Homosexuality: AU asked to tone down leaders’ language

By Henry Neondo

In an open letter they wrote to the Chairperson of the African Union, Dr. Jean Ping, the two AIDS-Free World officials said “we are writing to express our grave concern about the recent escalation of homophobia throughout the African continent.  A vocal minority spouting hatred, paranoia, and intolerance is dominating public discourse”. 

In response, said the letter, increasing numbers of parliaments are attempting to criminalize homosexuality, and increasing numbers of African leaders are publicly endorsing this criminalization. 

Currently, over two-thirds of countries in the African Union have legislation that criminalizes homosexuality. 

And the AIDS-Free World said it is disturbed by the silence of AU leaders in the face of this discrimination, and we urgently call upon the African Union to hold a special session to address the issue.

“We do not believe it is the intention of the African Union to condone this homophobia and discrimination, given the strong commitments to human rights and equality enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights”.

The Charter states unequivocally that “All peoples shall be equal; they shall enjoy the same respect and have the same rights.” 

“We also do not believe that it is the intention of the African Union to take a devastating step backwards in the fight against AIDS.  Yet that is precisely what will happen if this growing homophobia is not addressed strongly and swiftly”, they said. 

The two told Dr Ping that when homosexuality is demonized ---– whether through hate speech, discriminatory legislation, or criminalization – lesbians and gays are driven underground into unsafe and often terrifying situations, their prospects of receiving counselling and testing to establish their HIV status diminish drastically, and it becomes virtually impossible to reach them with the information, education, and condoms that can prevent the spread of HIV. 

Numerous studies have shown that rates of HIV amongst men who have sex with men are already higher than rates in the general population. 

Recent news stories paint a wrenching picture of the tide of anti-gay sentiment rising throughout the continent: 

In Uganda, hatred stemming from fear and paranoia is causing individual citizens to attack homosexuals verbally and physically. 

In Ghana, there have been attempts to limit the rights of the lesbian and gay community in order to ultimately criminalize homosexuality altogether, while reports from Senegal and Cameroon detail beatings and arrests of gay citizens, as well as raping lesbians.

In 2009, Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill called for homosexuals to be put to death.  The bill has stalled in committee, but Parliamentarian David Bahati is still pushing for it to pass. 

In March 2010, Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe stated in a public speech, “Those who engage in homosexual behavior are just crazy.”

Mugabe has previously asserted that homosexuals are “lower than dogs or pigs.”  Government-sanctioned homophobia led to a police raid and arrests at the offices of the human rights organization “Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe” in May of this year. 

Also in May 2010, President Mbingu wa Mutharika of Malawi pardoned a young gay couple sentenced to 14-year jail terms for “gross indecency” and “unnatural acts,” yet he publicly stated, “these two gay boys were wrong - totally wrong” and did nothing to prevent future detentions. Discrimination continues unabated in the country, and the Malawian parliament just passed a bill to criminalize homosexuality between women as well as men.

In Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga was quoted in the daily Press stating at a public rally that homosexual activity “will not be tolerated,” and that “men and women found engaging in homosexuality will not be spared.” 

Odinga ordered police to arrest and bring criminal charges against anyone engaging in sex with someone of the same gender. Homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya and can result in up to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour.

There is evidence that elsewhere around the world, leaders are starting to realize that discrimination is only coming from a fearful minority, and that most citizens believe in respect for human rights. 

Leaders are responding accordingly and have stopped casting homophobic votes.

This week, the United Nations voted to restore “sexual orientation” as a protected category in a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary killings. 

With the exception of Angola, South Africa, Cape Verde, and Rwanda, the continent of Africa is not aligned with the majority of Member States. More than half of the nations that voted against the inclusion of sexual-orientation were African.

“Excellency, in rectifying the silence of the African Union during the early years of the AIDS pandemic, AU leaders rightly spoke out time and again against stigma and discrimination. We hope that sentiment will not be limited to people who are already HIV-positive.  Knowing that discrimination increases vulnerability to HIV, we must fight discrimination against all people, including those at risk of HIV as well as those who are living with the virus.  It is the only way to stem the tide of the pandemic”, they said in their letter.   

They called on the African Union to take immediate action to stop this contagion of homophobia.

The letter was copied to all Heads of States in Africa, the UN Secretary General and National AIDS Councils in Africa, UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.