LGBTQIA+ - The African Mirror

Jan

14

2021

Golf-Thomas hopes to learn from ‘terrible judgment call’

LGBT+

JUSTIN Thomas said he had made a “terrible judgment call” by uttering a homophobic slur in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and that the incident had played on his mind during Sunday’s final round. Thomas had missed a five-foot putt on the fourth hole in the third round on Saturday and used the slur, which was picked up by a television microphone. He later said he was deeply apologetic. He carded a final round 66 on Sunday to finish third after Harris English beat Joaquin Niemann on the first extra hole of a playoff. “Golf wasn’t the main…

Jan

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Gay Indonesian policeman loses legal bid for reinstatement

LGBT+

STANLEY WIDIANTO A gay Indonesian policeman dismissed from the force because of his sexual orientation has lost his legal fight to be reinstated, after a Central Java court rejected his lawsuit, according to his lawyers. Tri Teguh Pujianto, a 31-year-old former police brigadier, was fired in 2018 after 10 years in the job, after police from a different town apprehended he and his partner on Valentine's Day when they were saying their goodbyes at his partner's workplace. Teguh's lawyers from the non-governmental group Community Legal Aid Institute in a statement said the local administrative court had rejected his suit. The…

Jan

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Camaraderie, hope and despair on Ugandan election day

LGBT+

ALICE McCOOL DESPITE a presidential campaign marked by homophobic rhetoric, LGBT+ Ugandans turned out to vote yesterday, with many hoping for change and finding unexpected camaraderie. In the capital Kampala, a ballot officer asked 30-year-old transgender lawyer Noah whether he was male or female when he handed over his identity documents, but fellow voters spoke out to support him and he was allowed to vote. "Voting always surprises me because there is always so much camaraderie. I feel like that there is a threshold of tolerance that Ugandans are capable of. We just need the right language," Noah told the…

Jul

05

2020

By The African Mirror

Zozi celebrates pride month

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT, LGBTQIA+

STAFF REPORTER TO MARK the end of pride month, a few popular personalities took the time on social media to hold open discussions regarding equality and respect for members who are not cis-heterosexual but are gender-conforming or non-binary. This discussions has been spurred on by the battle for legalising same-sex relationships within the African continent where it is still banned and punishable with jail time in a number of countries. Some of those personalities included Miss Universe’s Zozibini Tunzi, who has been using the pageant organisation’s Instagram profle to host conversations regarding the efforts for the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Trangender,…

May

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Outcast to icon: Peter Tatchell’s 50 years of LGBT+ activism

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH DRIVEN by passion and motivated by justice, veteran activist Peter Tatchell says LGBT+ equality remains elusive despite his 50-year campaign for gay rights in Britain and beyond. In a Netflix documentary that premiered on Thursday, the maverick campaigner said fairness for LGBT+ people from Iran to Zimbabwe was a distant dream and the West had to change, too. "The battle for queer freedom will never end until every LGBT+ person on this planet has respect, dignity and human rights," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Tatchell said the fight for rights had stalled in Britain, where the government this month announced…

May

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Fear breeds bravery as LGBT+ South Africans resist ‘war on queerness’

LGBT+

KIM HARRISBERG THREE months ago, Chippa Mohanoe's fiancée was stabbed in the neck and killed in front of their neighbours in South Africa's Sebokeng township. Every day since, Mohanoe had to push past his fear of a repeat punishment for being transgender, hoping a high profile will stifle the homophobia that he says killed his fiancée and at least seven other LGBT+ South Africans in recent months. Fear is making him brave. "I am still here and I don't want to hide, I will make sure the justice system upholds her memory," Mohanoe said outside court after the man accused…

May

11

2021

By The African Mirror

OPINION: LGBT+ refugees should be resettled with their chosen families

LGBT+

SAMUEL RITHOLTZ and REBECCA BUXTON IN the autumn of 2018, a ‘rainbow caravan’ of LGBT+ migrants from central America reached the Mexico-U.S. border, where they applied for asylum. In this group were 30 transgender women who requested asylum together at the border in Tijuana. Though a group, they were treated as individuals: some won their asylum cases, others lost. Such separation is common within the U.S. asylum system, and globally because refugee status is normally decided on an individual basis. Exceptions are made to this rule for families and married couples, where refugee status decisions and resettlement are possible on a group basis. But these…

Apr

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Twitter’s new office in Ghana seen as a snub to LGBT+ people

LGBT+

NITA BHALLA TWITTER Inc's decision to open its first African office in Ghana, citing it as a champion of democracy, is "a slap in the face" for sexual minorities in the country who suffer abuse and persecution, LGBT+ rights campaigners said on Wednesday. The social media giant announced earlier this month that the West African nation was selected because it was a supporter of free speech, online freedom and the Open Internet - values which Twitter said it also advocated for. But LGBT+ rights groups criticised the move, accusing the company of disregarding the plight of LGBT+ people in Ghana, where persecution…

Apr

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Cameroonian LGBT activist champions imprisoned transgender women

LGBT+

CHRISTOPHE VAN DER PERRE and JOSIANE KOUAGHEU COMING from Cameroon where letting it be known that she was a lesbian could lead to prison time, activist and social media influencer Bandy Kiki struggled to adjust to her newfound safety after emigrating to Britain a decade ago. Homosexuality is a criminal offence in Cameroon, punishable by up to five years in prison. "I kept thinking, 'Aren't the police going to show up and arrest everybody?'" she said about gatherings she would attend with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Manchester. "My friends kept saying, 'Kiki, it's…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa ‘are under siege’

LGBT+

CHRIS MAKHAYE UNTIL recently, Simphiwe Mkhize, 18, was dreaming of a career as a social worker. But that dream has now been shattered after he was forced to quit grade 9 at his school in Tongaat, about 40km north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. Mkhize says he often found himself in fights with fellow pupils who were insulting him and calling him names because he is gay. “I couldn’t take it anymore. They often picked on me. Some of the insults I let go, but others I returned and this led to fights,” he said. The abuse from his community in…