Every year, the month of June is dedicated to pride. Pride meaning the empowerment of LGBTQIA+ people around the world.
Outside of Africa, it is quite a big deal with pride marches, parades and other events. However, on this continent it is much more small scale because people have not been able to wrap their heads around other genders and sexualities.
In this article we’re going to explore why that is the case when there is plenty evidence suggesting the presence of homosexuality before colonization.
In the book, Boy-Wives and Female Husbands, various anthropologists and historians set out to pinpoint instances in which homosexuality and feminism were present in pre-colonial Africa. The examples are remarkable and some even include suspicions of homosexuality among royalty in the various kingdoms. If this is the case, then why is the argument against freedom of sexuality based on the notion that homosexuality is “Un-African”?
African leaders have been ruthless in their homophobic notions and in suppression of the rights of the queer people living within their borders. The human rights being violated by government inflicted homophobia some of them include; the right to non-discrimination, the right to fair trial, right to practice religion by certain churches, the right to work and start a family among others.
An example of the crusade against gays was when Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni passed a bill in 2014 that sentenced gay people to life imprisonment. Since then, many African countries have expressed wanting to follow his footsteps if they haven’t already criminalized homosexual activity.
When Barack Obama visited Kenya in 2015, he criticized President Uhuru Kenyatta for the matter of criminalization of queer acts by saying “When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode.”
This couldn’t have been worded any better. It is wrong to criminalize law abiding citizens based on who they take to their beds. It is baffling to think someone can spend their whole life in jail because of something that is entirely their business and does not cause harm to anyone.
This argument is always met by African leaders with the response that homosexuality is “Un-African”. It is ridiculous to say that because it assumes that Africans are homogenous. Africa is made up of thousands if not millions of ethnicities, religions, worldviews and beliefs; we are diverse and have never been the same. Therefore, to categorize an entire continent under the opinion of an elite minority makes no sense.
