Decriminalising homosexuality in Africa: lessons from the South African experience (original) (raw)

The Politics of Homosexuality in Africa

Critical African Studies, 2017

This special issue sheds lights on The Politics of Homosexuality in Africa through a series of in-depth analyses and ethnographic accounts that challenge existing essentialisms while bringing to bear a more complex and subtle representation of queer politics on the continent. In building, and yet departing from, the emerging scholarship on this topic, the contributions to this volume underline how the often-cited draconian legislations, the state-sponsored homophobic violence, and the heated public debates on homosexuality, should be seen not simply as the product of political chicanery and Pentecostal religious fervour, but as part of the (re)-emergence and (re)-articulation in postcolonial Africa of old and novel discourses on African independence and nation-building, of citizenship and human rights, and of morality and the place and recognition of Africa, and Africans, in the world. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681392.2017.1282724

"Homosexuality" in Africa: Issues and Debates

Deborah P. Amory. (1997). “Homosexuality” in Africa: Issues and Debates. Issue: A Journal of Opinion, (15), 1. https://doi-org.library.esc.edu/10.2307/1166238 This literature review of homosexuality in Africa also includes a report on current research being conducted and presented at the African Studies Association annual meetings in the late 1990s.

New Perspectives on Sexualities in Africa

Introduction New Perspectives on Sexualities in Africa Marc Epprecht, Queen’s University Sexualités africaines contemporaines: nouvelles perspectives. Charles Gueboguo, Université de Yaoundé 1. Articles “The widow, the will, and widow-inheritance in Kampala: revisiting victimisation arguments,” Stella Nyanzi, Maragaret Emodu, Wilberforce Serwaniko 7100 words Faith in God, but not in Condoms: Churches and Competing Visions of HIV Prevention in Namibia, Nicole Rigillo 8537 words Deaf, gay, HIV positive and proud: Narrating an alternative identity in post apartheid South Africa, Ruth Morgan, Karin Willemse with John Meletse 8529 “Mombasa Morans:” Embodiment, Sexual Morality and Samburu Men in Kenya, George Paul Meiu 8932 Transactions sexuelles: sur les rétributions des pratiques homosexuelles à Bamako Christophe Broqua 7977 Penser les ‘droits’ des homosexuels/les en Afrique: du sens et de la puissance de l’action associative militante au Cameroun Charles Gueboguo 7550 Book Review Essays “African feminists on sexualities” Signe Arnfred 3000 Feminist Africa, issues 5 (2005) and 6 (2006) Agenda, issues 62 (2004), 63 (2005), 67 (2006) “Sexualities, Pleasure and Politics in Southern Africa” Bodil Fredericksen 2200 Graeme Reid and Liz Walker, guest editors, Sex and Secrecy, special issue of Culture, Health and Sexualty, 7 (3), 2005 Deevia Bhana, Robert Morrell, Jeff Hearn and Relebohile Moletsane, guest editors, Sexualities in Southern Africa, special issue of Sexualities 10 (2), 2007 “Southern African Homosexualities and Denials” Stephen O. Murray 1945 Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe. Unspoken Facts: A History of African Homosexualities Harare: GALZ 2007. 321+xi pp. Hoad, Neville. African Intimacies: Race, Homosexuality, and Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2007. 187 + xxxiii pp. Spurlin, William J. Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representations and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2006. 182+ ix pp. Contre l’homophobie en Afrique (version française) Patrick Awondo 1289 Charles Gueboguo, La question homosexuelle en Afrique. Le cas du Cameroun. Paris: l’Harmattan, 2006. 187 pp. Eboussi Boulaga (ed.), Terroirs, « L’homosexualité est bonne à penser », n°1-2/2007 Yaoundé: Académia Africana, 2007. 311 pp. “African Perspectives on Female Circumcision” Amy Kaler 1733 Mary Nyangweso Wangila. Female Circumcision: The Interplay of Religion, Culture and Gender in Kenya. Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 2007. 206 pp. Obioma Nnaemeka ed. Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge: African Women in Imperialist Discourses. New York: Praeger, 2005. 296 pp. “Same sex-sexuality issues in some African popular media” Unoma Azuah 1100 Dibia, Jude. Walking with Shadows. Sands Press, Lagos, Nigeria, 2005. Aidoo, Ama, Ata (ed.) African Love Stories, Ayebia Clarke Publishing, London, 2006. Book Reviews Sévérin Cécile Abéga, Violence Sexuelle et l’État au Cameroun (Karthala 2007). Sybille N. Nyeck Julia Carter The Heart of Whiteness (Duke UP: 2007). Barrington Walker Catherine M Cole, Takyiwa Manuh and Stephan F Miescher (eds.) Africa After Gender (2007) Brigitte Bagnol Cary Alan Johnson. Off the Map: How HIV/AIDS Programming is Failing Same-Sex Practicing People in Africa. (New York: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, 2007). 124 pp. Amanda Swarr Ruth Morgan and Saskia Wieringa (eds). Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men and Ancestral Wives: Female Same-Sex Practices in Africa. (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2005). Sam Bullington 997 Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, Richmond Tiemoko and Paulina Makinwa-Adebusoye (eds), Human Sexuality in Africa: Beyond reproduction (Auckland Park, Fanele Jacana Media, 2007). Robert Morrell 1280 Nattrass, Nicoli. Mortal Combat: AIDS Denialism and the Struggle for Antiretrovirals in South Africa. (Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007). Mary Caesar 800 Stephanie Newell. The Forgers Tale: The Search for Odeziaku. (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007). Taiwo Oluntorubo-Oju Alexander Rödlach. Witches, Westerners and HIV: AIDS and Cultures of Blame in Africa. (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2006). Allison Goebel T. Shefer, K. Ratele, A. Strebel, N. Shabalala and R. Buikema (eds.) From Boys to Men: Social constructions of masculinity in contemporary society. (Cape Town, South Africa: UCT Press, 2007). Mikki van Zyl 921 WORKS CITED

Interrogating the Criminalisation of Same-Sex Sexual Activity: A Study of Commonwealth Africa

Liverpool Law Review

The Abrahamic faiths and received colonial law have been identified as the driving force behind the criminalisation of homosexual activity in most of the Commonwealth States of Africa. This article, therefore, seeks to question the role of criminal law in proscribing sexual activities amongst consenting adults of the same gender in Commonwealth African states. A recurring question in the paper is the propriety of criminalising a consensual conduct amongst consenting adults in private when no harm or injury is done to other citizens or the state in line with JS Mill’s principle of harm. The article finds that the misconception that the main aim of criminal law is to legislate the moral values of the majority, forms support for the view that homosexuality can be learned and unlearned and if this is the case, a paternalistic approach by the state would help mould citizens’ behaviour. A comparative and case study approach was adopted for the discussion in the article. Four Commonwealth ...

The Global Politics of Gay Rights: The Straining Relations between the West and Africa

This article analyses the contemporary global politics of gay rights as it relates to the straining relations between the Western powers and many African states that oppose sexual minorities’ rights. While the West (with emphasis on the United States, EU, and Britain) advocates for the protection of gay rights in the world, Africa provides the largest concentration of states opposed to them. Therefore, there has been rising tension between both regions. This became more apparent after Nigeria and Uganda, respectively, signed their anti-gay bills into law in January and February 2014. In response to this, the Western powers decided to take some punitive measures, especially imposition of sanctions, against the countries to pressurise them to repeal their laws. In an unusual manner, the African states are radically determined to go ahead with their anti-gay laws in open defiance to the demands of the Western powers. This development, which is informed by a number of factors, shows a rather new pattern of behaviour by African states in global politics. Keywords: Homosexuality, Gay, Anti-gay states, Africa, the West

The Invention of Homophobia in Africa

Journal of advances in social sciences and Humanities , 2019

In this paper, I assert that the criminalization of homosexuality in Africa is a result of a co-construction process which has its roots during the colonial period. I emphasize that during the pre-colonial period, although heterosexuality was the socially recognized and accepted sexual norm as elsewhere in the world, same-sex sexual practices occurred on the continent and were practiced by several communities. Subsequently, even though it is now established that laws criminalizing homosexuality in many countries have their roots in the colonial period, this assertion must be nuanced. First of all, colonizer's sexual policies were not the same throughout the continent, but also even where repressive laws were enforced, homosexuality existed and the colonizer remained silent. Finally, new legal framework are the result of both colonial encounter and contemporary African agency.

RETHINKING THE ILLEGALITY OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN ZIMBABWE: A RIPOSTE TO CHEMHURU

The paper critiques an article by Chemhuru which delved into philosophical examination of homosexuality in Zimbabwe and Africa. As point of departure, this paper takes a historical approach and chronicles the long history of homosexuality in many African societies and cultures, tracing the development trajectories from pre-colonial era up to the post-colonial era. The development of homophobic stance in African societies historical is dealt with, and reasons for the continual of such a stance in postcolonial Africa are examined also. Informed by Marxian and Foucauldian theorizing, the paper argues that sexualities are socially and culturally constructed. Power is singled out as the major determinant that shapes how sexualities are viewed in a particular state or culture. The paper concludes by examining the differences between pre-colonial homosexuality and the recent phenomena of same sex marriages and families. There is need to further research into how these same sex marriages are structured and functions within societies that have legalized same sex marriages.

THE POSSIBLE INEFFICACY OR BACKLASH OF INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE IN LGBTI RIGHTS IN AFRICA

Homosexuality and LGBTI rights have been matters of continued importance in the U.S. and much of the Western world for some decades. Indeed, it is more than time that Africa take these issues seriously and actively dismantle the belief systems, rhetoric and legal systems that stifle our progress towards LGBTI rights. As a millennial African, this is of significant importance to me and should be high on the change agenda for others in my generation and a necessity of our progress. As such, Marc Eprecht's evaluation of how the LGBTI rights movement has manifested in Africa is a natural undertaking to relate this human rights issues to the unique social and cultural contexts on the African continent. Specifically, Eprecht evaluates the role that a public health agenda can play in bringing attention to sexual rights issues and deconstructing homophobic tendencies. In this essay, I intend to relate some of the most distinct aspects of Eprecht's paper whilst providing challenges to some of his central debates about the necessity of international participation in the sexual rights movement and the nominal nature of more legislative mediums for effecting the necessary changes in attitudes towards sexual minorities without addressing cultural stigmas at root. To truly address the LGBTI stigmatization that is an obstacle to establishing LGBTI rights in Africa, its important for this to be an authentic conversation within these African communities.