Africa
Africa’s first ever LGBTI games is happening this weekend
We’re promised the opening ceremony will be ‘extravagant’ and ‘colorful’ It took three years to turn from an idea into reality, but this weekend the first ever LGBTI AfroGames are happening in Durban, South Africa. Hlengiwe Buthelezi wanted to bring a Gay Games style event to Africa to help promote LGBTI rights across the continent.… Read more »
Gays, Lesbians look up to Masisi
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans-gender and intersex persons (LGBTI) want President Mokgweetsi Masisi to allow same sex relationships which to date, are deemed unlawful in Botswana. Masisi had recently called for the respect and protection of LGBTI persons’ rights at the launch of the 16 Days of Activism against Violence on Women and Children last week.… Read more »
Tanzania Police Arrest Grooms and Guests in Homosexual Marriage
Tanzanian police invaded a homosexual marriage in Pongwe Beach on the island of Tanzania and arrested 10 people, along with the couple, because of their sexual orientation. According to Amnesty International, the policemen entered the place where the party took place and took all the men who were sitting in pairs, already assuming that they… Read more »
South Africa passes historic vote to protect civil unions from homophobes
More than half of South Africa’s marriage officers are exempted from performing same-sex marriages based on conscious or religious exemption The lower house of parliament (National Assembly) in South Africa has voted for a historic change to civil union laws. South Africa has recognized civil unions since 2006 but today’s changes will mean that officials… Read more »
Botswana High Court sets new date to consider decriminalising homosexuality
After a long delay, the Botswana High Court has announced that it will finally hear a case on the decriminalisation of homosexuality next year. A full bench of the court ordered that a hearing challenging the constitutionality of sections 164(a), 164(c) and 167 of the Penal Code, which criminalise same-sex sexual activities in Botswana, be… Read more »
South Africa still hasn’t won LGBTQ+ equality. Here are 5 reasons why
In the fight for LGBTQ+ rights on the African continent, South Africa leads the way for marriage equality and legal protection against discrimination. In fact it was the first country in the world to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and the fifth to legalize same-sex marriage. On paper, this country is a haven… Read more »
Rights groups condemn ‘brutal and humiliating’ tests on gay men in Tunisia
Men suspected of sodomy are being subjected to anal examinations and confiscation of phones by police, with more than 70 gay men jailed last year More than 70 gay men were jailed by Tunisian authorities last year, according to activists, who warn anal tests and phone searches are being used to identify suspects. Mounir Baatour,… Read more »
This UK gay guy went to Swaziland’s 1st Pride: his story is shocking and inspiring
Interview: ‘Are there going to be petrol bombs? Rubber bullets?’ Riyadh Khalaf on tense journey making latest film ‘”We need kidnapping random insurance.’” That’s what Riyadh Khalaf’s director of photography told him right before they and their six-person crew set off to make documentary ‘Fighting For Pride: Swaziland’, about the country’s first-ever Pride parade this… Read more »
Men arrested on suspicion of ‘being gay’ in Zanzibar released on bail
The incident is still being investigated and the men could be charged in the future, police said Ten men arrested last weekend for ‘being gay’ in the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar have been released. On 3 November, police raided a beach resort following a tip-off that a same-sex marriage was taking place on Pongwe Beach.… Read more »
Tunisia: Privacy Threatened by ‘Homosexuality’ Arrests
Government Using Personal Data, Anal ‘Tests’ for Prosecutions (Tunis) – Tunisian authorities are confiscating and searching the phones of men they suspect of being gay and pressuring them to take anal tests and to confess to homosexual activity, Human Rights Watch said today. Prosecutors then use information collected in this fashion to prosecute them for… Read more »
US warns its citizens in Tanzania before anti-gay crackdown
Dar Es Salaam: The United States has warned its citizens in Tanzania to be cautious after the commercial capital Dar es Salaam announced a crackdown on homosexuality, a criminal offence in the country. In an alert on its website late on Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania advised Americans to review their social media profiles… Read more »
Tanzanian Leader Launches Anti-Gay Crackdown, Expects to Round Up Hundreds
The Regional Commissioner of Tanzania’s largest city announced the creation of an anti-gay surveillance squad that is expected to begin a roundup as early as Monday. In an interview with Dizzim TV on Monday, Paul Makonda ordered residents throughout Dar es Salaam to report gay people to a phone hotline in advance of the widespread… Read more »
Tanzanian governor asks for names as he launches new social media squad to arrest gay people
Tanzanian authorities are set to track down and arrest gay people — who face at least 30 years in prison — after the announcement of an anti-gay surveillance squad. Paul Makonda, governor of the country’s largest city Dar es Salaam, issued the directive in a news conference delivered on Monday. The 17-member squad will seek… Read more »
AfroQueerPodcasts
Click here to listen to uncensored audio blogs Source – Sound Cloud
Dar es Salaam governor launches anti-gay clampdown
The governor of Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam on Monday launched an anti-gay clampdown, threatening to arrest people suspected of being homosexuals. “I have information about the presence of many homosexuals in our province,” Paul Makonda told reporters on Monday, calling on citizens to begin reporting homosexuals for round-ups to begin next week. Under… Read more »
Gay sex ban in Malawi fuels anti-LGBTI violence
The southeast African country’s LGBTI population faces horrific discrimination and violence, often at the hands of police and healthcare professionals Malawi’s laws criminalizing same-sex relations continue to create violence and discrimination in the southeast African country. The repressive legislation and social stigma allow police to abuse the LGBTI community unchecked, according to a report by… Read more »
Gay sex ban in Malawi fuels anti-LGBTI violence
The southeast African country’s LGBTI population faces horrific discrimination and violence, often at the hands of police and healthcare professionals Malawi’s laws criminalizing same-sex relations continue to create violence and discrimination in the southeast African country. The repressive legislation and social stigma allow police to abuse the LGBTI community unchecked, according to a report by… Read more »
Kenya High Court to rule on decriminalizing gay sex in February
The court heard arguments on how India’s landmark ruling this year affected Kenya’s court case Kenya’s High Court will rule on whether to repeal Section 162 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes gay sex, on 22 February 2019. On Thursday (25 October), judges heard final arguments relating to India’s decriminalization before making the announcement. Kenya’s… Read more »
‘Kill the Gays’ Uganda MP receives award at Britain’s Parliament
Despite her notorious homophobic views, Rebecca Kadaga received the award for being one of only a few female leaders in Africa A British thinktank has defended giving an award to the politician from Uganda behind the infamous ‘Kill the Gays’ bill. Rebecca Kadaga is the House Speaker in the Ugandan parliament and was recently award… Read more »
Nigerian man comes out as gay via Instagram poll, receives death threats
One person responded: ‘You will not live to see another day here in Nigeria’ A Nigerian man publicly came out as gay via an Instagram poll and then people sent him death threats. 27-year-old Daniel ‘Yomi Asaya was born in Benin City in Nigeria but moved to the UK in 2014. He works as a… Read more »
What it’s really like to be a young gay man in Egypt
Same-sex sex in Egypt is punishable by up to 17 years in prison under certain morality laws There are other people like me in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, which is why I choose to live here. We know how to be. It’s like an algorithm. For example, this year I had an argument about… Read more »
LGBTI people in Africa’s Congo driven to desperate lengths to survive
LGBTI people are too afraid to leave their homes because of the risk of extreme violence The frantic WhatsApp messages start pouring in one night, ‘help me my father found out I’m gay’. ‘I’m worried he’s going to kill me,’ one reads. ‘He says he doesn’t want me in the house, he thinks I’m a… Read more »
This year’s Soweto Pride is the biggest one yet as hundreds celebrate
The LGBTI community wants to reclaim the streets of Soweto The Soweto Pride is on this weekend and just two years after it was forced to shut down it is celebrating its biggest event yet. For the first time ever the Soweto Pride will run over three days and feature a parade, camping and after-party.… Read more »
Kenya’s High Court will decide whether to follow India’s gay sex verdict
Could Kenya become the next country to decriminalize homosexuality? Kenya’s High Court has allowed arguments whether India’s decision to scrapped its gay sex ban is relevant to Kenya. The court said it will allow parties to make submissions on the issue based on the Supreme Court of India’s decision to scrap Section 377 of the… Read more »
Gay teacher at leading Zimbabwean private school resigns after death threats
A teacher at a prestigious private school in Zimbabwe was forced to resign on Friday after his admission that he was gay prompted a furious backlash from parents. Neal Hovelmeier, one of two deputy headmasters at St. John’s College, Harare, said he had been left no choice but to quit after threats were made against… Read more »
Four arrested for homosexuality in Senegal as part of pre-election crackdown
The LGBTI crackdown ahead of national elections is happening so politicians don’t seem ‘pro-homosexual’ LGBTI groups in Senegal said an increase in arrests for alleged homosexuality is a government crackdown on the LGBTI community. The latest arrests of two men and two women in the capital, Dakar, prompted the comments. Police arrested the four after… Read more »
Kenya judge lifts ban and rules lesbian film can be submitted to the Oscars
Will this film win Best Foreign Film at next year’s Academy Awards? A Kenya judge has lifted the ban on a lesbian film and said it can be submitted to the Oscars. Rafiki, which means ‘friend’ in Swahili, was banned in Kenya due to its homosexual storyline. Given its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival,… Read more »
Lesbian romance director sues Kenya to lift ban on film
If the ban on “Rafiki” stays in place, it will not be eligible as Kenya’s Best Foreign Language Film entry for the 2019 Academy Awards. Nairobi – The Kenyan director of a movie banned in her home country for telling the love story of two women has filed a lawsuit seeking to lift the bar… Read more »
‘Nigeria is as gay as any other country’
Drag queen Son of a Tutu performs in the UK, but has adopted a Nigerian persona to make a point. LGBT rights are not recognised in Nigeria, where being openly gay is punishable by jail. Here he tells the story of how he overcame beatings and family expectations to finally become who he was born… Read more »
‘You can’t be out’: Gay Egyptians continue to fear persecution
Egypt’s anti-gay crackdown made headlines last September, but one year later, human-rights advocates and LGBTQ Egyptians say the persecution continues. Omar* is a 30-year-old physician living in Alexandria, Egypt, the country’s second largest city. He is also a gay man who has spent most of his life in what has become one of the most… Read more »
Two teenage girls in South Africa have been expelled for kissing
Two South African girls have been expelled for kissing each other. The teenagers were thrown out of Durban’s Inanda Seminary, a private Christian boarding school for girls, after seminary officials said they were caught kissing for 20 minutes. In June, South Africa’s Equality Court found that religion was no excuse for homophobia, ruling against a… Read more »
‘Make Nigeria Gay Again’: how one artist is fighting homophobia in Africa
Starring the gay demon, Sigil, this is everything you need to know and how you can help A funky new video is highlighting the roots and impacts of entrenched homophobia in Nigeria. Nigerian digital artist, Sigil, made the almost 30-minute long video. Called ‘Happy Pride, Nigeria’ it goes beyond a history lesson and incorporates queer,… Read more »
Swaziland held its first Pride parade despite homosexuality being illegal – and it was amazing
Swaziland has celebrated its first ever Pride parade, defying a national ban on homosexuality. Around 500 people marched along the streets of Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland – which renamed itself eSwatini earlier this year – despite fears of a violent backlash. A Pride event held at Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp in June led to… Read more »
God Knows Us. God Loves Us.
Life on the margins in L.G.B.T. Africa. These days, our busy, digital lives leave us obsessed with what’s in front of us, and often ill equipped to reflect on what is larger than us. H.I.V. and AIDS advocacy forces us to think big: to consider the progress we have made — as a movement, and… Read more »
Following pride event, Kenya’s gay refugees fear for their lives
Approximately 600 people showed up for the first pride event held at one of the world’s largest refugee camps. The Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya held its first LGBTQ pride event on Saturday, but now the event’s organizers are in fear for their lives. After the event, which organizers said drew approximately 600 people,… Read more »
Canaries in the coal mines
An analysis of spaces for LGBTI activism in Botswana Country Report Read entire report here:http://theotherfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Canaries_Botswana_epub_Draft2_CB2.pdf Source – The Other Foundation
Pride leader got hundreds of death threats in just one day in Mauritius
LGBTI advocates received threats of mutilation and execution The LGBTI community in Mauritius is in shock after organizers cancelled the annual Pride March cancelled because of threats of violence from ‘anti-LGBTQ’ protestors. Mauritius’s leading LGBTI organization, the Collectif Arc-en-Ciel (CAEC), plans the Pride March ever year. 2018 was supposed to be the 13th anniversary of… Read more »
Nigeria gets its first LGBT-focused talk show
Two Nigerians, Chijioke Okoli and Cisi Eze, popularly known as CJ and Cisi, have banded together to launch a radio show that will explore issues relating to homosexuality in Nigeria. Okoli is an experienced radio show host, public speaker and media personality who once worked at WE FM 106.3 Abuja as co-host on a sex… Read more »
Cameroon police arrest and torture 25 men for being gay
Police in Cameroon have arrested 25 men on suspicion of being gay. Homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon, with those convicted of homosexuality facing up to five years in prison. The arrests were made in the early hours of Saturday morning, as police raided institutions in the capital city of Yaoundé which are known to be… Read more »
Burundi: repressive constitutional reform to give the president full powers
Paris – 15 May 2018. At the end of a one-sided campaign, where voters were registered by force and where promoting a “no” or abstention was brutally repressed, on 17 May the Burundians will be invited to give their opinion on a proposed change to the Constitution. The paper published today by FIDH and the… Read more »
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