Between Prejudice and Persecution in Africa
11 May 2010
By Sara Kuepfer Thakkar for ISN
Prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people exists everywhere: Even in countries where discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is explicitly outlawed, or where same-sex unions are legal, homophobic attitudes linger. Homophobia is sometimes referred to as 'the last accepted prejudice.'
LGBT people are exposed to a wide range of abuses. In states where homosexuality is not criminalized, LGBT people may still be subject to frequent bullying, be denied employment or housing, or fall victim to 'hate crimes.' In some countries in the Middle East, homosexuals can be subject to 'honor killings' at the hand of their own family. In many countries, lesbians can become victims of 'correctional rape' – and then often cannot rely on the police to protect them or bring the perpetrators to justice.
Although homophobic attitudes exist in virtually every country and religious community, the two main sources of militant homophobic thought today come from Christian conservatism and Islamic fundamentalism. And nowhere in the world is the rivalry between the two world religions as pronounced as on the African continent. It is also in Africa where homophobia is taking on one of its most militant forms today.
Uganda and beyond
Uganda's "external pageanti-homosexuality bill" has grabbed recent international headlines. The bill proposes the death penalty for repeat offenders and harsh prison sentences for people advocating gay rights. Furthermore, the bill envisions prison terms for people failing to report a homosexual to the police within 24 hours.
The passing of Uganda's proposed new law may have other African countries, where antipathy to homosexuality is widespread, pass similar laws. According to a recent external pagereport, "There is a belt of current conservative reactions to homosexuality spanning from Zimbabwe to Ethiopia, including most of Southern and East Africa." Some Africa observers fear that Uganda's neighbors Rwanda and Burundi, where some of the same networks spreading homophobic messages operate, will be next. An op-ed on the proposed Uganda bill published in a government-owned newspaper in Rwanda, for example, external pagewarnedthat homosexuals fleeing Uganda may come to settle in Rwanda if the country failed to pass a similar law.
On the African continent, South Africa forms an exception when it comes to the legal protection of LGBT people. It was the first country in the world to add a constitutional clause protecting sexual minorities. Same-sex marriages are legal in South Africa, and it has become a base from which human rights organizations fight for gay rights across Africa. Yet despite South Africa's gay-friendly laws, homophobia remains widespread. LGBT persons continue to live with the fear of becoming the victim of a hate crime. The wide gap between the country's liberal constitution and general social attitudes remains.
HIV/AIDS organizations are particularly worried about the stigmatization and criminalization of homosexuality in African countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS has already taken on epidemic proportions, HIV infection rates among gay men have more than doubled in recent years. In the case of Uganda, the bill seeks to criminalize anybody who associates with people involved in same-sex relationships; hence, the bill would make it external pagealmost impossible for HIV/AIDS organizations to work with homosexuals.
Moreover, gay people who are too afraid to 'out' themselves for fear of stigmatization or arrest cannot be provided with the necessary information on how to protect themselves from the deadly virus. Especially in places where there is a high degree of discrimination of homosexuals, gay men and women, pretending to be heterosexual, tend to have multiple sexual partners of both sexes, thus multiplying the risk of getting infected and passing on the virus. The further stigmatization and criminalization of same-sex relationships in Africa would thus seriously hamper efforts to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The religious element
In the context of Uganda's controversial bill, there have been various external pagenews reports that conservative Christian groupings from the US are encouraging homophobic attitudes in Africa. In fact, several evangelical leaders from the US have publicly denounced homosexuality in Uganda. The controversy around American evangelical Lou Engle's appearance at an anti-gay rally in Uganda earlier this month is just the latest of a series of external pageincidents where US-based evangelists have been connected to Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' bill. US evangelical groups, who claim that it has never been their intention to promote the criminalization of LGBT persons, may also have underestimated the resonance their messages would have in a country where traditional values are strong and homophobia already widespread.
Christian conservatives are increasingly looking to Africa in search for a 'purer' Christianity, uncorrupted by the kinds of liberal reforms undertaken by Christian churches in the US and Europe. For instance, conservative Episcopalians have strongly opposed the US Episcopal Church's liberal stance on homosexuality. While the views of conservative Christians in the US may be rejected by the majority of their respective congregations, conservative Christian clerics often find an open ear for their conservative, 'fundamentalist' message in Africa.
Meanwhile, the leaders of various Christian churches in Africa have expressed the view that their branches in the developed world are straying too far away from the original Christian teachings. Recently, African Lutherans have threatened to separate from the European branch of the Lutheran church over the issue of same-sex marriage, which African Lutherans oppose. Similarly, African Anglican churches have distanced themselves from their US and British counterparts over the issue of homosexuality.
The reason why Christians in Africa often adopt a more literal approach to the Bible, which calls homosexuality a sin, is that many African Christians are recent converts. The number of Christians in Africa has increased from 10 million to 360 million in the past hundred years, and many African Christians today are adult converts. As one author external pageobserves, "Sociologists generally agree that newer religious groups tend to have more literal approaches to scripture."
In many African countries, and Uganda is one example, conservative Christian groups are vying for influence and converts in direct competition with Muslim clerics. Representatives of both religions are trying to prove to their constituencies – mostly rural, traditional communities - that they are unequivocal defenders of moral standards. Both Christian and Muslim clerics throughout Africa have denounced homosexuals as 'abnormal' and 'sinful,' and as posing a threat to families and children.
Although there are debates within Islam whether the Quran explicitly outlaws same-sex relationships, the view that homosexuality is a sin is widespread among Muslims. In fact, the majority of Muslim countries in the world outlaw same-sex relationships, and seven among them even carry the death penalty for homosexual acts. Furthermore, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism influences mainstream Muslims and Christian groups alike. Neither religious group wants to appear lax on morals; they do not want to adopt a liberal attitude on a controversial topic for fear of losing followers. Meanwhile, African politicians shy away from challenging the teachings of religious leaders, especially when it comes to as sensitive an issue as homosexuality.
Anti-imperialism
The recent increase in homophobic demagoguery and calls for the legal persecution of gays is also a reaction to the growing visibility of gay rights activism in the West. For many people in Africa and the Middle East, gays are a symbol for the forces of globalization, modernization, secularization and sexual liberation that are eroding the fabric of traditional societies. Hence, homophobia can be partly understood as a symptom of an anti-Western backlash in these developing countries.
From Uganda and Zimbabwe to Iraq and Iran, homosexuality is frequently portrayed as something foreign that has been brought onto their countries from western imperialists. Statements that there were no homosexuals in their countries prior to their exposure to the West are common. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's infamous external pageinsistence in his speech at Columbia University that "In Iran we don't have homosexuals" is a case in point. In Iraq, US troops are often blamed for bringing homosexuality to the country. In Zimbabwe, both Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe, known to rarely agree on any issue, both reject the idea of entrenching gay rights in the constitution, calling homosexuality a "shameless foreign tradition."
Ironically, when it comes to the opposition of gays, the anti-imperialist left and religious conservatives have found common cause.
A human rights issue
The LGBT rights struggle deals with two main issues. The first goal is decriminalization. Around 80 countries today external pagecriminalize consensual sex between adults of the same gender. The human rights group Amnesty International classifies people arrested or imprisoned because of their homosexuality 'prisoners of conscience' and thus considers their imprisonment as being in contravention of international human rights law. But removing homosexuality from a country's criminal code is not enough. This is why, as a second goal, LGBT rights organizations seek to ensure the equal treatment of sexual minorities within countries. For example, the fundamental human right to non-discrimination and to be free from violence and harassment may be compromised in countries where LGBTs are not adequately protected by the state. Similarly, the right to work can be compromised when LGBTs are either fired or discriminated against by their employers and cannot find legal redress. LGBT rights organizations want to ensure that basic human rights, including social and economic rights, are applied to every human being regardless of their sexual orientation.
Important progress has been made in the area of international human rights law. In March 2007, a group of human rights experts, various national, regional and international human rights commissions, as well as the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, met in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta to define how international human rights law can be used to fight the discrimination and criminalization of LGBT people around the world. They started out from the notion that the International Declaration of Human Rights is very inclusive in spirit, despite the fact that sexual orientation is not explicitly mentioned. The results of their findings were published in the " external pageYogyakarta Principles," which provide guidance to states implementing their human rights obligations so that the human rights of sexual minorities are equally protected. Although the Yogyakarta charter is a promising step toward LBGT equality, laws alone will never be able to guarantee LGBT people a life free from discrimination and harassment. Social attitudes towards sexual minorities also need to change.