Gay Zimbabwe News & Reports 2010

by Mongezi Mhlongo (BTM Senior Reporter)
Zimbabwe – Efforts to have gay rights integrated in Zimbabwe’s new constitution appear bleak as government wraps up final stages of the draft constitution without any positive indication. What is left now, according to Parliament’s public relations officer Marshall Stambuli, is an outreach workshop where representatives from different organizations will convene to discuss “pertinent issues” brought forward in the new draft constitution.

Gay and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) says apart from last year’s meetings by the Zimbabwean government to explain the process of redrafting the constitution, there has never been any further consultation. Fadzai Muparutsa of GALZ states that initially there was a unified voice with other human rights organisations to discuss issues of sexual orientation under the leadership of GALZ, “but lately there is a lot of uncertainty.” She added, “There are mixed feelings in the LGBTI community. People are anxious about the outcome of the constitutional process as this will usher in a new era for LGBTI people in Zimbabwe.”

Despite the said lack of engagement by government, GALZ says it will continue to work with local network partners on the constitutional process and to engage the broader general public. Meanwhile Mugabe’s stance on homosexuality remains a concern he is the one who, at the end, will have the final say. Currently Section 23 of the Zimbabwean Constitution grants among others, “protection from discrimination on the grounds of race,” but there is no mention of gender or sexual minorities.

04 February 2010 – msmandhiv.org

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Circulated on lgbti health africa

Zimbabwe – With the aim to break the silence around sexual orientation, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) will be hosting a historic Sexual Orientation Indaba on 25 February in Harare. The indaba is expected to bring to the fore, social, economic and political challenges experienced gay people in the country and to advocate for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the new constitution, which could lead to decriminalisation of homosexuality in Zimbabwe.

Taking place at a time when the country goes through a constitutional reform process, the Indaba is intended identify partnering organisations that could provide support to GALZ in working towards the constitutional protection of sexual orientation and to come up with the specific strategies that will inform this process.

“The Indaba is based on the premise of dialogue, capacity building and sharing, which seeks to develop concrete strategies that can inform GALZ and local NGOs”, GALZ says. GALZ also states, “to complement this process, we will also disseminate information to the broader general public through advertising and statements in the local print media, to provide accurate and correct information on sexual orientation and human rights.”

According the organisation, key priorities include raising the awareness on local NGOs to take up the issue and help address the violations that LGBT people in Zimbabwe experience. “There is a need to have a strategic approach to a positive discourse on sexual orientation. The constitutional process has been labeled a democratic and inclusive process, however, the reality of the prejudices towards LGBT people requires strategic involvement and participation of local human rights NGOs”, GALZ states.

Constitution must protect sexual orientation rights in line with regional and international human rights instruments

For more information visit

February 4, 2010 – Behind The Mask

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UNDP Study Targets Sexual Minorities

by Miles Tanhira (BTM Correspondent)
Zimbabwe – Rights of Zimbabwean sexual minorities to HIV treatment and prevention could see light as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently coordinating a study that will characterise sexual minorities, their association to HIV and identify opportunities for intervention. This came after UNDP’s realisation that the Zimbabwean government acknowledges the existence of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in the country but has not allocated for the needs of this group.

The UNDP has since contracted a local research institution, The Biomedical Research & Training Institute (BRTI) to carry out a study on sexual minorities in relation to HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe. According to UNDP, studies on the specific sexual practices of sexual minorities are critical, if models are to be built that combine biological plausibility with empirical information on associations between sexual practices and incidence rates of sexually transmitted infections. “Without such data, public health professionals cannot provide sexual minorities with meaningful harm reduction information”, the UNDP says.

The study aims to identify characteristics of sexual minorities in Zimbabwe and the risks associated with HIV infection, identify risk factors and sexual behaviors that need to be changed by this group including factors and behaviours that need to be promoted. It also seeks to characterise the types of violence that sexual minorities encounter in their daily lives, provide information for advocacy and for the development of communication strategies targeting sexual minorities.

The scope of the research, among other things includes, establishing an estimate population of sexual minorities, estimating the prevalence of HIV within each group and assessing factors that determine the different groups’ vulnerabilities to HIV infection and sexual behaviors that increase risk The research also seeks to characterize available services to each sub-group, through the legal or policy framework and implementation by NGOs and the public sector, also estimating sexual minorities’ access to prevention and treatment which includes HIV testing, counseling and ARV treatment.

A similar sub-study will also be carried out in prisons and linked populations. “The BRTI team will be conducting interviews and HIV tests to those willing. Results will be treated with the strictest confidentiality and stored under a code, not a real name. Test results will be revealed to only those who wish to know their status”

BRTI anticipates that the results will be used to inform policy reform and the development of inclusive HIV interventions. The results will be distributed to local and national stakeholders including policy makers and implementing agencies, as well as publications in scientific journals.

February 09, 2010 – MSM and HIV.org

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Chiefs against gay marriages

by Vincent Gono
Chiefs are lobbying for the inclusion in the new constitution of Zimbabwe provisions for the restoration of their powers that were removed by the disrespectful colonial regime and counselled against embracing alien concepts such as homosexuality. In an interview on Friday, the President of the Zimbabwe Chiefs Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira, said the time was now for the country to correct some of the ills caused by the colonial regime.

He said the traditional leaders expected a constitution with a bill of rights completely interwoven with the country’s cultural values and not the direct opposite where there were people strongly calling and advocating for alien cultural aspects which were taboo to Zimbabweans. He said it was disheartening to note that there were people who were openly advocating for the smuggling and inclusion of homosexuality in the constitution.

Chief Charumbira described homosexuality as a social wrong that progressive minds should resist formidably adding that such elements were a disgrace to nation building. “People should resist all attempts by misguided citizens to smuggle same sex marriages. Even the platform to discuss such issues should not be accorded. In Uganda they have passed a law that says homosexuals should be killed and we will soon advocate for that if the calls continue. We will not sit back and watch while the country is being hijacked. Homosexuality is alien to Zimbabwe, it is taboo,’’ he said.

Chief Charumbira said it was unfortunate that the country continued with the legacy of the settler government regime which saw politicians override the authority of the chiefs.

“The constitution making process that the country has embarked on presents us with a lifetime opportunity to express our own selves and how we want to be governed. As chiefs we strongly feel that little was done to restore the powers of the chiefs in their respective areas of jurisdiction. It is in light of this opportunity that we want to correct the political and social wrongs some of which are so glaring. Political authority has been abused at the expense of the rightful custodians of the people, the chiefs. The constitution should therefore, be premised on the process of restoration of our identity, our full self in terms of who we are, where we are coming from and where we want to be.

Click here for PDF

19 February, 2010 – Citizen Journalism in Africa

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Hear Our Plea!

by Milestah
As part of the constitutional reform process currently underway in Zimbabwe, GALZ has produced a 15-minute documentary on LGBTI people calling for inclusion of their rights and recognition as citizens of Zimbabwe in the new Constitution. The documentary, which is entitled Tinzweiwo (Hear our plea) is a plea to Zimbabweans who have always brushed the issues of homosexuality aside as non-existent or unnatural.

About 10 GALZ members are interviewed narrating their stories as gays and lesbians who were born and bred in Zimbabwe, and have not been influenced by any foreigners — contrary to the myth that homosexuality is a Western import. Although most the interviews are in Shona, the video has English subtitles.

The rather heart-rending DVD also contains testimonies of homophobic experiences in the hands of family, society and law enforcement agencies. The members also highlight their reasons for advocating for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts as well as their call for an end to state-instigated homophobia. This has led to constant attacks and threats to gay and lesbian people who at times run the risk of being blackmailed once their sexuality is discovered.

This DVD will also be distributed as part of the sexual orientation indaba information pack to representatives from other NGOs, policy makers and members of some religious sects. Plans are also in the pipeline to submit copies of this DVD together with the GALZ submission, to the Constitutional Committee. The current Zimbabwean Constitution brokered at the Lancaster House Conference in 1979, does not forbid discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Under current Zimbabwean law, homosexuality is outlawed, and gays and lesbians can face jail time or heavy fines if prosecuted.

5 March 2010 – GALZ

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Statement From The Board Of GALZ On The Appointment Of A New Executive Director

The Board of GALZ has great pleasure in announcing the appointment of Mr. Chesterfield Samba as the Executive Director for GALZ with effect from the 1st of March 2010.

The Board will be working closely with Mr. Samba and management in ensuring the smooth running of the organization, the fulfillment of all its objectives, obligations and membership activities.

On behalf of the Board of GALZ, the management team and membership we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the valued support of all our partners and friends during the transitional period following the death of former Director, Mr. Keith Goddard.

Gilbert Kunyarimwe

March 19, 2010 – Zimbabwe Times

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Zimrights wants gay rights in constitution

by Our Correspondent
Bulawayo – Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) national chairman, Kucaca Phulu has said he has no problem with the inclusion of gay and lesbian rights in Zimbabwe’s new constitution. President Robert Mugabe has in the past made frequent vitriolic attacks on homosexuality which he has described as foreign to African culture. He once described homosexuals as “worse than dogs and pigs” when they attempted to assert their rights and highlight widespread homophobia in the country.

Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, and some individuals have been prosecuted and convicted for their sexual orientation, including former president Canaan Sodindo Banana. On the other hand, there are very active and very visible gay and lesbian organizations in Zimbabwe, the most prominent being the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ). They have generated public debate on the issue of sexual orientation. Last year GALZ demanded that its rights be recognized and enshrined in the proposed Constitution currently being drafted.

Addressing journalists at the weekly press club meetings at the Bulawayo Press Club on Wednesday, Phulu said gay and lesbian rights should be included in the new constitution. “I don’t have any problem with gay rights being included in the new constitution. They have rights like all other human beings. Even murderers have rights. I don’t think you would want murderers to be killed soon after arrests by the police. They have to be tried in the courts,” said Phulu who is also Matabeleland region representative for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Last month the President of the Zimbabwe Chief’s Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira is reported to have said Zimbabweans should resist all attempts by GALZ to smuggle same sex marriages into the constitution. He said even the platform to discuss such issues should not be accorded. Peter Tatchell, an Australian-born British gay rights activist, gained international recognition for his attempted citizen’s arrest of Mugabe in London and Brussels in 1999 and 2001 on charges of attacking gays and other human rights abuses.

Phulu also said the new constitution should include the issue of Gukurahundi massacres in the late 1980s. “There is no way you can talk about a new constitution without including the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres,” he said. Turning to media freedom, the ZimRights boss said “the current constitution is not clear on media freedom. That’s why the Zanu-PF government had been taking advantage and shut down private newspapers, radio and television stations.”

23 March 2010 – The Guardian

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African myths about homosexuality

by Blessing-Miles Tendi
A political spat about gay rights in Zimbabwe is symptomatic of the homophobia prevalent in many African communities Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail newspaper, which is controlled by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, ran an article last week headlined "Gay rights furore". It claimed that "Zimbabwe’s major political parties are on a collision course over the inclusion of gay rights in the new constitution" because Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC is campaigning for the recognition of gay rights, while Zanu PF is against the idea for cultural reasons.

In turn Tsvangirai’s MDC has denounced what it regards as "attempts by Zanu PF to distort the MDC constitution principles through media reports that the party is lobbying for gay rights in the new constitution: "Nowhere in our principles document is there any reference to gays and lesbians. For the record, it is well-known that homosexuality is practised in Zanu PF where senior officials from that party have been jailed while others are under police probe on allegations of sodomy. It is in Zanu PF where homosexuality is a religion."

Zanu PF and the MDC’s use of the gay rights debate for political mileage and in order to deflect attention from other subjects are superficial explanations for these homophobic political developments. They are symptomatic of a broad disinclination for open and factual discussion about gay rights in many African states and black communities around the world. Myths about African culture, the strength of religion and black masculinity are the main reasons.

The standard explanation offered by Africans opposed to gay rights is that homosexuality is alien to their culture and was introduced to Africa by European colonialists. A good deal of African-American homophobia relies on the same justification. But late 19th-century records on Africa and African oral history show that homosexual practices existed in pre-colonial Africa. One case in point are the Azande people in the north-east of modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it was acceptable for kings, princes and soldiers to take young male lovers.

Further evidence for the existence of homosexuality is that pre-colonial African ethnic groups ascribed tribal classifications to gay people. While some of these categorisations had negative associations, many had neutral connotations. Certain tribes in pre-colonial Burkina Faso and South Africa regarded lesbians as astrologers and traditional healers. A number of tribal groups in Cameroon and Gabon believed homosexuality had a medicinal effect. In pre-colonial Benin, homosexuality was viewed as a boyhood phase that males passed through and eventually grew out of.

Indeed, European contact altered some pre-colonial African attitudes towards homosexuality considerably. For instance, early colonial Portuguese penal codes criminalised homosexuality in Angola. Prior to Portuguese control, homosexual men called chibados had been free to exercise their sexuality. Portuguese colonial laws either gave rise to or intensified homophobia in Africa. Homophobia is more colonial than the practice of homosexuality in Africa. The contradiction could not be starker.

Read Article

March 26, 2010 – PinkNews

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Mugabe refuses to protect gay rights in Zimbabwe

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe has refused to support protecting gay rights in a new constitution. A new constitution is being drawn up under a power-sharing deal and gay groups in the country have called for recognition and protection in it. Mr Mugabe was quoted by the state-owned Herald newspaper today as saying: "That issue is not debatable, it’s not up for discussion.

“Those who engage in homosexual behaviour are just crazy. It’s just madness. Insanity. We can’t do it or the dead will turn in their graves." Zimbabwe’s prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai agreed with the president. He said: "Women make up 52 per cent of the population… There are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men?"

Mr Mugabe has previously described gay people as worse than "dogs and pigs" and claimed that homosexuality is "un-African" and a "white man’s disease." Sodomy is illegal in Zimbabwe, although gay couples are rarely prosecuted and gay groups are usually allowed to continue operating. However, the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) has warned that gays live in fear and are driven underground.

Despite the fact that lesbians are not criminalised, the group says they may be even more at risk than gay men because of traditional ideas of women’s sexuality. If gays were protected under the new constitution, this would overturn laws against homosexuality. Chesterfield Samba, the director of GALZ, told BBC News he was trying to clarify the remarks from the two politicians. He said that if the remarks were as reported, they would be "very worrying".

March 30, 2010 – Radio VOP

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Tsvangirai Seeks SADC’s Intervention Again

"Therefore, there can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of our population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation. All of us are entitled to our own opinions on certain values and beliefs, but in order to move our nation forward and achieve national reconciliation and healing, we have to uphold and foster the fundamental principle of tolerance, including tolerance of people that have chosen to live, believe and vote differently from ourselves."

Link to story

April 7, 2010 – AP

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US reports harassment and rape of gays in Zimbabwe

by Angus Shaw (AP)
Harare, Zimbabwe — Gay Zimbabweans face widespread harassment and some have even been raped by those intending to convert their sexuality, the U.S. State Department said in a discussion of its annual human rights report in Zimbabwe. Gay men were forced into heterosexual acts and lesbian women were raped, sometimes by male relatives, to teach them to change their ways, said Amanda Porter, political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare and compiler of the report. "Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct," she said Tuesday.

Homosexuals reported widespread discrimination in 2009, the year under review. But the report notes that the conservative southern African country has long frowned on homosexuality. Hate speech by politicians against the nation’s small gay community fueled social pressures on families, Porter said. And crimes against human rights and sexual abuse against gays were rarely reported to police. "Victims are afraid to speak out," she said.

Same-sex acts are illegal in Zimbabwe and while there have been no reported prosecutions related to consensual homosexuality in recent years, the offense carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000. President Robert Mugabe last month vowed gay rights would not be protected in a new constitution being drawn up under a power sharing deal ahead of new elections, possibly next year. Mugabe once described homosexuals as "lower than pigs and dogs."

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he personally shared an abhorrence of homosexuality, but called for tolerance toward all minority groups. "There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of the population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation," he said in debate on constitutional reform earlier this month.

Condemnation of gays is common in Africa. In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage, and even so the gap between the liberal constitution and societal attitudes can be wide. Ugandan lawmakers have proposed imposing the death penalty on some gays. A gay couple is on trial in Malawi, charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency and face up to 14 years in jail.

Ugandan clerics have accused President Barack Obama of "exporting" homosexuality to Africa under the guise of human rights. Porter said the annual U.S. rights review presented to a discussion group in Harare late Tuesday gave greater emphasis to gay rights than in previous years, reflecting concerns in Obama’s administration about homophobia. She said attitudes and laws in Zimbabwe made gays feel unsafe. Many did not seek medical care, for fear of being shunned by health providers and others who were stigmatized, reported abandoning their education early and suffering higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than other groups.

30 April 2010 – LGBT Asylum News

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Zimbabwe: gays and lesbians struggle for basic human rights

Source: SW Radio Africa Transcript
by Violet Gonda
Violet speaks to the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe [GALZ] Programmes Manager for Gender, Fadzai Muparutsa. The discussion focuses on the recent reports of violence against the gay community and their struggle for basic human rights. Fadzai also talks about how gay victims of violence are often ridiculed by police officers after reporting an assault; and how even hospital staff mock them when seeking treatment. The discussion also looks at how minority issues are not taken seriously by both the ZANU PF and MDC leaderships.

VIOLET GONDA: An annual report by the US State Department on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe has revealed that homosexual men and women have been subjected to an ordeal known as, ‘corrective rape’. It has been documented in the report that gay men and lesbians are being raped by those who claim to be trying to convert their sexual orientation. The gay community have long been under siege in Zimbabwe and hate speech against this group is common. Robert Mugabe says homosexuality is ‘abhorrent’ and famously described homosexuals as “worse than dogs and pigs”. On the Hot Seat programme is the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe or GALZ, Programmes Manager for Gender, Fadzai Muparutsa. She joins us from Harare to discuss the reports of the new violence against the gay community and the history of their struggle for basic human rights in Zimbabwe . Welcome on the programme Fadzai.

Fadzai Muparutsa: Thank you very much Violet.

Gonda: Now let’s start with the issue of ‘corrective rape’ – what exactly is this?

MUPARUTSA: Well people have a certain belief that by, particularly men towards women and particularly women who present themselves as masculine, if they have sex with a man then they will appreciate male sex and want to be in heterosexual relationships. So the idea behind it is that you rape someone and you correct their sexual feelings towards people of the same sex. It’s said to be ‘corrective rape’ but what we have been talking about of late is that putting it in that way will mean that people will think it is something that is positive and that it is corrective but what it is in fact is something that is very negative because it is rape and putting a term like ‘corrective’ in front of it or ‘curative’ before the word rape is in some way desensitising the kind of violations, or the kind of violence that lesbians or gay men experience.

Gonda: And has GALZ, has your Association actually received such reports?

Muparutsa: Yes we have. We have received, there aren’t that many, we can’t say it is on the increase but what’s happened of late is that people are talking a lot more about it and so people will come to the office and report cases that they have experienced and particularly at the hands of either their families, because this kind of rape usually happens in private spaces, in the homes or in close knit societies that our members stay in.

Gonda: Now isn’t that taboo, to actually sleep with a member of the same family?

Muparutsa: Well it is, it’s a very, it’s a very disturbing act that happens so let’s say my family members feel that I need to be corrected – they will get somebody to force themselves onto me in the privacy of our home and that’s what happens a lot of the time. That’s what I’m saying; it’s something that happens in the private space.

Gonda: You know this report has raised a lot of scepticism, now does it really happen to both men and women of homosexual tendencies – are women really raping men in Zimbabwe?

Muparutsa: Yes we have heard that women are raping men; we’re not sure what the motive behind that is because there are a couple of articles that have come out in the press about this. So I can’t really go into detail about that particular situation but what I can talk about is the rape that happens towards women who have sex with women, commonly known as lesbian and bi-sexual women. If we look at patriarchy for example, we’re looking at the position of women and how their roles are so embedded or strictly regulated and institutionalised, so a woman is supposed to be a mother, she’s supposed to embody guardianship and all of that parenthood, child bearing, feminised – and what you have now, because this is how we look at homosexuality from the African context, or let me talk about it from the Zimbabwean context, the stereotyped lesbian who is a masculine, so-called butch woman who dresses in a male way, presents in a male way, who walks in a male way but is a woman. And so when this rape takes place men feel that these women are moving away from what their role should be by becoming a man or wanting to become a man and that they do not want to sleep with men – which is a problem because women are created for men, right? That’s how patriarchy is sort of explained, women are created for men, so when a woman is now not sleeping with a man how best can he then get her back into his life or into the role that she’s supposed to be, is by forcing her into sex.

So that’s the kind of thinking that’s behind ‘curative rape’ and the kind of thinking that’s behind correcting the situation that’s there. If it’s abnormal for people to be lesbian, or for men to be gay, how best can we control that because there’s the part where you can talk about prayer or you can talk about exorcism or you can talk about the traditional healing, and then there’s the part where people feel they can take it into their own hands and rape, go out and rape women to make them appreciate men. And quite frankly I don’t understand how that makes sense, because if you rape somebody, I’m not sure how you expect them to appreciate any kind of relationship with a man when the first relationship that they have encountered is a violent one.

May 24, 2010 – PinkNews

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Gay rights dismissed from Zimbabwe’s new Constitution

by Christopher Brocklebank
Zimbabwe’s Constitution Select Committee (Copac) has stated that gay rights will not be included in the new constitution and that they will not enter into debate or discussion over the issue. Copac chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said that homosexuality was against the ethics and morals of his nation and that any outreach work the body was involved in would not involve discussion of the subject. He added that it was paramount for Zimbabwe to concentrate on development and not on "weird Western cultures".

Mr Mangwana stated: "Zimbabwe, as a nation, is guided by traditional morals and we cannot go to our communities and seek views on the necessity of such inhuman practices." However, some pressure groups have been reportedly lobbying sections of the inclusive goverment to include gay rights in the new constitution, but Mr Mangwana was adamant that such notions would not be entertained.

Both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are openly and adamantly homophobic, Mr Mugabe once stating that gay people were "worse than pigs and dogs". Homosexuality is illegal in 38 African countries. In Zimbabwe’s neighbouring nation, South Africa, gay rights have been enshrined in the constitution since 1994.

22 May 2010 – Asylum News

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Zimbabwe: Police raid LGBT organisation, fears that activists may be tortured

by Paul Canning
Zimbabwean police have arrested two employees of the country’s only gay and lesbian group, the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) in a raid on the group’s HQ. They were arrested following the issuing of a search warrant by Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi for "dangerous drugs and pornographic material". Magwenzi has been involved in disappearances and extended illegal detentions of opposition MDC activists and of journalists.

Magwenzi has been implicated in torture by civil society activists. Terry Musona, an MDC activist abducted and held for four months last year who says she was tortured by him, said of her detention: “Most of the days we were forced to sleep on a cold floor, hungry and blind folded. We were tortured, denied food and medical attention during our entire period of illegal detention.”

Already police have refused to allow access by lawyers to the two GALZ employees Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi. They took all the GALZ computers and other materials from the office. In addition to general concerns about the fate of the two, Chademana is diabetic and there are concerns for her heath.

GALZ fears that other arrests will follow:
"We understand that it is currently unsafe for GALZ employees and volunteers who are outside of Zimbabwe at various meetings, including an OSISA meeting in Johannesburg, to return to Zimbabwe as there is a concern that they will be arrested at the airport."

They say that the raid is part of growing pressure in Zimbabwe against LGBT rights:
"About a month ago, two foreign student interns were stopped at the airport trying to leave Zimbabwe and interrogated and detained. All of the GALZ material they had in their possession was confiscated."

There has been debate on LGBT rights as part of discussion about the new constitution. The opposition MDC has failed to clarify whether it support basic protections, with Prime Minister Tsvangari quoted as opposing them at an event with President Mugabe last month. In January the police in neighboring Malawi raided the office of human rights group Cedep, which works for gays in that country.

In 2005 late Director of GALZ Keith Goddard was arrested for the fifth time and charged with sodomy. GALZ programmes manager for gender Fadzai Muparutsa told SW Radio Africa last month that there have been other arrests using the country’s sodomy law but police harassment and corruption is a far more common problem for Zimbabwe LGBT.

May 24, 2010 – PinkNews

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Gay rights dismissed from Zimbabwe’s new Constitution

27 May 2010 – VOANews

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Zimbabwe Gay Activists Freed on Bail

Abel Chikomo, left, Director of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, addresses a press conference flanked by Samba Chesterfield, Director of Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe in Harare (File Photo) A Zimbabwean court has freed two gay activists on bail after they were arrested on allegations of possessing indecent material and writings seen as insulting to President Robert Mugabe. A judge released Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi Thursday on $200 bail.

The two are employees of the country’s gay rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe. President Mugabe has been an outspoken critic of homosexuality. He was once quoted as saying gay people are "worse than dogs and pigs." Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, as in many African countries. Gay rights has become a controversial issue in several African countries this year.

Earlier this month, a judge in Malawi sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison after convicting them of unnatural acts and "gross indecency." In February, police in Kenya stopped a gay wedding and arrested several suspected homosexuals. And earlier this year, Uganda drew international criticism for proposing a law to make some homosexual acts punishable by death.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

June 2010 – Behind The Mask

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Zimbabwe Homosexuals Excluded From HIV-AIDS Resource

Zimbabwean researchers in HIV&AIDS are afraid of including the homosexual and drug injection communities in the national HIV&AIDS priority research document they are working on because of the criminalization of these areas by the country’s government. These two areas among other minority groups are key drivers of HIV&AIDS and researchers said they was need for the nation to prioritize them and have national campaign programs targeted at them.

Zimbabwe AIDS Network National Director Lindiwe Chaza-Jangira said the gay and lesbians as well as the drug injectors are HIV&AIDS drivers who should not be ignored in the research. She said it was disturbing to note that researchers have not highlighted these groups as key priority areas in their researcbecause of the criminalization of the activities associated with gays, lesbians and drug injecting communities. “Given the fact that this area is criminalized here in the country, as researchers we are finding it difficult to include it in the research document which we are going to submit to the government which is anti-homosexual activities,” she told delegates attending an HIV&AIDS National Partnership Forum in Harare on Friday.

Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Chair Professor S Rusakaniko said the homosexual community was one of the vulnerable groups whose data needed to be included in the national HIV&AIDS policy document although its contribution to the risk was not all that serious. “Its true that in Zimbabwe the rule of law is intolerant to the issue of homosexuality but in the research we are carrying out which we are taking from a scientific perspective is it a priority area to be given urgent attention at the moment in the country. Could we now get resources to support research in that area when we have other competing HIV&AIDS drivers? We know it exists and we are not undermining it but we are also looking at resources we are having at the moment, in addition to the politics of the land which I can not comment on and refer you to policy makers."

President Robert Mugabe has since described gays and lesbians as worse than dogs. In the current constitution view gathering process ZANU-PF is lobbying for the exclusion of gay and lesbians’ rights in the supreme document of the law. Partners in the fight against HIV&AIDS are working on an HIV&AIDS research document citing priority areas which they are going to present to government to be adopted as a policy. The research document was supposed to have been produced in 2008 is yet to be finalized as it was affected by the hyperinflation which rendered useless the country’s economy before the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009. RAC, which is responsible for the research is revising some of the issues which were put in 2008 which are now out-dated, hoping that the document will be completed before the end of this year.

19 June 2010 – Rod2.0

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Zimbabwe Bars Released LGBT Activist From Traveling to the U.S.

Shameful. Zimbabwe continues living up to its infamous reputation as a police state. One of the the two Zimbabwe gay activists arrested and tortured in May has been barred from traveling to the United States. 2010_04_08_mugabe After displaying a letter from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown criticizing Zimbabwe’s anti-gay regime, the activists with the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe were arrested and charged with "undermining the authority" of President Robert Mugabe. One activist has been deemed a flight risk, attorneys tell ZimOnline.

Lawyers for GALZ administrative assistant Ellen Chademana told ZimOnline on Friday that the state invoked Section 121 of the CPEA to suspend Ndirowei’s order granting temporary release of her passport and relaxation of reporting conditions to allow her to travel to the US for a six-day training course. … Chademana, who had been invited to the training programme and had secured tickets for the trip prior to her arrest last month was scheduled to travel to the US on Friday June 18 and return on June 28 in time for her trial which commences on July 1.

Ignatius Mhambi and Ellen Chademana were arrested when the headquarters of GALZ, the nation’s only LGBT group, was raided on May 21. The activists have been charged with possessing "pornographic" material and "undermining the authority" of Mugabe. After six days in police custody and subjected to torture, gay activists Muhambi and Chademana were released.

July 19, 2010 – PinkNews

17
Robert Mugabe says no to gay rights in Zimbabwe’s constitution

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe has repeated his views on gay rights, saying they will not be protected in the country’s new constitution. According to state media, he told an Apostolic Church gathering in the country’s Marange district: "We say no to gay rights, We will not listen to those advocating for their rights in the new constitution."

The country is drawing up a new constitution as a result of an power-sharing deal between Mr Mugabe and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai after the disputed 2008 election. Gay rights groups have pleaded for protection under the new legislation, but Mr Mugabe has been insistent that they will not be recognised. Both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are openly and adamantly homophobic. Mr Mugabe once stated that gay people were "worse than pigs and dogs".

Sodomy is illegal in Zimbabwe, although gay couples are rarely prosecuted. Including gay rights in the constitution would overturn this. However, the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) has warned that gays live in fear and are driven underground. Despite the fact that lesbians are not criminalised, the group says they may be even more at risk than gay men because of traditional ideas of women’s sexuality. GALZ usually escapes police harassment but two of its employees are currently facing charges of breaching censorship laws after a police raid in May allegedly found a porn DVD and booklets in their offices.

Gay Zimbabwe News & Reports 2010

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