Mozambique will officially rescind “vice against nature” legislation in a few weeks
time.
Of the 76 countries that still criminalise same-sex
relationships and behaviour, 38 are African. Recent surveys also show that the
overwhelming majority of people who live in Africa strongly disapprove of
homosexuality. This is even the case in South Africa, the only country on the
continent that has legalised same-sex marriage.
Dozens of studies show that same-sex practices in
pre-colonial Africa were not generally taboo in the way that colonial
administrations codified them. Many traditional societies in Africa, and
elsewhere, developed ways of ordering and tolerating same-sex attractions and
behaviour. Many tolerated some same-sex relationships among men, particularly
in age-related cohorts or military units. Large numbers of men practised some
same-sex activities while asserting their heterosexuality in other spheres of
life. Among women, many different African societies record marriage or other
kinds of recognised relationships between women, as well as different forms of
cross-dressing and role-swapping. These include societies and cultures in
Kenya, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Lesotho, South Africa and many others.
Only during the height of colonisation were precise
definitions of sexual orientations developed and proscribed behaviours
punished. The British in particular brought in legislation because they thought
“native” cultures did not punish “perverse” sex enough. Like so many other
colonial era laws based on Victorian prejudices, these laws should have been
repealed as part of the decolonisation process. But, on liberation, most
English-speaking colonies did not repeal colonial-era “sodomy” or “crime/vice
against nature” laws.
More recently, some of the impetus behind new laws has come
from conservative and often racist organisations based in the US. In the last
15 years, the Christian right, primarily charismatic right-wing churches from
the US, has been very active in driving anti-homosexuality sentiment in parts
of Africa, like Uganda. These groups have supplied their African allies with
discredited junk science to bolster what is ultimately a narrow, imported set
of ultra-conservative values. Similarly, the growth of a more conservative set
of Islamic customs in some parts of Africa has seen the erosion of indigenous
belief systems that have been historically more tolerant of non-heterosexual
orientations.
In Uganda President Yoweri Museveni signed a law that
contained harsh new punishments for “homosexual acts” and for what it calls the
“promotion” of homosexuality. Implementation of that law is currently suspended
by the Ugandan Constitutional Court. There are also new laws in Nigeria,
homophobic changes to the constitution in Zimbabwe and discussion about
possible new laws in a number of countries, including Kenya. A particularly
dangerous aspect of new laws in some parts of Africa is that they are designed
to criminalise those who advocate for LGBTI rights or campaign for better
access to public health facilities. This impedes the work of NGOs and activists
and wider dissemination of new science about sexual orientation.
Same-sex attraction is neither “un-African” nor a colonial
import. Between 350 million and 400 million people globally are not
heterosexual, about 50 million of whom live in African countries. It is time to
transform the continent’s laws.
No comments:
Post a Comment