At the entrance to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, a sign professes the country’s distaste for LGBTQ+ people. It rejects the “sexual deviance” of such individuals and denounces their behavior as “aberrant.”
As a whole, the continent of Africa has not had an outstanding track record with LGBTQ+ rights. While the rest of the world has made significant strides towards inclusivity in the areas of sexual orientation and gender, Africa lags behind. Only one sovereign African nation (South Africa) has legalized gay marriage, whereas almost 60 percent of the continent punishes homosexual activity. These ideologies can be traced back to Africa's colonial roots. Almost the entire continent was colonized by various European countries during the Scramble for Africa of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Western powerhouses vied for control of Africa because of its natural resources and industrialization opportunities.
Now, even after the last colonized nations in Africa have gained independence, the draconian laws that were implemented under colonization remain largely unchanged. Not only do many African governments punish gay individuals, but so do many of their citizens. A 2023 Pew Research Center poll showed that 92 percent of Nigerians strongly opposed gay marriage. By contrast, only 10.9 percent of Tunisians disagreed with the statement “homosexuals should be punished.” These attitudes have resulted in large amounts of violence being perpetrated against LGBTQ+ people across the continent. Particularly horrific examples include the execution of a 15-year-old boy in Somalia by a mob in 2017, a gay man's body being dug up and set on fire in Senegal in October 2023, and the murder of an Algerian university student in 2019, with the words “he is gay” being painted on the wall with his blood.
These attitudes do not appear to be easing. Even recently, there have been numerous harsh anti-inclusive laws passed in Africa. Last year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni legalized life imprisonment as a punishment for homosexuality along with the death penalty for ‘repeat offenders.’ Just this past month, the Parliament of Ghana passed a bill that mandates a prison sentence of 3 years for simply identifying as gay. It also strengthened already existing penalties for homosexual offenders and banned the founding or funding of gay rights organizations. Many other countries are expected to pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the following months as well, including Kenya, where, in 2023, parliament members said that gay Africans are “liars seeking visas and money” and that homosexuality is a “Western invention imposed on the continent.”
Expectedly, activism efforts have not been met with much support. The activism group Sexual Minorities Uganda was founded in 2004 to combat the homophobic policies being passed. In 2011, David Kato, the director of advocacy, was murdered in his home in Bukusa for his involvement with the organization. In response to the killing, James Nsaba Buturo, the Ugandan Minister of Ethics, said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.” Despite the pushback, droves of young people in Africa are beginning to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They include Matthew Blasie, a Nigerian who led protests in 2020 for queer rights, Trinah Kakyo, a Ugandan who created a safe space for queer Ugandan artists, and Bandy Kiki, a Cameroonian who founded an organization helping persecuted gay Africans seek asylum in the UK. As more and more anti-LGBTQ+ bills are being passed through African parliaments, the future of gay Africans remains uncertain.