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African Culture and Homophobia

In numerous regional treaties, African states have affirmed their respect of the right to equality and dignity of all peoples. Most countries have ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Article 2 of which states that “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, color, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion”.

It also guarantees the “the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination”, which includes the freedom to pursue one’s social development according to whatever policy he or she has chosen.

These articles make no exception for cases where the policy or opinion is linked to expression of sexual orientation, and even if they did, the question remains as to why sexual orientation should be singled out as particularly deserving of exclusion from human rights norms, as compared to other acts that inflict far more damage on society.

Given the realities of discrimination and oppression with which our continent has historically grappled, it is an unfortunate irony that intolerance towards sexual minorities – whose sexual orientation inflicts no harm upon society – has become a state-sanctioned hallmark of our current social politics.

The arbitrary hatred and violation of rights that have been heaped upon LGBTI have no place in a region that has claimed to embrace fundamental human rights principles, to the point of enshrining them in regional African policy and legislation. The African Charter calls on the individual to act in the spirit of “tolerance, dialogue and consultation”, none of which are compatible with homophobia.

African Cultures and Homophobia

Public Health and Homophobia

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African Culture and Homophobia

The social stigma that comes with being in a same sex relationship makes it difficult to cultivate a sustained relationship that is psychologically and physically healthy in many ways – the most well-docmented of which is its impact on HIV.

In August 2009 a paper published in the Lancet, a leading medical journal, suggested that rates of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the sub-Saharan African region are up to ten times the rates in the overall male population.

This is largely the result of social barriers that generate fear of stigma or legal prosecution if one is open about his or her involvement in a same-sex relationship, which have a potent impact of discouraging people from seeking access to the education, prevention, testing, treatment and care services that all form part of an essential package for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The authors of the Lancet paper warned that “The HIV/AIDS community now has considerable challenges in clarifying and addressing the needs of MSM in sub-Saharan Africa; homosexuality is illegal in most countries, and political and social hostility are endemics. An effective response to HIV/AIDS requires improved strategic information about all risk groups, including MSM. The belated response to MSM with HIV infection needs rapid and sustained national and international commitment...”

In addition to generating barriers to accessing health services, homophobia has also fuelled acts of “correctional rape” against women, which is perpetrated in some countries by men who supposedly intend, by forcing a lesbian woman to have sex with them, to “cure” her of her attraction to women. “Correctional rape” makes women who are engaged in same sex relationships particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and the range of health problems that comes with this.

The United Nations has issued calls for action to ensure the protection of sexual minorities in law and to thus increase their access to health services, with Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stating:

“

Not only is it unethical not to protect these groups [sexual minorities]; it makes no sense from a health perspective. It hurts all of us.”

African Cultures and Homophobia

Christianity and Homophobia

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African Culture and Homophobia

The issue of same-sex relationships is one of many controversial matters that arise in relation to Christianity. There might never be consensus on such matters, which often hinge on several verses in the Bible that seem fundamental to some but outdated to others.

In navigating the particularly bitter biblical debate that has been triggered by homosexuality, it would be instructive to look to the 22nd chapter of Matthew in which Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is, and simply responds: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law.”

In another well known biblical statement, Jesus said “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. This instruction is especially worth remembering when, as with homophobia, the issue at which stones are flung is simply an interaction between two consenting adults based on a feature of their natures that is not chosen, changeable nor harmful to others – while our communities continue to be destructed by an abundance of other actions, such as gender violence, that are far more deserving of our attention yet pass by with frequent impunity.

So why have same-sex relationships in particular been singled out for abuse, violence and state-sanctioned hatred – all in the name of a God whose first and foremost law was Love? The Apostle Paul reiterates this in Galatians 5:14 – “for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.

Homophobia turns this all-important law on its head. It mistakes intolerance for holiness, and throws hatred in the face of two people’s love – ignoring the Apostle John’s warning in 1 John 2:9 that “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it most plainly when he said:

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We reject homosexuals, treat them as pariahs, and push them outside our church communities, and thereby we negate the consequences of their baptism and ours. We make them doubt that they are children of God, and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy.”

- Quote from “Homophobia Equals Apartheid”, Afrol News, 7 July 2010

African Cultures and Homophobia

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It is often argued that “homosexuality is un-African”. While cultures vary across different African countries and communities, a common element of African cultural life centres on belonging to a community of people. For example, the key principle of Southern African philosophy is ubuntu whose definition is captured in the Zulu saying “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” – “A person is a person through persons”.

In many Western cultures, human identity places less emphasis on interpersonal relations, and is instead based on an individualistic approach: “I think, therefore I am”. Ubuntu on the other hand says, “I am because you are, and because you are, therefore, I am”. In other words, the individual is affected by what happens to the whole group, as indeed the whole group is affected by what happens to the individual.

The framework of togetherness that is encouraged by key philosophies of African origin like ubuntu requires that cultures should live side by side, and should see diversity as enriching the community as opposed to diminishing it. The claim that lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersexuals (LGBTI) are inherently incompatible with African cultures is not supported by history or contemporary experience.

Historians have shown that prior to the influx of missionaries in the 19th century, same-sex relationships existed in most African cultures – this is reflected in ancient art; in indigenous language terms as seen with the Hausa people in northern Nigerian, who were among the last cultures to be colonised by Europeans in the 20th century; and in preserved records – for example, a 16th century Brazilian inquisition refers to the “jimbandaa” – a term originating from Angola and Congo to refer to men who had sex with men. As seen in the following quote from “Being Rwandan and Gay”, a 2009 article in a Rwandan newspaper, contemporary experience also confirms that homosexuality is not a “Western” phenomenon.

"Many people think that gay Rwandans were influenced by western cultures. This is a big lie and an insult. I take myself as a living example: I’ve been in contact with Western Culture through the Internet for two years but I knew I was different since I was 12. Right now, I am in my twenties and nothing has changed. I am still attracted to men. I’ve never told anybody since it would be called a shame and I would be an outcast in my family. It really is not easy; I didn’t choose that, and I wasn’t influenced by anybody.”

Therefore, although culture has been used as justification for discriminating against LGBTI, the paradox is that, while sexual orientation is a factor of one’s nature regardless of citizenship, homophobia is in itself the “un-African” crime in that discrimination – and particularly, the violent discrimination that frequently accompanies homophobia – is in absolute opposition to the cultural philosophy of ubuntu. To discriminate against LGBTI is therefore to harm our culture and break down our own social fabric.