LGBT+ people - The African Mirror

Mar

2023

Legal hurdles faced by LGBT+ people in Africa

Uganda's parlia UGANDA'S parliament passed a bill making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. Same-sex relations are legal in only 22 of Africa's 54 countries, and are punishable by death or lengthy prison terms in some, according to a global review by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Africa accounts for nearly half of the countries worldwide where homosexuality is outlawed, according to the review, which was last updated in December 2020. Here is the state of play on LGBT+ rights in Africa:…

Oct

2021

By The African Mirror

FEATURE-Lithuania’s ‘gay propaganda’ law looms over fight for same-sex unions

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE AS the target of constant homophobic abuse as a teenager, Rimas Prokopovicius rarely heard anything positive about gay people when he was growing up in a provincial city in northern Lithuania. Like many young LGBT+ people in the Baltic state, a member of the European Union since 2004, he blames the country's "gay propaganda" law. While the 2009 legislation has not been enforced in recent years, LGBT+ rights campaigners say it legitimises homophobic attitudes, curbs free speech and is hampering their fight for same-sex civil partnerships to be legalised. "I'd really like to see the law (overturned) ...…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Conversion therapy thrives globally as bans gather pace

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE DOCTORS once prescribed long, hard bike rides and testicular transplants to cure gay men of their "sexual abnormality". More than a century on, fear and controversy still dog the secretive world of conversion therapy. From injections to electric shocks, prayer to rape, myriad methods are peddled by medics, counsellors and moralists to try and change or suppress the sexual desire or gender identity of LGBT+ people. Interviews with practitioners and people who have been through conversion therapy reveal a deep divergence over practices that dozens of medical associations have condemned as ineffective and harmful. In Egypt, a young…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana: Anti-gay bill seeks prison terms for LGBT+ people

LGBT+

NITA BHALLA A bill in Ghana that would make it a crime to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender or to advocate for LGBT+ rights is expected to be presented before parliament for its first reading. The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, has sparked outrage and fear in the West African nation's LGBT+ community, with campaigners saying it could heighten widespread persecution and violence. Here are some key details and background about the controversial proposal: What is the current law regarding LGBT+ people in Ghana? Under a 1960 British colonial-era law, "unnatural carnal…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Anger and fear in Ghana as bill seeks to criminalise LGBT+ people

LGBT+

NITA BHALLA A bill in Ghana that would make it a crime to be gay, bisexual or transgender has shocked the local LGBT+ community and raised fears over a possible surge in discrimination and violence against sexual minorities in the West African country. Gay sex is already punishable with up to three years in jail in Ghana, where homophobic persecution is widespread, but the draft law would go much further - making it illegal to be LGBT+ or advocate for LGBT+ rights, and imposing longer sentences. "This bill is a homophobe's dream law," said Danny Bediako from Rightify Ghana, a…

May

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

2021

By The African Mirror

German priests defy Vatican ban by blessing same-sex unions

RELIGION

ENRIQUE ANARTE THE Catholic Church has lost touch with the "living reality" of LGBT+ people, said one of more than 100 German priests who are defying the Vatican this week by blessing same-sex couples. In a move that angered liberals within the 1.3 billion-member Church, the Vatican's doctrinal office said in March that priests cannot bless same-sex unions in lieu of marriage, despite ministers doing so in countries such as Germany. "If we say that God is love, I cannot tell people who embrace loyalty, unity and responsibility to each other that theirs is not love, that it's a fifth-or…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Ugandan sex crimes law targets LGBT+, HIV-positive’

NEWS

NITA BHALLA A new Ugandan law that seeks to better protect victims of sexual violence has been criticised by rights campaigners who say it discriminates against vulnerable groups including LGBT+ people, sex workers and those living with HIV. The Sexual Offences Bill has drawn praise for provisions such as protecting victims during trials and outlawing sexual harassment, but it also criminalises gay sex and sex work and sets out harsher sentences for HIV-positive rape defendants. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said she was "deeply troubled" by parts of the legislation, which consolidates existing laws and rulings and was passed by…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBT persecution on the rise in Cameroon, Human Rights Watch says

LGBT+

CAMEROON security forces have arrested, threatened or assaulted at least 24 people since February in a ramped-up crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday. The rights group said recent documented accounts of abuse, including that of a 17-year old boy, point to an overall rise of police action against LGBT+ people in Cameroon, where same-sex relations are criminalised. Cameroon authorities did not respond to Reuters requests for comments. HRW said it shared its report with Cameroon's justice, and defence ministries, and the head of police. It received no response to a March…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

In Myanmar, LGBT+ people join anti-coup protests with rainbow flags

LGBT+

GROWING up in rural Myanmar, Du Wun shunned the jewellery his mother pressed him to wear and dreaded ceremonies where he had to dress in a traditional htamein, a sarong-like garment for women. Du Wun, a transgender man, was bullied as a teenager and disowned by his parents. He only began to accept his gender identity when he connected with other LGBT+ people - a lifeline he fears is under threat following a Feb. 1 military coup. "I was intimidated and ashamed about my identity," said Du Wun, 26, who decided to quit his job as a teacher in 2016…