday organized by an African gay lobby group, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (Amsher). The meeting is being held ahead of the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted… Read more »
Kenyab MSM Activist, Simon Mamicha, Dies Aged 29
Simon Mamicha a well-known MSM activist and peer educator has died in a Nairobi hospital aged 29. Mamicha who was born on May 5 1982 died at 7am today at the Nairobi Coptic Hospital where he had been admitted following an illness. Until his death, Simon was an active member of ISHTAR MSM and was… Read more »
Gay and Brave
Frank Mugisha was only a teenager when he came out as gay to his family and classmates in Uganda, a country where that admission didn’t just subject him to possible bullying; it put his life at risk. Uganda is one of more than 70 countries worldwide that criminalize consensual gay conduct, and Mugisha says that… Read more »
Health System Struggling Too Deal With Gender Identity Confusion Patients
The general lack of information about gender identity issues that plagues the country’s health care service means that Botswana’s Transgender community is suffering. A recent incident involving a young teenager was brought to the attention of Rainbow Identity, an organization that deals with transgender and intersex people and their issues. The incident took place at… Read more »
GALZ Denies Policy On Outing LGBTI Peiple In Zimbabwe’s Ruling Party
A statement on the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) website has rejected accusations made in Monday’s Zimbabwe’s Daily News which said the group plans to out top Zanu PF officials. The newspaper had reported that GALZ director Chesterfield Samba had said his organisation would name ruling party politicians who lambasted the LGBTI community,… Read more »
Uganda’s Health Professionals Finally Recognise Need For LGBTI Inclusion In HIV Programmes
Amidst calls by gay activists for LGBTI inclusion in access to treatment, care and prevention, senior Ugandan health officials have conceded the national HIV/Aids intervention framework is “faltering badly.” At a meeting of health planners, donors and civil society in Kampala on Thursday November 17, the stakeholders acknowledged that Uganda was “The only PEPFAR focus… Read more »
Irresponsible Recommendation for Uganda from Lonely Planet
Well, this is pretty revolting! Lonely Planet, the widely-respected travel information and guidebook company has chosen one of the world’s most homophobic and gay-violent countries as their number one pick for “Best in Travel” listings for 2012 –Uganda, Africa. A country where human rights should more correctly be called religious fundamentalist rights or in-power political… Read more »
Mozambique discovers its gay minority
The issue of homosexuality is being discovered in Mozambique, where the existence of gays is described as “a reality.” While homosexuality surely is not a matter largely concerning citizens, organisations in defence of the rights of this minority are being established, and politicians do not rule out future legal pro-gay reforms. Still not officially registered,… Read more »
Anti-gay Sentiment in Africa is Creating a New Kind of Refugee
I first met Charles at a prayer service for the Jehovah in Nathan Uganda Koboko where even on a Sunday morning, the noise was deafening. The service was part biblical study and part support group. The other men who were worshiping with Charles in the dingy and cavernous room that day were Sudanese, but he… Read more »
I am Gay and Afraid; Should I Flee my Country?
I am a young Moroccan, and I want to publish my story. 1989: At age 4, I get raped by a neighbor who is older than me. For fear that the whole family is aware, my parents did not file a complaint. They are confined to move in the neighborhood where we lived. 1999: At… Read more »
Gay Uganda News & Reports 2011 Sep-Dec
Also see: Behind the Mask LGBT African website S.M.U.G. Uganda’s Gay Lesbian Alliance Gay Uganda Behind the Mask Uganda Blogspot Gay Kampala personals GalaUganda SMUG HIV – AIDS Report 2008 SMUG HIV – AIDS – Report Appendix – V Same Sex Sexual Behavior. HIV and Health Care in Uganda SMUG HIV – AIDS- Report Appendix… Read more »
Uganda HIV infections shoot up
NEW HIV infections this year have already outstripped those of the previous year by 20,000 people, the executive director of the AIDS Information Centre-Uganda (AIC), Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga, has revealed. The new infections recorded in 2010 stood at 130,000 and they are projected to hit 150,000. The statistics show that there has been an upward… Read more »
Togo’s MSM Community Hold Transvestite Beauty Pageant
The MSM community in Togo recently organised and held its annual Mr and Miss MSM Togo event in the capital, Lomé. The event is an initiative of the Club of Seven Days, the first LGBTI organisation in Togo, with the sponsorship of PSI (Population Services International) via RAS+ (the network of people living with HIV/Aids… Read more »
Gay RSA News & Reports 2011 Jul-Dec
1 A condom in every jail cell 7/11 2 Lessons From HCT Campaign – Living With Aids # 481 7/11 3 Out of the Box: Queer Youth in South Africa Today 8/11 4 Out In Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 8/11 5 Life as a gay refugee in South Africa 8/11 6… Read more »
Gay Rwanda News & Reports 2011
Also see: Behind the Mask LGBT African website 1 The Human Rights Status of LGB in East Africa 2009-2010 7/11 2 Rwanda Leads East Africa on the Progress of LGBTI Human Rights 8/11 21 July 2011 – MSM Global Forum 1 The Human Rights Status of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual in East Africa 2009-2010 by Andiah… Read more »
Gay Nigeria News & Reports 2011
Also see: Behind the Mask LGBT African website 1 LGBT Africans Face Blackmail and Extortion on a Regular Basis 2/11 2 Nigerian newspaper warns gay asylum seeker that ‘jungle justice’ awaits 4/11 3 Nigeria’s gay church is reborn amid a climate of fear 4/11 4 Nowhere to Turn 6/11 5 Nigerian women’s football team ‘eradicates… Read more »
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