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Tasks: LGBTQ+ Rights in Africa

Research:

Work in groups.

LGBTQ+ rights in former British colonies

Choose two former British colonies in Africa. Compare how LGBTQ+ rights have progressed in these countries.

Suggested countries: Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Use the website Equaldex as a starting point, but make sure that you also use other online sources to add information about the various topics.

Link to the website Equaldex

  1. What is the situation in general for LGBTQ+ people in the two countries you have chosen?

  2. What are the LGBTQ+ rights regarding gay marriage, gender transition, and adoption?

  3. Are LGBTQ+ people welcomed into the military? Are you allowed to discuss, promote, or teach LGBTQ+ topics?

  4. Are there laws protecting members of the LGBTQ+ community from being discriminated against?

  5. Has there been a positive or negative development regarding LGBTQ+ rights over the past few decades?

Study:

Stonewall International has made a resource about the UN sustainable development goals and LGBT inclusion. Study the document carefully. Then answer the questions.

Link to pdf file about the UN sustainable development goals and LGBT inclusion

  1. Explain how the UN's sustainable development goals have a potential to advance equality for members of the LGBTQ+ community all over the world.

  2. Do you think the sustainable development goals can be used to encourage countries to do more to safeguard the human- and civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community?

  3. If you were going to make sustainable development goals to explicitly safeguard the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, what goals would you include and how would you phrase those goals.

  4. Why do you think the UN did not include goals that specifically ensure the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community?

If you want to read the UN sustainable development goals, follow these links.


Discuss:

What is it like to be transgender in South Africa? In this TedTalk, South African Lee Mokobe gives a soul-baring description of what it feels like to be transgender in a highly gendered culture.

Listen to and read the poem. Then pick out five sentences or passages that you find particularly strong or moving. Compare your sentences / passages with another student and explain why you picked these parts.

Link to slam poem by Lee Mokobe


Write:

Choose one of the tasks.

Work in pairs or alone. Write a discussion text.

Find out more about the examples mentioned in the task. Discuss the questions.

  1. South Africa implemented LGBTQ+ rights in their Constitution and consequently legalised same-sex marriage in 2006. Ireland held a referendum on same-sex marriage in 2016. What were the arguments for having a referendum, and what were the results? (Ireland also had a referendum about women's right to abortion.)

    What are the pros and cons of having a referendum on what some people perceive as moral or cultural issues? Should the matter be left to the elected politicians or the courts?

  2. In Botswana, the president appealed the High Court ruling on homosexuality, arguing that this was an issue that should be left to the politicians, not the courts.

    In Norway, Parliament has passed laws on decriminalisation of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and more.

    In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled on LGBTQ+ matters, such as decriminalisation (Lawrence v Texas in 2003), same-sex marriage (Obergefell v Hodges in 2015), and workplace discrimination (Bostock v Clayton County in 2020).

    Write a text where you discuss whether LGBTQ+ issues should be decided by politicians or judges?