Africa

 

 

 

Liberia: Gay Practice On the Rise Here

A Montserrado County Senator has alarmed that the practice of homosexuality is on an unprecedented rise here, especially among young men. Sen. Doe Sherif indicated that some influential and economically powerful men and women in the Liberian society were using cash to induce young men to the practice gay and lesbianism. Speaking in Monrovia on… Read more »

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta Says Gay Rights Are Not A ‘Pressing Issue’ For Kenyans

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday told CNN that Africans have more pressing issues to deal with than LGBT rights. On his recent trip to Kenya, President Barack Obama talked about such rights in a joint press conference with Kenyatta. “As an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of the history of… Read more »

South Africa’s Safe House Offers Gay Community Refuge And Hope

“I decided to come here so I would be free. No one is going to threaten me because I’m gay.” Cape Town, South Africa (RNS) Sipping ginger beer at an outdoor restaurant in Gugulethu, one of South Africa’s murder hubs, Prince January said he feels safe. Across the train tracks at their shared home in… Read more »

Stop to the humiliation and the violation of privacy of the citizns

We, members of civil society and LGBTQI activists, you are sharing our news, legal advice, psychological expertise as well as the release of the National Council of the Medical Association of Tunisia in connection with the case Marwan young man who was arrested and convicted for homosexuality. The signatory organizations: – Tunisian ssociation defense of… Read more »

GALZ says 50 percent of gays HIV positive, pushes for action

AT least 50% of the country’s gay and lesbian community is HIV positive, a recent study conducted by the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) has revealed. The results of the study confirm that this situation, if ignored, could erode the government’s achievements in HIV management over the past one and a half decades. “In… Read more »

Uganda’s President says new anti-gay laws ‘not necessary

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he will not pursue further anti-gay legislation in the country. The long-standing leader has declared that he will not pursue further anti-gay legislation, after previous attempts to strengthen the country’s anti LGBT legislation were defeated. President Museveni signed the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill last February. The law called for repeat… Read more »

Tunisia’s lesbian community mobilises against deep-rooted prejudice

Stigmatised and even criminalised by draconian laws for more than a century, the Tunisian lesbian and transgender community is battling back Nawel was in Tunis’s city centre when it happened. “This guy came up to me from nowhere. He was dressed really religiously and, without any warning, he just slapped me across the face –… Read more »

Calls made for Senegal to release men convicted of homosexual acts

Calls have been made to release seven men arrested in July and sentenced to six months in prison for ‘homosexual acts’. A gay rights activist Djamil Bangoura, the president of Prudence, gay rights group, on Friday said Senegal must release the men arrested in July in Dakar. He said laws must be changed and that… Read more »

LGBT Rights Organizing in Liberia Explored in UC Research

Professor Ashley Currier will present field research for the American Sociology Association on both pro-LGBT and anti-LGBT movements in Liberia. Ashley Currier, associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at McMicken Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, will present research at the annual American Sociological Association conference this August. Her research, culled… Read more »

Nigerian Novelist Reflects on Anti-Gay Law

Malmo, Sweden – One day in January 2014, award-winning Nigerian writer and rights activist Jude Dibia woke up gasping for air. Nigeria had just passed a law criminalizing homosexuality. This prompted Dibia to make the decision to leave his home country. Dibia now lives in Sweden, where he is a guest writer of the Malmö… Read more »

The Gay Pride festival in Uganda this weekend defied local law and taboo

Members of the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community celebrated their fourth annual Pride Uganda festival this weekend, defying strict laws criminalizing homosexuality with up to 14 years in jail. Crowds of gay and transgender Ugandans traveled to the shores of Lake Victoria on Saturday to walk in the festival’s gay pride parade, which… Read more »

Uganda gay pride rally held a year after law overturned

Activists in Uganda have held a gay pride rally, a year since a law requiring homosexuals to be jailed for life was overturned. Crowds danced, sang and waved rainbow flags at the event held outside the capital Kampala, the culmination of a week of celebrations. One of those attending hoped it would be a “step… Read more »

Obama faces gay rights challenge in Kenya

As the United States has grown more tolerant during Obama’s presidency, African countries have imposed harsher laws on gays and lesbians. Six and a half years after Kenyans started naming their children in honor of America’s first black president, Barack Obama’s name has also become synonymous, often derisively, with gay rights. “Go wait for your… Read more »

5,000 naked anti-gay protesters to greet President Obama in Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya – An anti-gay political party in Kenya plans to protest against U.S. President Barack Obama by greeting him with 5,000 “totally naked” protesters for his “open and aggressive support for homosexuality.” The Republican Liberty Party’s “main objective is for him to see and understand the difference between a man and woman,” according to… Read more »

Ugandan rights activist Frank Mugisha: We need visible LGBT role models

PinkNews speaks to Ugandan rights activist Dr Frank Mugisha to talk about the long road to acceptance in his country. The executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, Dr Mugisha and his organisation were very involved in fighting the Anti-Homosexuality Act – internationally referred to as the “Kill the Gays” bill. After the act was struck… Read more »

Tunisian LGBT community making strides

The first official LGBT advocacy group and gay pride parade seem promising, but discrimination and imprisonment are still real threats Tunis – There are about seven organisations in Tunisia that fight for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT), but you wouldn’t know it at first glance: only one of these… Read more »

Mozambique decriminalises homosexuality

The decriminalisation of homosexuality has come into force today in Mozambique. While the law had not been enforced since the African country gained independence in 1975, it was still technically illegal to be “habitually engage[d] in vices against nature.” It was a hangover from colonial Portuguese codes, dating from 1886, and theoretically punished homosexuality with… Read more »

Gay Moroccans sentenced to jail for posing too close in a photo

Two gay men from Morocco have been sentenced to four-months in jail each for posing too close in a photograph. The men, only identified by the Guardian as Lahcen, 38 and Mohsine, 25, in order to protect their identities, were on Friday found guilty of obscenity and homosexuality. The men posed for a photograph at… Read more »

Less than human

The situation for gays in Libya was never easy, but since ISIS militias are controlling some areas of the country, things have gotten even worse. This April, in a mosque courtyard in Derna in eastern Libya, the Islamist extremists executed three young men they charged with homosexual acts. Lined up next to one another, each… Read more »

Mauritius: The homosexual community proud of its difference parades through the streets of Rose-Hill

The homosexual community of Mauritius marched through the streets of Rose Hill, Saturday, June 6, 2015, to defend its right to be different during the tenth edition of the Pride March. Homosexuals, bisexuals, “trans” as well as heterosexual hand in hand, in a rainbow sky procession thus have walked together to fight against homophobia on… Read more »

Mozambique To Decriminalize Homosexuality June 29: Southeast African Nation Is Latest Country In Africa To Legalize Being Gay

Mozambique is set to become the latest country in Africa to decriminalize homosexuality, breaking away from what was once widely seen as a continentwide tradition of discriminating against gay people. The landmark legislation was scheduled to go into effect June 29 and would make the southeast African nation the 21st country in Africa to legalize… Read more »

Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexuality

The revised law, which was passed last year, will come into effect next month. One of the most tolerant African countries in regards to homosexuality, Mozambique will mark a major milestone on June 29, when homosexuality becomes legal. The criminalization of homosexuality —characterized as “vices against nature”— in the country stemmed from Portuguese colonial rule.… Read more »

Ugandan tabloid publishes photos of ‘bum drillers’ at Birmingham Pride ‘mega sex fest’

A tabloid in Uganda has published photos of Ugandan people celebrating pride in the UK, referring to pride as a “mega sex fest”. The newspaper ‘Hello Daily’, published an article with photos from Birmingham Pride, making ridiculous claims that the pride event was an “anal sex fete”, and a “mega sex festival.” Referring to gay… Read more »

Mozambique’s new penal code decriminalising homosexuality set to take effect

A new penal code in Mozambique will soon come into effect under which same-sex intimacy is no longer illegal. The new criminal code is set to come into effect in June, and removes a clause which previously allowed “security measures” to be taken against people “who habitually engage in vices against nature.” Although homosexuality was… Read more »

Quorum: How To Do LGBTI Activism In Kenya

When meeting anonymously with anti-gay religious leaders, Kenyan LGBTI activist Essy asks, “Do you really think that I should be beaten, now that you know me?” Quorum is a live journalism forum focused on LGBT experiences around the world. Its mission is to lift up the voices of non-Western LGBT activists defining the struggle for… Read more »

Tunisia recognizes first LGBT association

Progress in struggle for sexual minority rights Tunis – The Tunisian association for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights ‘Shams’ has become the first one of its kind to be officially recognized by the interior ministry as part of a law on associations. The move marks progress in the sensitive issue of sexual minorities… Read more »

Is It Finally Ok To Be Gay In Tunisia?

Tunisia’s gay community is finally out and proud following a week which saw the announcement of government recognition for a leading anti-homophobia group, just days after a ‘gay-pride’ style party marked World Anti-Homophobia Day at a Northern Tunis hotel. Outspoken campaign group, Shams, received the go-ahead from the Ministry of Interior on Monday just hours… Read more »

Tabloid joins politician, bishops in targeting LGBTI Kenyans

In the wake of last month’s High Court decision in favor of a Kenyan organization seeking human rights for LGBTI people, some anti-gay Kenyans have opened the door to even more intense persecution of LGBTI Kenyans. The latest step in that direction was today’s publication by Kenya’s tabloid Weekly Citizen of a list of the… Read more »

Kenya’s LGBT Community Gains The Right To Organize, But Religious Opposition Looms

Nairobi, Kenya (RNS) In a move that has stirred the anger of Kenya’s anti-gay Christian groups and sparked celebration by pro-gay clergy, the nation’s High Court has ruled that gay rights activists have the right to formally register their own groups and welfare organizations. A three-judge panel issued the ruling Friday (April 24) in response… Read more »

Egypt: Gay foreigners can be banned from entry or deported

An Egyptian court has ruled that gay foreigners can be deported from the country or banned from entry. The case, brought before an Egyptian administrative court on Tuesday (14 April), involved an allegedly gay Libyan man who had previously been barred from returning to the country by the interior ministry in 2008. Hoping to return… Read more »

Constant threats ‘part of life’ for top Ugandan LGBT activist

New York (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In Uganda, homosexuality is considered akin to pedophilia, and prominent LGBT activist Frank Mugisha regards the threats he constantly receives as “part of life.” “I get lots of threats on Facebook, I get threats on the phone…I get dozens of them,” Mugisha said in an interview with the Thomson… Read more »

South Africa: Father granted surrogate maternity leave

A court has granted full maternity leave to a father whose baby was delivered by surrogate. In South Africa, mothers who give birth are entitled to four months maternity leave, starting one month before their due date. The man, who is unnamed to protect the identity of his child, had a child with his same-sex… Read more »

Alice Nkom: Preventing gay Cameroonians from accessing HIV care violates their human rights

Cameroonian lawyer Alice Nkom says her country will never get on top of its HIV epidemic if it continues to prevent gay citizens from accessing healthcare through repressive laws. The campaigner told PinkNews it was a “key issue” in Cameroon because “you violate the human rights of people to access health, medicines and treatment”. “When… Read more »

Gay men reluctant to come out of the closet

Selebi-Phikwe: Reaching out to men in same sex relationships is proving to be a mammoth task for HIV non-governmental organisation (NGO), Silence Kills Support Group (SKSG). The NGO, which began operation in January 2015, has identified over 50 men who have sex with men (MSM) in Selebi-Phikwe and surrounding areas. Speaking during the New Directions… Read more »

Assaults in Tunisia: ‘daily violence remains unpunished’

Two members of the activist organization Chouf of lesbian, bisexual and trans Tunisians fighting discrimination against women were the targets of assaults in recent weeks. Chouf issued this statement: In only one week, two friends and members of Chouf were horrifically attacked. One of the members of our office was raped by a man who… Read more »

Business leaders urged to call out Egypt on LGBT rights

International business leaders have been urged to address the plight of LGBT people at an Egyptian economic conference this week. A number of prominent executives are scheduled to speak at the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) being held in Sharm El-Sheikh from 13 to 15 March. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has written to these… Read more »

Homosexuality In Prehistoric Africa

Our knowledge of homosexuality in prehistoric African cultures is limited by the late-Middle Age European views of Africans, of homosexuality, and of course, the European reason for being in sub-Saharan Africa in the first place – the slave trade. Among the earliest references to it are some of the records of the Inquisition in Brazil.… Read more »

The Sisi government’s repression of Egypt’s LGBT community

Under the pretext or preserving public morality gay men have found self-described the Egyptian Ministry of Interior’s “vice squad” (a euphemistic term with connotations eerily reminiscent of “moral police”) charging and arresting them for “debauchery”. Their rights are, like many of their compatriots, pretty much non-existent, especially if they are deemed by the authorities to… Read more »

Tunisia: Swedish man jailed for homosexual acts

A Swedish man has been sentenced to two years behind bars in Tunisia, for committing “homosexual acts”. The Swedish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that a Swedish citizen is being held in Tunsia, after falling foul of the country’s anti-gay laws. A spokesperson said: “The man, who is in his 50s, was sentenced February 4 to… Read more »