African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
  • Submit
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Swaziland
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Africa Insiders
  • Donate
  • About Us
  • Submit
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed

logo

Header Banner

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Swaziland
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Africa Insiders
  • Donate
Politics

Pride versus Prejudice – RAS meeting on the criminalisation of homosexuality in Africa

By Magnus Taylor
June 23, 2011
889
0
Share:

Event Summary

Jide Macaulay is an Author, preacher and the founding Pastor of House of Rainbow Fellowship, a Christian Fellowship with groups in the UK, Nigeria and Ghana. Its vision is to assist sexual minorities on the journey to reconcile their Christian faith and sexuality.

Jide spoke of how African churches do not normally tie in with the experiences of gay people. He described his experience of coming out in Nigeria, how he was ordained as a pastor in 1998 and was not able to practise as an openly gay man.

Jide argues that millions of people in Nigeria, and across Africa need to hear the inclusive message of the House of Rainbow. In 2008 undercover journalists “˜outed’ the church to national media, and Jide decided to return to the UK. Since then the church has expanded into Ghana and Lesotho. In particular, the group based in London is growing very fast.

When Jide was “˜outed’ by the Nigerian media as a homosexual pastor, he was portrayed as an outsider – a product of his partial upbringing in the UK. Jide strongly disagrees with the view that homosexuality is not African. He works closely with local people (particularly in Nigeria) and finds that they are much more tolerant of sexual minorities than is often suggested.

Jide argues that it is not the fault of religion that people are homophobic, it is the people who propagate these views using religion as a means of furthering these views. Scripture must always be put in historical context.

Godwyns Onwuchekwa is Co-founder and coordinator of Justice for Gay Africans Society.

Godwyns campaigns for a proactive peaceful dialogue between sexual minorities and African communities. He states that sexual minority groups should not always be viewed as protesting or at gay pride. They need to be seen as normal people, with normal lives that can be an example to others.

Godwyns finds the Bible and Koran useful, but problematic as a model for how to live a good life. However, it cannot be denied that it [the Bible] does say some bad things about gay people. Christianity and Islam have created too much uniformity within Africa where there have historically been many different attitudes towards homosexuality across a large and diverse continent.

Godwyns argues that “˜families understand first’ ie it is at the local level that change will occur. Gradually, people who are homophobic will realise that gay people are normal, and live normal lives. Visibility can help the cause of gay people, but visibility of the right nature.

Dr Oliver Philips framed the discussion in the language of rights, asking “˜how useful are rights in the discussion of homophobia in Africa?’

In the mid 1990s when South Africa was ratifying its new and notably liberal constitution, Robert Mugabe was vocalising high homophobia. This was perhaps a political reaction against the Rainbow Nation by highlighting Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s  distinct “˜African values.’ Homosexuality was associated as being a white “˜disease.’ Whiteness being in cahoots with the political opposition – an immoral and depraved movement against the liberation generation.

Homophobia has become, in many African contexts, a way of distancing oneself from Western values, which can seem like a corrupting influence from outside. Thus has developed a politics of cultural authenticity. It is notable that sexual orientation (in contrasting styles) has been drawn to the centre of citizenship in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. The criminalisation of homosexuality took place through colonial law. However, there existed a great deal of diversity of African views towards homosexuality pre-colonially.

It can be argued that homosexuality is socially disruptive in Africa. For example, marriage and bride wealth remain important organising forces in society. However, the disruption of these practises only occurs in the same manner that female social equality tends to break down such traditions. It therefore must be recognised that the LGBT struggle and the struggle for women’s rights are closely connected. In this context, it must be noted that lesbians often seem to suffer the most violent responses eg “˜corrective rape’ – which is a reaction against the assertion of female choice that does not comply with pre-existing social or familial traditions.

Rights are generally claimed on the basis of identity (whereas law is conducted on the basis of acts.) However, identity in African societies is not always claimed on the individual basis that Western European enlightenment thinking dictates. It has been argued that “˜rights’ in African societies often issue from the social body, so the claim of individual rights is a less convincing argument.

Conclusions

The battle for sexual rights is often portrayed as being between “˜traditions’ and Western-style modernity. However, “˜traditions’ are often imposed by powerful metropolitan elites and do not necessarily correspond with the local beliefs or practices of a large and too easily stereotyped continent. It is necessary to understand what the nature of opposition to sexual minorities is by engagement with people, rather than making sweeping pronouncements from either perspective.

By Magnus Taylor

Previous Article

AfricaFocus Bulletin- Sudan: New Violence, Uncertain Future

Next Article

North Sudan’s political economy and internal politics

Magnus Taylor

Magnus Taylor is a Horn of Africa Analyst at International Crisis Group, the independent conflict-prevention organisation.

Related articles More from author

  • Politics

    Diary: Somali diaspora under the spotlight- Business as Usual/Cash and Compassion – By Magnus Taylor

    March 7, 2012
    By African Arguments
  • Politics

    Tunisia: Political comeback of Ben Ali’s cohort a setback to democracy – By Mourad Teyeb

    November 18, 2014
    By African Arguments
  • Politics

    A polemic against NGOs and the destruction of local innovation – By Jeremy Weate

    November 5, 2012
    By African Arguments
  • Politics

    Central African Republic: Peacebuilding without Peace – By Louisa Lombard

    August 26, 2011
    By Magnus Taylor
  • Politics

    South Sudan’s Tryst with Destiny

    July 19, 2011
    By Magnus Taylor
  • Former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa had been a close ally of President Robert Mugabe for decades. Credit: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré.
    PoliticsZimbabwe

    Zimbabwe: The UK’s misguided role in the rise and fall of Mnangagwa

    November 8, 2017
    By Blessing-Miles Tendi

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • Students in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. Credit: Teresa Krug.
    PoliticsSomalia

    Somaliland: Why we should be at the Commonwealth summit

  • Politics

    West Sudan: Biographic Narratives of Working Women of Kebkabiya – Towards a New Methodology

  • Politics

    South Sudan: Why a political crackdown accompanies a peace agreement

The Africa Insiders Newsletter

Get the free edition of our exclusive look at this week’s most important developments on the continent.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Find us on Facebook

Follow us on twitter

  • 66562
    Followers

Most Read

  • Somalia elections: At President Farmaajo's inauguration in 2017. Credit: AMISOM/ Ilyas Ahmed
    Somalia: President Farmaajo’s stacks the deck to secure a second term
  • In tackling mental health issues, the rest of Africa and the world can learn a lot from initiatives such as the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe. Credit: Friendship Bench Project- Zimbabwe.
    Mental health in Africa: The need for a new approach
  • What could replace Ethiopia's system of ethnic federalism?
    Ethiopia: Beyond ethnic federalism
  • Child sexual exploitation is on the rise. When will governments act?
  • President Pierre Nkurunziza (left) has been in power in Burundi since 2005. Credit: PNUD Burundi / Patrice Brizard.
    Burundi: A president “chosen by God” and those who disagree

About

African Arguments is a pan-African platform for news analysis, comment and opinion. We seek to analyse issues facing the continent, investigate the stories that matter, and amplify a diversity of voices.

Our content is published on a Creative Commons license.

Get in touch

editor@africanarguments.org

Brought to you by


  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2018
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu