Emerging Rainbows

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Image: Rebecca Vassie

If we look at countries around the world where homosexuality is outlawed, nearly half of them are found in Africa. Gay sex is legal in only 22 out of 54 African countries. However, the number of countries that have decriminalised homosexuality is growing. In the last decade, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, and several other Sub-Saharan African countries have overturned anti-gay legislation.

Today, we see a steady increase in the number of organisations working for LGBTQ+ rights in the Global South, and more and more people are joining the fight. We also see the issue more frequently debated in international forums such as the United Nations.

However, there have also been legislative reforms that limit gay rights, and some new laws have negatively impacted the LGBTQ+ community. There are also countries that cling to old-fashion laws, introduced in colonial times. Most of the countries where homosexuality is illegal in Sub-Saharan Africa are former British colonies.

In recent years, we have seen unlikely cooperations form to prevent an expansion of LGBTQ+ rights. Christian and Islamic fundamentalists and traditionalists have joined forces to defend religion and so-called 'traditional values'. They see women’s reproductive freedom and LGTBQ+ rights as a direct attack on the culture and religious beliefs of the majority. This alliance has also received support from the Christian Right in the United States.

A vibrant and ever-growing LGBTQ+ movement is standing up against oppression all over Africa. Battles are not just taking place in court rooms but in people's everyday lives. There have been Pride parades in South Africa since 1990, and in recent years also in Uganda and Eswatini. This is an expression of the diverse queer activism and organising that’s happening everywhere.

While some countries experience progress, other countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria, move in the opposite direction. Different methods are used to limit gay rights. The constitution may be amended to outlaw homosexuality, criminal laws can be expanded or strengthened, laws are made to limit 'the promotion of homosexuality' –making it a crime even to talk about homosexuality. Dormant laws can be more rigorously enforced, with arrests and more severe punishments. LGBTQ+ groups can be denied registration and visibility.

While there are few laws that specifically target intersex, transgender, and gender non-conforming people, there are also few laws that protect the right to change gender, the right to change name, or that ensure protection from discrimination. Some members of these groups are also impacted by laws that criminalise homosexuality, as they might be mis-gendered by the authorities. They suffer stigma and discrimination, and they also experience serious violence, including murder. No access to legal ways to transition leads to dangerous self-medication or exacerbates mental health issues.

What has led to legislation against homosexuality and growing government homophobia in the last couple of decades? Firstly, we need to see this in a global context and be aware that globalisation is not only economic and political, but also cultural. This includes the spread of ideas, values, and movements. The LGBTQ+ movement is global, but we also see a global anti-gay movement that uses rhetoric of morality and traditional values to limit the rights of others.

Groups advocating for equality can be found in almost every country or region in the world. The protection of LGBTQ+ rights is now part of many countries’ foreign policy. However, this rise in influence and capacity to effect positive change has rendered the LGBTQ+ movement vulnerable to attacks and allegations of a 'global gay agenda' attacking 'traditional family values'. It has provoked a reactionary expansion of the anti-gay movement.

Powerful US-based Christian conservative organisations regard some African countries as important areas for promoting an anti-gay and socially conservative agenda. There is a fear that same-sex marriage, which was made legal in South-Africa in 2006, will spread to the rest of Africa. Religious groups that are willing to promote an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda receive funding, and evangelists travel from the US to speak in front of congregations.

Pan-Africanism is a movement to find African solutions to African problems. This movement sprung from the desire to oppose colonialism and imperialism, and to preserve traditional African cultures and values. When Western countries link aid and other forms of political or economic support to women’s rights or gay rights, it is portrayed as a form of Western imperialism: forcing Western values on African countries. It is argued that a 'homosexual agenda' is trying to erode African cultures and values.