LGBTQIA+ - The African Mirror

Aug

27

2020

Gay president 20 years off, says former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH THE United States will elect an LGBT+ president, but it might take another 20 years before the rainbow flag flies metaphorically over the White House, according to former Congressman and veteran civil rights campaigner Barney Frank. Attitudes toward the LGBT+ community have shifted "significantly" since he was first elected to Congress from the northeastern state of Massachusetts in 1981, Frank said. "The country has made it very clear – full legal equality wins and prejudice loses," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. "I believe the fight for LGBT rights has been won (in the…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

LGBT+ conversion therapy survivors share stories on TikTok

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE WHEN Mike Dorn told his parents he was gay, aged 15, they tried to make him straight by sending him to a Christian camp in California for three months, where he was told he would go to hell, forced to dig holes and pushed around if he disobeyed orders. Dorn's trauma came to the surface when he was confined to his home for weeks during a COVID-19 lockdown in the United States in June and he decided to share his story on TikTok. "I was going through a pretty dark time being at home all the time and…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Poland threatens to challenge EU funding block in LGBT+ row

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH POLAND has warned it could mount a legal challenge to the European Union's decision to withhold funding to towns accused of setting up so-called LGBT-free zones, in an escalation of a growing row over the issue. LGBT+ rights have become a divisive issue in Poland, whose ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) says their promotion undermines traditional values. President Andrzej Duda won re-election last month having pledged to ban same-sex adoption and school lessons that included discussions about sexuality or gender identity. That has led to tensions with the EU, which last month rejected six town twinning applications…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Chinese LGBT+ group ShanghaiPRIDE halts work to ‘protect safety’

LGBT+

ShanghaiPRIDE, one of China's longest-running gay pride groups, said it was cancelling all activities and events for the foreseeable future, citing the need to protect the "safety" of its people and prompting a chorus of regret on social media. Homosexuality is legal in China, which until 2001 had classified it as a mental disorder. However same-sex marriage is not recognized and concerns over stigma still dissuades people from coming out to their families. "ShanghaiPRIDE regrets to announce that we are cancelling all upcoming activities and taking a break from scheduling any future events," it said late on Thursday in a…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

‘LGBT people are also humans’: Thai Buddhist monk backs equality

LGBT+

RINA CHANDRAN WITH his simple saffron robe and shaved head, Shine Waradhammo stands out at the often loud and colourful LGBT+ events that he occasionally attends in Bangkok, listening intently, taking notes, and engaging cheerfully with anyone who approaches him. As a monk, Waradhammo is a rare - but welcome - presence in the LGBT+ community as Thailand prepares to pass a landmark civil partnership bill that would recognise same-sex unions with nearly the same legal rights as married couples. A largely conservative Buddhist society, Thailand has a reputation for its relaxed attitude towards gender and sexual diversity since homosexuality…

Aug

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Ugandan officials summoned before court over torture of LGBT+ youth

LGBT+

ALICE McCOOL A town mayor and senior prison official in Uganda have been summoned to appear before a criminal court over allegations of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment against a group of LGBT+ youth, the victims' lawyers have said. The court's move is seen as a positive step for sexual minorities in the East African nation, where gay sex carries a life sentence and homophobia and the persecution of LGBT+ people is widespread, yet rarely punished. Witnesses and the victims say Hajji Abdul Kiyimba, chairman of Kyengera town council, beat members of the group and bound them with ropes before…

Jul

18

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Who is going to stand up for us?’ A trans sex worker in Uganda on life under lockdown

LGBT+

LGBT+ rights in Uganda have long faced social and cultural hurdles. Last year, the "Kill the Gays" bill – so-called as it would introduce the death penalty for gay sex – was raised again by Ugandan lawmakers, despite having provoked international condemnation on its first airing in 2014. The proposal was dismissed by the government, but the controversy sparked by the bill's new backers shone a spotlight on the problems faced by the LGBT+ community in the country. Transgender people living in Uganda, many of whom earn a living as sex workers, face particular difficulties, as Anna Xwexx Morena explains.…

Feb

04

2022

By The African Mirror

One woman fight against criminalisation of LGBT community

LGBT+

FRANCIS KOKOROKO INa dimly-lit room with racks of women's clothing, Ghanaian artist and LGBT+ activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi flipped through photo self-portraits illustrating her transition to womanhood. Transitioning is not illegal in Ghana, but it will become so if a new law is passed, intended to tighten already strict anti-LGBT+ regulations which render same-sex relations illegal. Homophobia is pervasive in the West African country and trans people are generally considered to be gay. Fiatsi first exhibited the photographs, dubbed "Rituals of Becoming", in 2017. Supportive audiences flocked to see the show in Ghanaian galleries. Her work reflects how LGBT+ people…

Jan

27

2022

By The African Mirror

As Taliban threats grow, LGBT+ Afghans struggle for work and food

LGBT+

ANNIE BANERJI LGBT+ Afghans face increasing threats and violence five months since the Taliban seized power, with many forced into hiding and unable to earn a living amid a worsening economic crisis, researchers said. Sixty LGBT+ Afghans who were interviewed by rights groups said the community was being targeted by members of the hardline Islamist movement and their supporters, making it too risky for them to work or even leave the house. Two gay men said they had been raped by Taliban fighters, while many others said they had been threatened or attacked, found the report by Human Rights Watch…

Jan

26

2022

By The African Mirror

Don’t ignore butch lesbians, says T.S. Eliot prize winner Joelle Taylor

LGBT+

ELLA BRAIDWOOD BRITISH poet Joelle Taylor, winner of this year's prestigious T.S. Eliot prize for a collection exploring lesbian identity, says it is time the mainstream media gave a voice to "butch dykes" like herself. Taylor, 54, said she hoped her prize-winning "C+nto & Othered Poems" could act as a catalyst for other under-represented LGBT+ people to offer "an alternative narrative", urging TV production companies to embrace them as writers. "It's about the media accepting a far more diverse set of narratives, and the way we look and owning the fact that they own the narrative to begin with," Taylor…