According to the Human Rights Watch, in Benin and the Central African Republic, whilst homosexuality itself is not illegal, there are discriminatory laws specifically targeting homosexual acts.[5] In former British colonies, including Kenya and Nigeria, laws criminalising homosexuality are typically traceable to the colonial era.[6] In states where homosexuality is legal, there is often little to no discrimination protection for homosexuals in areas such as employment.[7]
In southern Somalia, Somaliland, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, and Uganda, homosexuality is punishable by death.[8][9] In Sudan, Gambia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts - although this is not enforced in Sierra Leone.
In November 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa and the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. In May 2023, the Supreme Court of Namibia ruled foreign same-sex marriages must be recognised equally to heterosexual marriages.[10] Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French overseas territories in Africa have legalised same-sex marriage.[11][12]
LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws exist in ten African countries: Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and South Africa. South Africa is the only country in Africa in which discrimination against the LGBTQ community is constitutionally illegal.
Travel advisories encourage gay and lesbian travelers to use discretion in much of the continent to ensure their safety. This includes avoiding public displays of affection (although this can often apply to both homosexual and heterosexual couples).[13]
In a 2011 UN General Assembly declaration for LGBTQ rights, nation states were given a chance to express their support, opposition, or abstention on the topic. Only Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, and South Africa expressed their support.[14] A majority of African countries expressed their opposition. State parties that expressed abstention were Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.[14]
In 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa and the fifth in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. There are large LGBTQ communities in South Africa's urban areas, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Pietermaritzburg, Kimberley, and George. South Africa's three largest cities, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, are frequently promoted as tourist destinations for LGBTQ people. However social discrimination against LGBTQ people in South Africa does still occur, especially in rural areas where it is fueled by a number of religious figures and traditions.
In 2010, a cisgender man, Steven Monjeza Soko, and a transgender woman, Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa, were arrested by the Malawi police and charged following their engagement ceremony, despite no evidence of the two having sex. The court denied bail, sentencing both Soko and Kachepa to prison.
Nicholas Hersh reports that LGBTQ asylum-seekers and refugees in Morocco often fear for their lives. Queer Moroccan Refugees have been subject to social discrimination and violence, including rape and imprisonment. Queer Moroccan Refugees who have been outed in their communities may experience poverty, frequently turning to sex work in exchange for housing.
In recent years, although many countries have made process with decriminalisation, some countries in which homosexuality is illegal have introduced harsher penalties. In addition to criminalising homosexuality, Nigeria has recently enacted legislation prohibiting the support of LGBT+ rights. According to Nigerian law, a heterosexual ally "who administers, witnesses, abets or aids" any form of gender non-conforming and homosexual activity could receive a ten-year jail sentence.[16] Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which permits the use of capital punishment for certain types of consensual same-sex activities, has also garnered significant international attention.[17]
Since 2011, some developed countries have implemented, or considered implementing, laws limiting or prohibiting general budget support to countries that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people.[20] Rather than fueling the granting of greater LGBTQ rights, in some areas, this has exacerbated homophobic sentiments.[21][22] Past African leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni have claimed that homosexuality is an "un-African" import from Europe.[23] However, most scholarship and research demonstrate that homosexuality has long been a part of various African cultures.[24][25][26][27]
Ancient Egypt had documented third gender categories, including for eunuchs.[28] In the Tale of Two Brothers (from 3,200 years ago), Bata removes his penis and tells his wife "I am a woman just like you"; one modern scholar called him temporarily (before his body is restored) "transgendered".[28][29][page needed][30][page needed]
Ancient Egyptian attitudes towards towards homosexuality remain unclear. There are no records condemning or penalising homosexuality, but documents that make reference to sexuality do not clearly reference specific sexual acts. Thus, a simple evaluation remains problematic.[31][32]
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum depicted nose to nose and embracing in their tomb
The best-known case of possible homosexuality in ancient Egypt is that of the two high officials Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Both men lived and served under PharaohNiuserre during the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC).[31] Both Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep had wives and children, but were buried together in one mastaba tomb. In this mastaba, several paintings depict the men embracing and touching the tips of their noses together. In ancient Egypt, this gesture typically represented a kiss.[31] There has been much disagreement between Egyptologists and historians over how these paintings should be interpreted. Some scholars believe that the paintings reflect a same-sex relationship between two married men, suggesting the ancient Egyptians were accepting of homosexuality.[33] Other scholars interpret the scenes as evidence that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were twins, possibly conjoined twins.[31]
The Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD is said to have exterminated a large number of "effeminate priests" based in Alexandria.[24]
There is well-documented evidence of homosexuality in Northern Africa - particularly from the period of Mamluk rule. Arabic poetry emerging from cosmopolitan regions describes the pleasures of pederastic relationships, including accounts of Christian boys sent from Europe to become sex workers in Egypt. In Cairo, cross-dressing men called khawal would entertain audiences with song and dance - a tradition thought to be of pre-Islamic origin).[24]
Accounts of early twentieth-century travellers, frequently include accounts of homosexuality in the Siwa Oasis in Egypt. Group of warriors in the region were known to pay reverse dowries to younger men, a practice later outlawed in the 1940s.[24]
British anthropologist Siegfried Frederick Nadel wrote about the Nuba tribes in Sudan in the late 1930s.[34] He noted traditional roles amongst the Otoro Nuba where male-assigned people would dress and live as women and marry men. Similar gender roles exist amongst the Moru, Nyima, Krongo, Mesakin and Tira people.[35][36][page needed][37] In the Korongo and Mesakin tribes, Nadel also reported a common reluctance amongst men to abandon the pleasures of all-male camp life for the fetters of permanent settlement.
In pre-colonial East Africa, male-assigned priests (called mugawe among the Meru and Kikuyu) would dress and style their hair like women and marry men.[39][page needed][39][37] A similar role has historically existed within the Swahili-speaking Mashoga - with some male-assigned people taking on women's names and traditional gender roles.[24]
Among the Nuer people (in what is now South Sudan and Ethiopia), widows who bore no children would sometimes adopt male statuses and marry women (a practice which has been viewed as transgender or homosexual);[37][40][41] the Nuer also have a traditional male-to-female role.[35] The Maale people of Ethiopia have a traditional role for male-assigned ashtime who take on feminine roles; traditionally, they served as sexual partners for the king on days he was ritually barred from sex with women.[42]The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672) makes the first reference to homosexuality between nuns in Ethiopian literature.[43][44] The Amhara people have historically stigmatized men who adopted feminine dress.[45][46]
Among the Baganda, Uganda's largest ethnic group, homosexuality has traditionally been treated with indifference. The Luganda term abasiyazi refers to homosexuals, though usage nowadays is typically considered pejorative. Among the Lango people, mudoko dako individuals made up a third gender category.[47][48] Homosexuality was also acknowledged among the Teso, Bahima, Banyoro, and Karamojong peoples.[49] Societal acceptance of LGBT+ people in Uganda declined following the arrival of the British and the creation of the Protectorate of Uganda in 1894.[50][51][52]
Not unlike neighbouring Uganda, male homosexual relations were acknowledged and tolerated in precolonial Ugandan society. Swedish anthropologistFelix Bryk has noted active (i.e. penetrative) male homosexuality and "homo-erotic bachelors" among the pastoralist Nandi and Maragoli (Wanga) people. Crossdressing has also been historically practiced by the Nandi as well as the Maasai during initiation ceremonies.
The Dagaaba people, in Burkina Faso, have a traditional of viewing homosexual men as possessing the ability to mediate between the spirit and human worlds.[53][citation needed] Further, they treat(ed) gender as determined by the energy of a person rather than their anatomy.[54][55]
Writing in the 19th century in an area roughly adjacent to southwestern Zimbabwe, David Livingstone asserted that the monopolisation of women by elderly chiefs was primarily responsible for the "immorality" practised by younger men.[56] Edwin W. Smith and A. Murray Dale described one Ila-speaking man who dressed as a woman, did women's work, and lived and slept among, but not with, women. They translated the Ila label mwaami as "prophet" and noted that pederasty was not rare, "but was considered dangerous because of the risk that the boy will become pregnant".[57]
Marc Epprecht's review of 250 court cases from 1892 to 1923 found cases of various cases of alleged homosexuality spanning the period. Five 1892 cases involved exclusively black Africans. A defense offered was that "sodomy" was a part of local "custom". In one case a chief was summoned to testify about customary penalties and reported that the penalty was a fine of one cow, which was less than the penalty for adultery. Across the period, Epprecht found the balance of black and white defendants proportional to that in the population. He notes, however, that consensual relations in private did not necessarily provoke notice by the courts. Some cases were brought by partners who had been dropped or who had not received promised compensation by their former sexual partner. Although the norm was for the younger male to lie supine and not show any enjoyment, let alone expect any sexual mutuality, Epprecht found a case in which a pair of black males had stopped their sexual relationship out of fear of pregnancy, but one wanted to resume taking turns penetrating each other.[57]
Demone discusses the prominence of anti-LGBT sentiment in Malawi. British Colonial rule implemented laws criminalising the practice, which has influenced subsequent government policies. Malawi gained its independence from Britain in 1964, and has retained and enforced colonial anti-homosexuality laws ever since.[58]
In Malawi prisons, there is documented homosexual behavior.[59]
During the 1980s and early 1990s, President Hasting Kamuzu Banda ignored the massive rise of HIV/AIDS. From the late 1990s and early 2000s, although greater education of the virus was promoted, it is still negatively associated with homosexuality.
/ Ambiguous. Male de jure legal, but de facto illegal since 2000 Penalty: Up to 17 years imprisonment with or without hard labour and with or without fines under broadly-written morality laws.[63][71]
Illegal since 1983 Penalty: Capital punishment for men, (not enforced, de jure); up to 2 years in prison and a fine for women and men (de facto).[90][106]
Male illegal since 1861 (as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate) Penalty: Up to life imprisonment (not enforced, repeal disputed). Female always legal + UN decl. sign.[63]
Male illegal since 1902 (as Protectorate) Female illegal since 2000 Penalty: Up to life imprisonment, Capital punishment for "aggravated homosexuality" (not enforced). [139][140]
LGBTQ activists at Cologne Pride carrying a banner with the flags of the then-72 countries where homosexuality was illegal at the time. Some of the African countries shown are Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, Mauritania (uses the pre-2017 flag)
The presidencies of Robert Mugabe between 1987 and 2017 were characterised by uncompromising hostility to LGBTQ rights in Zimbabwe. In September 1995, Zimbabwe's parliament introduced legislation banning homosexual acts.[170] In 1997, a court found Canaan Banana, Mugabe's predecessor and the first President of Zimbabwe, guilty of 11 counts of sodomy and indecent assault.[171] Mugabe has previously referred to LGBTQ people as "worse than dogs and pigs".[172]
In the Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh (between 1996 and 2019), called for anti-gay legislation "stricter than those in Iran", declaring he would "cut off the head" of any gay or lesbian person discovered in the country.[173] In a speech given in Tallinding, Jammeh gave a "final ultimatum" to any gays or lesbians in the Gambia to leave the country.[173] In a speech to the United Nations on 27 September 2013, Jammeh said that "[h]omosexuality in all its forms and manifestations which, though very evil, antihuman as well as anti-Allah, is being promoted as a human right by some powers", and that those who do so "want to put an end to human existence".[174] In 2014, Jammeh called homosexuals "vermins" that must be fought "in the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively". He went on to declare: "As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for Leprosy,Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis; all of which are detrimental to human existence".[175][176] In 2015, following Western criticism, Jammeh intensified his anti-gay rhetoric, telling a crowd during an agricultural tour: "If you do it [in the Gambia] I will slit your throat—if you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it."[177]
In Uganda, recent efforts against LGBTQ+ rights culminated in the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 on March 22, 2023, making it illegal allowing to identify as LGBTQ, punishable by life in prison, and allowing the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality".[178][179][180][181] The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and the European Union, as well as several local and international NGOs have condemned the act. However, it was sponsored by American Pentecostal communities in Uganda, who have a strong base in the country, and have supported previous anti-gay legislation passed in 2014.[182][183][184] British newspaper The Guardian reported that President Yoweri Museveni "appeared to add his backing" to the 2023 legislative effort by, among other things, claiming "European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa", and describing gay relationships as against God's will.[185] In a 2014 interview with CNN, Museveni described homosexuals as "disgusting" and "unnatural", although he stated he would ignore them if it was proven that "[he] is born that way". He further said that he had appointed a group of scientists in Uganda to determine if homosexuality was a learned orientation. This led to widespread criticism from the scientific community, with an academic of the National Institutes of Health calling on his Ugandan counterparts to reconsider their findings.[186]
In Ethiopia, where same-sex activity is criminalised with up to fifteen years of life imprisonment under the Penal Code Article 629, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church plays a significant role in maintaining anti-gay attitudes, with some members forming anti-gay movements. One of these movements is "Zim Anlem" founded by Dereje Negash, who is strongly affiliated with the national Church. Abune Paulos, the late Patriarch of the Church, has stated that homosexuality is an animal-like behaviour that must be punished.[187][188]
In much of north Africa, Islam has played a significant role in informing socially conservative attitudes hostile to queer rights. Despite not finding punishment for homosexual acts prescribed in the Quran, regarding the hadith that mentioned it as poorly attested, Egyptian Islamist journalist Muhammad Jalal Kishk personally disapproved of homosexual acts. However, he believed that Muslims who abstained from sodomy would be rewarded by sex with youthful boys in paradise.[189] By contrast, in 2017, the Egyptian cleric, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (who has served as chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research) was asked how gay people should be punished. He replied that "there is disagreement", but "the important thing is to treat this act as a crime".[190]
In Morocco, the organisation Kif-Kif advocates for queer rights, publishing the monthly Mithly magazine in Spain.[191] Despite lacking legal recognition, it has been unofficially authorised to organise specific educational seminars.[192]
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^Comprises: Neutral; Don't know; No answer; Other; Refused.
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^{{multiref2|1=Naadi, Thomas (29 February 2024). "Ghana passes bill making identifying as LGBTQ+ illegal". BBC News. Retrieved 7 March 2024. The bill... will come into effect only if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law.|2=Maxwell Akalaare Adombila (9 May 2024). "Ghana's top court postpones hearing on challenge to anti-LGBTQ bill". Reuters. Additional reporting: Karin Strohecker. Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo... adjourn[ing the] first... hearing on the challenges without setting a new date further delays any resolution on a bill that, if signed into law...
Nyoni, Zanele (2020). "The Struggle for Equality: LGBT Rights Activism in Sub-Saharan Africa". Human Rights Law Review. 20 (3): 582–601. doi:10.1093/hrlr/ngaa019.