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Mar
04
2023
By ELIAS BIRYABAREMA
LGBT Ugandans face backlash as parliament launches schools investigation

LGBT Ugandans face backlash as parliament launches schools investigation

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
DAYS after Uganda's parliament ordered an investigation last month into the alleged promotion of homosexuality in schools, a video appeared online identifying Kampala resident Eric Ndawula as gay. Ndawula, 26, said his landlord showed him the video, which was posted by someone whose name he did not recognise. The landlord then issued him a notice of eviction, saying the building could not accommodate a gay person. "I am now a threat to the children around because I am going to recruit them into homosexuality," Ndawula told Reuters ironically. His experience is one example of a wave of discrimination and violence…
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Feb
07
2023
By The African Mirror
Crimilising LGBT people is a sin and an injustice – Pope

Crimilising LGBT people is a sin and an injustice – Pope

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
PHILIP PULLELLA Pope Francis said that laws criminalising LGBT people are a sin and an injustice because God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction. Francis, who made his remarks in response to a reporter's question aboard the plane returning from a two-country trip to Africa, received the full backing of his comments from two other Christian leaders on the plane with him. "The criminalisation of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," said Francis, who then cited unnamed statistics according to which 50 countries criminalise LGBT people "in one way or another" and about 10 others have laws including the…
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Jul
22
2022
By The African Mirror
LGBTQ+ Nigerians fear violence after sharia court death sentence

LGBTQ+ Nigerians fear violence after sharia court death sentence

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
PELUMI SALAKO A Nigerian sharia court's decision to sentence three men to death by stoning for homosexual acts could trigger similar cases in the country's states that apply Islamic law and unleash a wave of homophobic violence, LGBTQ+ rights groups said. Male same-sex relationships are punishable by up to 14 years in prison under Nigerian national law, but 12 states in the mainly Muslim north also use parallel sharia courts to punish residents for crimes ranging from adultery to blasphemy. Last month's ruling in the northern state of Bauchi has raised fears of an increase in homophobia in Africa's most populous…
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Jul
04
2022
By The African Mirror
Nigerian man sentenced to death by stoning for being gay

Nigerian man sentenced to death by stoning for being gay

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
ARDO HAZZAD AN Islamic sharia court in Nigeria's northern state of Bauchi has sentenced three men to death by stoning after convicting them on charges of engaging in homosexuality, the leader of the religious police that arrested them said. Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim and the states in the region use sharia courts to punish residents for crimes ranging from adultery to blasphemy. Adam Dan Kafi, the head of the Hisbah religious police in the Ningi local government area of Bauchi said the three men were arrested on June 14 and charged in a sharia court. The men, including a…
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May
19
2022
By The African Mirror
#JusticeForSheila highlights the precarious lives of queer people in Kenya

#JusticeForSheila highlights the precarious lives of queer people in Kenya

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
KENYA is one of 32 countries in Africa that criminalise homosexuality. People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) are frequently stigmatised, shamed and assaulted. The hashtags calling for action against the murder of queer people – like the most recent #JusticeForSheila – continue to trend on social media. We asked gender studies professor Awino Okech to tell us about the state of homophobic violence against queer Kenyans – and what needs to be done about it. Author AWINO OKECH, Associate professor in political sociology, SOAS, University of London Who is Sheila Lumumba and what is #JusticeForSheila?…
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May
18
2022
By The African Mirror
LGBTI refugees seeking protection in Kenya struggle to survive in a hostile environment

LGBTI refugees seeking protection in Kenya struggle to survive in a hostile environment

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
KENYA is now the second biggest refugee-hosting country in Africa. Of its over half a million refugees, over a thousand from neighbouring African states have sought asylum on the basis of persecution over their sexual orientation or gender identity. For instance, approximately 400 asylum claims by Ugandans were registered with the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kenya between 2014 and 2015. This surge followed state-condoned violence against gays and lesbians in Uganda during the 2014 debate of an ‘anti-homosexuality bill’ which initially included the death penalty for ‘practicing homosexuals’. Author KATE PINCOCK, Researcher, Overseas Development Institute Uganda is one of…
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May
17
2022
By The African Mirror
We are here, we exist – say Kenyan intersex persons

We are here, we exist – say Kenyan intersex persons

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
NDUTA WAWERU UNTIL he was ten years old, Sidney Etemesi (not his real name) thought he was a girl. “I was born and raised a girl in Kakamega County," Etemesi stated, speaking in Nairobi. "My parents named me Beatrice and made sure I lived as a girl.” There was no room for any gender ambiguity - or discussion - at home in Kakamega, as Etemesi was to find out. “You were either a boy or a girl and acted like one. I was different, and I knew something was wrong,” Etemesi explained. At ten years old, in primary school, while…
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Feb
19
2022
By The African Mirror
Pop star Troye Sivan fights HIV stigma in first big film role

Pop star Troye Sivan fights HIV stigma in first big film role

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
SAMUEL BAUGH AUSTRALIAN pop singer Troye Sivan, whose YouTube videos and music have inspired a generation of young LGBTQ+ people, wants his first major film role to combat ignorance around HIV/AIDS. In "Three Months", Sivan plays 17-year-old Caleb, who is exposed to HIV after a one-night stand on the eve of his high school graduation. The film details the shame and anxiety Caleb experiences while waiting three months for a diagnosis. Current medical guidelines require 12 weeks from exposure to be 100% certain. A still from the film 'Three Months', picturing Troye Sivan, who plays Caleb, and Viveik Kalra who plays Esther,…
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Dec
04
2021
By The African Mirror
Italian boxer Testa comes out as gay after Olympic success

Italian boxer Testa comes out as gay after Olympic success

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+
ITALY’S Olympic bronze medal-winning boxer Irma Testa has come out as gay, saying her success at the Tokyo Games earlier this year gave her the strength to make her sexual orientation public. The 23-year-old boxer won bronze in the women's featherweight category at Tokyo 2020. She previously competed at Rio 2016 where she lost in the quarter-finals while she also won gold in the 2019 European Championships. "The people who are close to me have known for years but I think it is right to tell everyone now," she told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. "Speaking of sexual orientation…
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