HOMOSEXUALITY IN AFRICA

One of the unabashedly positive trends that has taken place in my lifetime is a public acceptance of homosexuality. Male homosexuality, or to be legalistically pedantic, male homosexual acts, were decriminalised in the U.K. in the 1960's when I was a child (interestingly, female homosexual acts were never criminal; the probably apocryphal story is that they were not included in Victorian legislation, since Queen Victoria refused to believe that they existed). And since then, there has been a steady withering away of hindrances and petty discrimination, culminating in the passing of legislation allowing gay marriage in many countries.

However, one continent in the world lags behind that development; Africa. Amnesty International reckons that of the 57 African countries, some 38 criminalise and punish homosexuals. Some, such as Lesotho and Swaziland, have inherited the English common law tradition criminalising male acts, and have simply not modernised it; but others such as Tanzania and Uganda have sharpened the penalties markedly in recent years. Generally, it is the Anglophone and Arab countries that have the worst penalties; in black Francophone countries such as Chad and Niger, homosexuality is not illegal. However, only South Africa, with its carefully worded post-apartheid constitution, gives formal legal protection to gays.

What is worrying is not so much the legacy from colonial times, but the recent trend in the opposite direction. Uganda's Parliament originally passed a law proscribing the death penalty for homosexuality; but after protests, this was reduced to life imprisonment, plus up to three years in prison for people who do not report people they know to be homosexual. The law has not been signed by President Museveni, not least because a number of countries (including Denmark) have threatened to stop all aid if it is passed. But he is under local pressure to do so.

One factor in recent years has been the widespread influence of evangelical Protestant groups, particularly from America, who preach that homosexuality is a mortal sin, and who have gained traction in a number of African countries (including Uganda). Uganda's law was apparently drafted by one such preacher, and they are seen to be behind adverse developments in Nigeria. Having just re-read Reformation, I am extremely sceptical of the mixing of religion and private morals; perhaps more Africans should read it.

Walter Blotscher