Africa
Lesbians in Senegal just want a place where they can be themselves
It is not easy to find gay women in Senegal. Homosexuality is illegal in the country, though several small LGBT rights groups operate there. But because they were founded during the AIDS crisis and considered as actors in keeping down HIV infection rates, they are focused on men. Lesbian women are now starting to fight… Read more »
42 arrested in Nigeria for ‘homosexual acts’
Over 40 men were arrested in Nigeria over the weekend for performing “homosexual acts”. Following a police raid in Lagos state at a hotel on Saturday, it is believed that 42 men were arrested. Where is it illegal to be gay? A look at all the countries where homosexuality is against the law If found… Read more »
The queer Xhosa film rocking Durban
The film that’s really getting the 38th annual Durban International Film Festival talking is the African premiere of a frank and beautiful gay Xhosa initiation love story called Inxeba (The Wound), which explores masculinity and tradition – but is made by a white director. Here’s what five pan-African reviewers at the festival, on the Talents… Read more »
Tanzania steps up fight against queer rights
Fear and Loathing, World of Politics “Everyone is afraid. We’re all afraid. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Nobody knows.” So says James Wandera Ouma, director of LGBT Voice Tanzania, a Tanzanian queer rights organisation. His comments followed a recent announcement by Tanzania’s Home Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba that the government would be cracking… Read more »
Leading the struggle for LGBT rights in Mozambique
Imagine a beautiful table setting in a tropical garden next to a meticulously renovated historic home. Reminisce as selections of classic jazz and R&B from our hosts’ personal collection set the mood. Enjoy the breeze as it carries hints of a feast all gathered shall soon enjoy and sweet scents from the garden. The event… Read more »
Tanzania vows to arrest those ‘protecting’ gay interests
Nairobi, Kenya – Tanzania has threatened to arrest and deport those campaigning for gay rights and de-register organisations protecting homosexual interests, local media reported Monday. “I would like to remind and warn all organisations and institutions that campaign and pretend to protect homosexual interests … we are going to arrest whoever is involved and charge… Read more »
Cameroon’s sex workers brush off beatings to send clients for HIV tests
Yaounde (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – During six years of selling sex on the streets and in brothels across Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, Rose has been abused, attacked and forced to have unprotected sex by her clients. “There are some ferocious beasts amongst them,” said the sex worker, a tall woman in her late thirties, wearing a… Read more »
3rd Edition of Bombastic Magazine Rolled Out as Parliament Recalls all Delivered Copies
On Wednesday 14th June 2017, Kuchu Times Media Group officially released Bombastic Magazine into the public domain. The magazine which was distributed in Kampala on the same day had earlier undergone a dispersion phase in the upcountry areas of Uganda in late May. The volunteer teams that doled out the magazine targeted local stakeholders and… Read more »
Chad
Types of criminalisation Criminalises sex between men Criminalises sex between women Penal Code 2017, S. 354 Section 354 criminalises same-sex intimacy between men and between women, punishable with imprisonment for up to 2 years and a fine of between 50,000 and 500,000 FCFA.1 Enforcement 2017 Chad enacted a new Penal Code, criminalising same-sex intimacy between… Read more »
LGBT group sues Ugandan government after being blocked from official registration
A Ugandan LGBT+ rights group has filed a lawsuit against the country’s government after it was blocked from registering its name. Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) has been blocked by the Ugandan Registration Service from registering its own name as an organisation. A statement from SMUG said it expects a decision from the Ugandan High Court… Read more »
Kenya’s First Gay Health Clinic Provides Care Without the Judgment
Peter Njane was still in college when he first started volunteering with Ishtar, a community-based organization in Nairobi, Kenya. During that time in 2003, the organization was little more than a group of individuals getting together and discussing issues around being LGBTQ in the East African country. “I would come and help organize events,” Njane… Read more »
Kenya’s First Gay Health Clinic Provides Care Without the Judgment
Ishtar is a health care clinic in Nairobi, Kenya, that is run by and for gay men. Peter Njane was still in college when he first started volunteering with Ishtar, a community-based organization in Nairobi, Kenya. During that time in 2003, the organization was little more than a group of individuals getting together and discussing… Read more »
Picturing Queer Africans In The Diaspora
In 1624, as Portuguese colonists were making their way through the east coast of Africa, a woman named Nzinga ascended to the throne of Ndongo (now Angola). She spent decades fighting off invaders, both from Portugal and neighboring African kingdoms, and became a legend among her people and around the world. Nzinga is one of… Read more »
Nigerian Court Puts Dozens on Trial Over Alleged Gay Wedding
Zaria, Nigeria — Fifty four people went on trial in northern Nigeria on Monday on charges connected to allegations that they were celebrating a gay wedding, which are outlawed in the country. The court began hearing the case against the defendants — most of whom were not present in court — who have been charged… Read more »
53 people face criminal charges for attending a gay wedding
53 people are facing criminal charges in Nigeria after police claimed they attended a same-sex wedding. Homosexuality has long been illegal in Nigeria, but a draconian 2013 law moved beyond simply targeting gay sex – extending the provisions to criminalise all forms of same-sex unions and clamp down on the LGBT community. Under the law,… Read more »
Two men were arrested, forced to pose naked and publicly humiliated because they had gay sex
Two men were arrested and forced to pose naked after they were caught having sex in a Ghana hotel. According to reports in local media, two men aged 18 and 28 were arrested over the incident in a Accra hotel. The pair were discovered by a receptionist who reportedly barged into their private hotel room… Read more »
What It’s Like to Be Gay in Morocco
“I cried a lot when I was a child.” When you think of Morocco, you may imagine the mysterious markets of Marrakech, mule-drawn carts carrying stacked carpets, and sun-drenched squares where men coerce rattlesnakes out of baskets. The birthplace of Yves Saint Laurent’s rich Majorelle blue is also where Carrie Bradshaw rushed through the souk… Read more »
Cameroon lawyer wins award for defending gay rights
A lawyer in Cameroon has been recognised for her work to promote gay rights in Africa with an award from Amnesty International. Alice Nkom has spent a decade defending people accused of practising homosexuality. Homosexual acts are illegal in Cameroon and carry a five-year prison term. Ms Nkom described the award, which she received from… Read more »
Ugandan man faces deportation after ‘failing to prove he’s gay’
‘I can’t go back home, because my family will kill me’, says Mr Kyeyune A gay Ugandan-born asylum seeker is facing deportation to his place of birth, where homosexuality is punishable by life imprisonment. Abbey Kyeyune, who has been living in the Manchester since 2014, told The Independent Home Office officials decided he had failed… Read more »
Tanzania drops its threat to publish a list of gay people who ‘sell their bodies’
Tanzania has backed down from its threat to publish a list of gay people who are allegedly selling sex online. The deputy health minister of the African nation had made the threat last week. Hamisi Kigwangalla allegedly announced the plan as part of a government crack down on “the homosexuality syndicate”. “I will publish a… Read more »
New coalition in Tunisia fights for LGBTQI rights
In Tunisia, 20 LGBTQI and allied activist associations met yesterday to form a new coalition to fight together for the human rights of LGBTQI Tunisians. HuffPost Tunisia reported (as translated here from the original French): In Tunisia, LGBTQI associations join forces to internationalize the struggle for their rights The announcement of the new coalition’s report… Read more »
Cameroon: LGBT victim could become a businesswoman
Carine, a 26-year-old Cameroonian lesbian, was released in September 2016 after four years in jail because of her sexual orientation. Now she wants to resume a productive and happy life. By PSF In November, recently released from prison, Carine (a pseudonym) visited the Douala offices of PEP Sans Frontière (Peer Educators and Promoters Without Borders,… Read more »
Tanzania orders gay men to report to police
Homosexuality is punishable with up to 30 years in prison Tanzania has ordered men accused of being gay to report to police. Deputy health minister Hamis Kingwangala has ordered three men accused of ‘spreading homosexual activity’ through social media to be questioned by the authorities. Gay sex is illegal in Tanzania and punishable by up… Read more »
Two Gay Men in Ivory Coast Still Seek Explanation for their Imprisonment
Two Ivorian men who were arrested in October and released from prison this week remain unclear as to their offense. While it is presumed that a public indecency law was used to inculpate both openly gay men, they deny any improper behavior or even sexual involvement with each other. Ivory Coast does not outlaw same-sex… Read more »
Two men jailed after uncle walks in on them having sex
Two gay men were arrested and jailed after being caught having sex. The men received 18 month sentences, despite living in a country where same-sex activities are not illegal. The men live in Ivory Coast, which does not criminalise homosexuality. No law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status… Read more »
Teenager sentenced to four months behind bars for being trans
A teenager is currently behind bars for the ‘crime’ of being trans. The 19-year-old woman has been sentenced to four months in prison on the grounds of “harm to good morals”. According to her lawyer, Mounir Baatour, she was arrested in November of last year while celebrating at a Halloween party. The lawyer says she… Read more »
A Colonial-Era Wound Opens in Namibia
Swakopmund, Namibia — The statue, depicting a German marine holding a rifle in his hands and standing guard over a dying comrade, has stood undisturbed for decades in the most prominent spot in Swakopmund, a city on Namibia’s coast. It has survived the end of colonial rule in this corner of southern Africa, the subsequent… Read more »
Cameroon: Thugs attack 2 friends; widespread trauma
A gang of homophobic thugs assaulted and robbed two young men in Cameroon, claiming that they were homosexuals who needed to be scared straight. It’s an all-too-familiar story in Cameroon, where such attacks lead to depression and passivity in the LGBTI community: P. and T. are friends. Just friends. On the night of Dec. 29,… Read more »
Meeting the needs of MSM in the Middle East and North Africa
Manuel Couffignal is a Senior Advisor: Funding and Influence at the Alliance. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), men who have sex with men (MSM) are a particularly vulnerable and highly stigmatised community, and their burden of HIV infection is significantly higher than the general population. From 2005 to 2015, the Alliance worked… Read more »
Chad criminalises homosexuality by vote of 111 to 1
Chad has made homosexuality a crime, adopting a penal code that bans gay sex for both men and women. The West African former French territory, which has a population of 13 million, green-lit a new penal code this week. Under the terms of the new code, homosexuality will be criminalised for the first time, listed… Read more »
Non, merci: English-speaking Cameroon rises up, wants Republic of Ambazonia
A middle-aged man stands in front of a freshly covered grave, a flag tied around his neck. The flag has blue and white stripes and a white dove in its top left quadrant, but these are not the colours of any country recognised by the United Nations. That is something this man and thousands like… Read more »
Teenage girls who faced jail in Morocco for ‘hugging and kissing’ are acquitted
The teenage girls who faced prison after being accused of “hugging and kissing” on a rooftop have been acquitted. The two girls were arrested in Morocco over the accusation earlier this year. The women faced up to three years in prison under the country’s strict laws Reports suggest that 16-year-old Sanaa invited 17-year-old Hajar –… Read more »
Thousands march over Malawi’s plans to legalise homosexuality
The peaceful marches were organised by Catholic and evangelical churches. Thousdands Of Mainly Christian protesters marched through two cities in Malawi on Tuesday to demonstrate against proposals to legalise abortion and homosexuality, in the first event of its kind. The peaceful marches were organised by Catholic and evangelical churches in Malawi, where sex and homosexuality… Read more »
The UN’s LGBT expert has advocated for a global partnership to end violence
He advocated for unity in his keynote speech at the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) in Bangkok. Vitit Muntarbhorn said: “resolute action is required to stop the violence and discrimination affecting not only LGBT communities but also the human rights defenders working with them… “this goes hand in hand with the… Read more »
Homosexuality Is Not A Crime: Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone
During the recent visit of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf responded to a question posed by a Canadian journalist about what her government was doing to protect members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT). She rightly responded and I couldn’t agree with her more ‘that it… Read more »
‘No Law Restricts Rights of Individuals in Liberia’ – President Johnson- Sirleaf
Monrovia – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Thursday made a very rare comment on homosexuality, saying that it was a matter of choice, and that it was not illegal to be a homosexual in Liberia. “Liberia has no law that restricts the rights of individuals to their own choices. Only when it is a threat… Read more »
African states bid to stop work of U.N. gay rights investigator
African states launched a bid at the United Nations on Friday to halt the work of the first U.N. independent investigator appointed to help protect gay and transgender people worldwide from violence and discrimination. The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, created the position in June and in September appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn of… Read more »
Teenage girls face prison for ‘hugging and kissing’
The girls face up to three years in prison if found guilty. Two teenage girls have been arrested in Morocco for kissing and hugging. The young women face up to three years in prison under the country’s strict homosexuality laws, with their trial due to start next week. Reports suggest that 16-year-old Sanaa invited 17-year-old… Read more »
In Uganda, gay men say police use torturous method to ‘prove’ homosexuality
Cape Town (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – It was early in the morning when Jackson Mukasa was awakened by the chants outside his Kampala home. “The homos are in there!” the crowd yelled, banging spoons on metal cooking pots. Mukasa, a 21-year-old gay man living in the Ugandan capital, was terrified. “We opened the door, and… Read more »
Living As A Gay Person In Malawi: Coming Out In Hell
If you live in Malawi, I would advise you to be very careful if you are planning to come out. It happened to me. I had underestimated the extent and impact my coming out would have on my life and the rest of my family and friends. I literally saw my world crumbling beneath my… Read more »
ADS
