homosexuality - The African Mirror

Oct

13

2021

Botswana appeals ruling allowing gay sex, court delays judgment

BOTSWANA judges have postponed ruling on a case in which the government is seeking to overturn a 2019 ruling that decriminalised gay sex, saying the matter needed more research and debate. The case was initially brought by a university student, Letsweletse Motshidiemang, whose representatives argued then that the government should do away with the law in light of a changed society where homosexuality was more widely accepted. Gay sex has been punishable by up to seven years in prison. Representing the state, Sydney Pilane told the Court of Appeal there was no evidence that people's attitudes had changed. "People don't…

LGBT+ conversion therapy: banned on Facebook, but thriving in Arabic

LGBT+

AVI ASHER-SCHAPIRO and MAYA GEBEILY WHEN he was growing up in a small Egyptian town outside Cairo, Omar began feeling sexually attracted to other men. Too afraid to talk to family or friends, he turned to Facebook for help, shielding his identity with a false name. Scouring social media for information and advice is a common recourse for young men and women who think they may be gay and live in socially conservative Arab societies. But it can lead them to therapists, spiritual leaders and influencers promising to "cure the affliction" of homosexuality through so-called conversion therapy - practices that…

How young, queer Nigerians use Twitter to shape identity and fight homophobia

LGBT+

PAUL ONANUGA, Lecturer, Federal University, Oye Ekiti NIGERIA continues to be largely homophobic, mainly as a result of cultural and religious conventions. Negative perceptions of homosexuality led to the criminalisation of same-sex relations in 2014. The Nigerian environment is therefore toxic for LGBTI people. They become easy prey to oppressive and exploitative state security apparatus. They are also vulnerable to public “moral police” who seek to make homosexual performance invisible and closeted. One may assume that the marginalised Nigerian same-sex community and its allies have conceded to the widespread societal ostracisation. But that would be to ignore the vigorous advocacies…