LGBTQ rights in Africa

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.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-17 |title=Historic Decision at the United Nations {{!}} Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/06/17/historic-decision-united-nations |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-17 |title=Historic Decision at the United Nations {{!}} Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/06/17/historic-decision-united-nations |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en}}

In southern Somalia, Somaliland, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, and Uganda, homosexuality is punishable by death.{{cite web|title=State Sponsored Homophobia 2016: A world survey of sexual orientation laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition|url=http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf|work=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association|access-date=19 May 2016|date=17 May 2016|archive-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902183618/http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Boni|first=di Federico|title=Sudan, cancellata la pena di morte per le persone omosessuali |url=https://www.gay.it/sudan-cancellata-pena-morte-persone-omosessuali|access-date=2021-01-26 |website=Gay.It! |date=16 July 2020 |language=it-IT|archive-date=16 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716141717/https://www.gay.it/sudan-cancellata-pena-morte-persone-omosessuali}} In Sudan, Gambia, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts - although this is not enforced in Sierra Leone. In addition to criminalising homosexuality, Nigeria has 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.laprogressive.com/african-anti-gay-laws/ |title=African Anti-Gay Laws |publisher=Laprogressive.com |date=2014-02-20 |access-date=2015-02-24 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105200514/https://www.laprogressive.com/african-anti-gay-laws/ |url-status=live }}

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).{{cite web |last=Planet |first=Lonely |title=Gay and Lesbian travel in Africa – Lonely Planet |url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/africa/gay-and-lesbian-travellers |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807075710/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/africa/gay-and-lesbian-travellers |archive-date=7 August 2016 |access-date=13 July 2016}}

South Africa is the only country in Africa in which discrimination against the LGBTQ community is constitutionally illegal. 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.

While South Africa is often perceived as the most supportive African country for LGBTQ rights, nations like Namibia, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Seychelles, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Lesotho are also recognised for their social acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQ people.{{cite web |date=9 March 2016 |title=Africa's most and least homophobic countries |url=https://76crimes.com/2016/03/09/africas-most-and-least-homophobic-countries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722230220/https://76crimes.com/2016/03/09/africas-most-and-least-homophobic-countries/ |archive-date=22 July 2019 |access-date=2017-01-02 |publisher=Afrobarometer}}

{{Further|LGBTQ history#Africa|History of homosexuality#Africa|Transgender history}}

{{Main|Homosexuality in ancient Egypt}}

Ancient Egypt had documented third gender categories, including for eunuchs.{{cite book |last=Wilfong |first=T.G. |title=The Egyptian world |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-75377-0 |editor-last=Wilkinson |editor-first=Toby |publication-place=London |page=211 |chapter=Gender and Sexuality |oclc=647083746}} 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".{{cite thesis |last=Crowhurst |first=Caroline Jayne |title="True of Voice?": The speech, actions, and portrayal of women in New Kingdom literary texts, dating c.1550 to 1070 B.C. |publisher=University of Auckland |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/36757/whole.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102193321/https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/36757/whole.pdf |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |year=2017}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}{{cite book |title=Interpreting Ancient Egyptian Narratives: A Structural Analysis of the Tale of Two Brothers |publisher=EME Editions |year=2014 |isbn=978-2-8066-2922-7 |series=Nouvelles Études Orientales}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}

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.Emma Brunner-Traut: Altägyptische Märchen. Mythen und andere volkstümliche Erzählungen. 10th Edition. Diederichs, Munich 1991, {{ISBN|3-424-01011-1}}, pp. 178–179.

File:Mastaba of Niankhkhum and Khnumhotep embrace.jpg

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 Pharaoh Niuserre during the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC).{{cite journal |last1=Parkinson |first1=R. B. |title='Homosexual' Desire and Middle Kingdom Literature |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |date=1995 |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=57–76 |doi=10.1177/030751339508100111|s2cid=192073466 }} 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. 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.{{cite web|date=2010-10-20|title=Archaeological Sites|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/africa/niankhkhnum_and_khnumhotep.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020071548/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/africa/niankhkhnum_and_khnumhotep.html|archive-date=20 October 2010|access-date=2015-09-29}} Other scholars interpret the scenes as evidence that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were twins, possibly conjoined twins.

The Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD is said to have exterminated a large number of "effeminate priests" based in Alexandria.

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).

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.

British anthropologist Siegfried Frederick Nadel wrote about the Nuba tribes in Sudan in the late 1930s.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/TheNubaAnAnthropologicalStudyOfTheHillTribesInKordofan|title=The Nuba; an anthropological study of the hill tribes in Kordofan|first=S. F.|last=Nadel|via=Internet Archive}} 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.{{cite book |last=Feinberg |first=Leslie |title=The transgender studies reader |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=0-415-94708-1 |editor-last=Stryker |editor-first=Susan |publication-place=New York |pages=215–216 |chapter=Transgender Liberation |oclc=62782200 |editor-last2=Whittle |editor-first2=Stephen}}{{cite book |last1=Nadel |first1=S. F. |author1-link=Siegfried Frederick Nadel |url=http://archive.org/details/TheNubaAnAnthropologicalStudyOfTheHillTribesInKordofan |title=The Nuba: an anthropological study of the hill tribes in Kordofan |last2=Huddleston |first2=Hubert |author2-link=Hubert Huddleston |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1947 |isbn=0-404-15957-5 |oclc=295542}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Conner |first1=Randy P. |title=Queering creole spiritual traditions: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender participation in African-inspired traditions in the Americas |last2=Sparks |first2=David Hatfield |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-317-71281-7 |publication-place=New York |pages=34–38 |oclc=876592467}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Rodney |title=Right & left : essays on dual symbolic classification |last2=Evans-Pritchard |first2=E. E. |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-56996-9 |publication-place=Chicago |oclc=9336355}}^{[page needed]}{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Rodney |title=Right & left : essays on dual symbolic classification |last2=Evans-Pritchard |first2=E. E. |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-56996-9 |publication-place=Chicago |oclc=9336355}}{{cite book |last1=Conner |first1=Randy P. |title=Queering creole spiritual traditions: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender participation in African-inspired traditions in the Americas |last2=Sparks |first2=David Hatfield |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-317-71281-7 |publication-place=New York |pages=34–38 |oclc=876592467}}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.

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);{{cite book |last1=Conner |first1=Randy P. |title=Queering creole spiritual traditions: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender participation in African-inspired traditions in the Americas |last2=Sparks |first2=David Hatfield |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-317-71281-7 |publication-place=New York |pages=34–38 |oclc=876592467}}{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Gender and Society |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4129-0916-7 |editor-last=O'Brien |editor-first=Jodi |page=384 |chapter=Non-Western Cultures |doi=10.4135/9781412964517}}{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Alison |title=Changing Sex And Bending Gender. |last2=Ardener |first2=Shirley |date=2005 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-0-85745-885-8 |publication-place=New York, NY |page=17 |oclc=874322978}} the Nuer also have a traditional male-to-female role.{{cite book |last=Feinberg |first=Leslie |title=The transgender studies reader |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=0-415-94708-1 |editor-last=Stryker |editor-first=Susan |publication-place=New York |pages=215–216 |chapter=Transgender Liberation |oclc=62782200 |editor-last2=Whittle |editor-first2=Stephen}} 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.{{cite book |last=Epprecht |first=Marc |title=Heterosexual Africa? : the history of an idea from the age of exploration to the age of AIDS |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8214-4298-2 |publication-place=Athens |pages=61–62 |oclc=636888503}} The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672) makes the first reference to homosexuality between nuns in Ethiopian literature.{{Cite web |date=2 November 2009 |title=UNPO: Ethiopia: Sexual Minorities Under Threat |url=https://unpo.org/article/20902 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509213851/https://unpo.org/article/20902 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |access-date=2021-05-09 |website=unpo.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Belcher |first=Wendy Laura |date=2016 |title=Same-Sex Intimacies in the Early African Text Gädlä Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672): Queer Reading an Ethiopian Woman Saint |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03 |journal=Research in African Literatures |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=20–45 |doi=10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03 |issn=0034-5210 |jstor=10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03 |s2cid=148427759}} The Amhara people have historically stigmatized men who adopted feminine dress.{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=David F. |title=The Construction of Homosexuality |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-226-30628-3 |publication-place=Chicago |page=61 |oclc=29434712}}{{cite book |last=Broude |first=Gwen J. |title=Marriage, family, and relationships: a cross-cultural encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=1994 |isbn=0-87436-736-0 |publication-place=Santa Barbara, Calif. |page=317 |oclc=31329240}}

In contemporary Ethiopia, same-sex activity is criminalised with up to fifteen years of life imprisonment under the Penal Code Article 629.{{cite web |url=http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf |title=State Sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults |publisher=The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association |first=Lucas Paoli |last=Itaborahy |date=May 2012 |access-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017205059/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2012}} According to the Pew Research Center in 2007, 97% of Ethiopians believe that homosexuality is unacceptable, marking the second highest level of rejection (after Mali). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church plays a significant role in maintaining these 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.

Among the Baganda, Uganda's largest ethnic group, homosexuality has traditionally been treated with indifference. The Luganda term {{lang|lg|abasiyazi}} refers to homosexuals, though usage nowadays is typically considered pejorative. Among the Lango people, {{lang|laj|mudoko dako}} individuals made up a third gender category.{{cite book |last1=Tamale |first1 =Sylvia | editor1=Catherine M. Cole |editor2=Takyiwaa Manuh |editor3=Stephan Miescher |title=Africa After Gender? |date=February 2007 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-21877-3 |pages=17–29 |others=Postscript compiled by Bianca A. Murillo |chapter=Out of the Closet: Unveiling Sexuality Discourses in Uganda}} An earlier version of this article was published as:

• {{Cite journal | journal= Feminist Africa: A Pan-African Feminist Publication for the 21st Century |url=http://www.awdflibrary.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/361/13%20Tamale_OutoftheCloset_FemAfrica.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y |title=Out of the Closet: Unveiling Sexuality Discourses in Uganda |last=Tamale |first=Sylvia |date=2003 |issue= 2 |id = Special issue: Changing Cultures |via=African Women's Development Fund |access-date=28 March 2019 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190328164956/http://www.awdflibrary.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/361/13%20Tamale_OutoftheCloset_FemAfrica.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y |url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |title=Why Some Countries Still Punish Gay People |date=2020 |work=VICE Asia |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNM_8Yw5Ybw |access-date=2023-06-15 |language=en}} Homosexuality was also acknowledged among the Teso, Bahima, Banyoro, and Karamojong peoples.{{Cite web|url=https://www.galck.org/are-you-happy-or-are-you-gay/|title=Are you happy or are you gay?|date=6 December 2016|website=Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya|language=en-GB|access-date=3 April 2020}} Societal acceptance of LGBT+ people in Uganda declined following the arrival of the British and the creation of the Protectorate of Uganda in 1894.{{Cite web|url=https://queerstoryfiles.blogspot.com/2012/10/gay-in-great-lakes-of-africa.html|title=Gay in the Great Lakes of Africa|last=Scupham-Bilton|first=Tony|date=8 October 2012|website=The Queerstory Files}}{{cite journal |last1=Oliver |first1=Marcia |title=Transnational Sex Politics, Conservative Christianity, and Antigay Activism in Uganda |journal=Studies in Social Justice |date=19 November 2012 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=83–105 |doi=10.26522/ssj.v7i1.1056|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Erin V. |last2=Hirsch |first2=Jennifer S. |last3=Spindler |first3=Esther |last4=Nalugoda |first4=Fred |last5=Santelli |first5=John S. |title=Debating Sex and Sovereignty: Uganda's New National Sexuality Education Policy |journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy |date=June 2022 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=678–688 |doi=10.1007/s13178-021-00584-9|doi-access=free |pmid=35601354 |pmc=9119604}}

Not unlike neighbouring Uganda, male homosexual relations were acknowledged and tolerated in precolonial Ugandan society. Swedish anthropologist Felix 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.{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=James S.|title=Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary African Cinema: The Politics of Beauty|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|date=21 March 2019|isbn=9781784533359}}{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=June 2021}} Further, they treat(ed) gender as determined by the energy of a person rather than their anatomy.{{cite web |url=https://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/the-british-empire-and-the-criminalisation-of-homosexuality/ |title=The British Empire and the Criminalisation of Homosexuality |last=Ahmed |first=Hannah |date=29 July 2020 |website=New Histories |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227214528/http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/the-british-empire-and-the-criminalisation-of-homosexuality/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/african-sexuality-and-legacy-imported-homophobia |title=African Sexuality and the Legacy of Imported Homophobia |last=Buckle |first=Leah |date=1 October 2020 |website=Stonewall |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609075039/https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/african-sexuality-and-legacy-imported-homophobia |url-status=live}}

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.David Livingstone, The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, From 1865 to His Death, 1866–1873 Continued by a Narrative of His Last Moments and Sufferings 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".Will Roscoe and Stephen O. Murray(Author, Editor, Boy-wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities, 2001

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.

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.{{Cite journal |last=Demone |first=Bradley |date=October 2016 |title=LGBT Rights in Malawi: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward? The Case of R v Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa |journal=Journal of African Law |language=en |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=365–387 |doi=10.1017/S0021855316000127 |issn=0021-8553|doi-access=free}}

In 2010, a cisgender man, Steven Monjeza Soko, and a transgender woman, Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa, where arrested by the Malawi police and charged following their engagement ceremony, despite no evidence of the two having sex.{{Cite journal |last=Demone |first=Bradley |date=October 2016 |title=LGBT Rights in Malawi: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward? The Case of R v Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa |journal=Journal of African Law |language=en |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=365–387 |doi=10.1017/S0021855316000127 |issn=0021-8553 |doi-access=free}} The court denied bail, sentencing both Soko and Kachepa to prison.

In Malawi prisons, there is documented homosexual behavior.{{Cite journal |last=Currier |first=Ashley |date=February 2021 |title=Prison same-sex sexualities in the context of politicized homophobia in Malawi |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460720914602 |journal=Sexualities |language=en |volume=24 |issue=1–2 |pages=29–45 |doi=10.1177/1363460720914602 |issn=1363-4607}}

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.

Nicholas Hersh reports that LGBTQ asylum-seekers and refugees in Morocco often fear for their lives.{{Citation |last=Hersh |first=Nicholas |title=Enhancing UNHCR Protection for LGBTI Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Morocco: Reflection and Strategies |date=2019 |work=LGBTI Asylum Seekers and Refugees from a Legal and Political Perspective: Persecution, Asylum and Integration |pages=299–321 |editor-last=Güler |editor-first=Arzu |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-91905-8_15 |isbn=978-3-319-91905-8 |editor2-last=Shevtsova |editor2-first=Maryna |editor3-last=Venturi |editor3-first=Denise|doi-access=free}} 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.{{Citation |last=Hersh |first=Nicholas |title=Enhancing UNHCR Protection for LGBTI Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Morocco: Reflection and Strategies |date=2019 |work=LGBTI Asylum Seekers and Refugees from a Legal and Political Perspective: Persecution, Asylum and Integration |pages=299–321 |editor-last=Güler |editor-first=Arzu |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-91905-8_15 |isbn=978-3-319-91905-8 |editor2-last=Shevtsova |editor2-first=Maryna |editor3-last=Venturi |editor3-first=Denise|doi-access=free}}

File:Cologne Germany Cologne-Gay-Pride-2015 Parade-17a.jpg 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.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvxMq2hNzm0C&pg=PA180 |title=Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa |last=Epprecht |first=Marc |date=2004 |page=180 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-2751-5 |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126153856/https://books.google.com/books?id=LvxMq2hNzm0C&pg=PA180 |archive-date=26 November 2016}} 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.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFvYzAUheGkC&pg=PA93 |title=Body, Sexuality, and Gender v. 1 |last1=Veit-Wild |first1=Flora |last2=Naguschewski |first2=Dirk |date=2005 |publisher=Literary Criticism |page=93 |isbn=90-420-1626-4 |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126161327/https://books.google.com/books?id=PFvYzAUheGkC&pg=PA93 |archive-date=26 November 2016}} Mugabe has previously referred to LGBTQ people as "worse than dogs and pigs".{{cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/08/14/police-raid-headquarters-of-zimbabwean-lgbt-rights-group/|title=Police raid headquarters of LGBT rights group|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612150723/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/08/14/police-raid-headquarters-of-zimbabwean-lgbt-rights-group/|archive-date=12 June 2019|last=Brocklebank|first=Christopher|date=14 August 2012|work=PinkNews|access-date=14 August 2012}}

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. In a speech given in Tallinding, Jammeh gave a "final ultimatum" to any gays or lesbians in the Gambia to leave the country.{{cite web |url=http://www.gambianow.com/news/News/Gambia-News-President-Jammeh-Gives-Ultimatum-for-Homosexuals-to-.html |title=President Jammeh Gives Ultimatum for Homosexuals to Leave |date=May 19, 2008 |website=Gambia News |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315181156/http://www.gambianow.com/news/News/Gambia-News-President-Jammeh-Gives-Ultimatum-for-Homosexuals-to-.html |archive-date=15 March 2012}} 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".{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/gambian-president-says-gays-threat-human-existence-20130928-122519635.html |title=Gambian president says gays a threat to human existence-20130928 |last=Nichols |first=Michelle |date=September 28, 2013 |website=Reuters |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105202715/https://news.yahoo.com/gambian-president-says-gays-threat-human-existence-20130928-122519635.html |archive-date=5 November 2018}} 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".{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gambia-homosexuality-idUSBREA1H1S820140218|title=Gambia's Jammeh calls gays 'vermin', says to fight like mosquitoes|newspaper=Reuters |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=2014-02-20|archive-date=25 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525091129/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gambia-homosexuality-idUSBREA1H1S820140218|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21623667-many-places-attacking-rights-gay-people-can-still-be-politically-useful-and|newspaper=The Economist|title=Tainting love|date=11 October 2014|access-date=17 October 2014|archive-date=26 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826132432/http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21623667-many-places-attacking-rights-gay-people-can-still-be-politically-useful-and|url-status=live}} 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."{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gambian-president-says-he-will-slit-gay-mens-throats-in-public-speech/|title=Gambian President Says He Will Slit Gay Men's Throats in Public Speech – VICE News|date=11 May 2015 |access-date=13 July 2016|archive-date=9 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909030038/https://news.vice.com/article/gambian-president-says-he-will-slit-gay-mens-throats-in-public-speech|url-status=live}}

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".{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-lobbies-uganda-on-anti-gay-bill/article1381835/ |title=Harper lobbies Uganda on anti-gay bill |last=Chase |first=Steven |date=November 29, 2009 |website=The Globe and Mail |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201175637/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-lobbies-uganda-on-anti-gay-bill/article1381835/ |archive-date=December 1, 2009}}{{cite web |url=http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/British_PM_against_anti-gay_legislation_95302.shtml |title=British PM against anti-gay legislation |last=Gyezaho |first=Emmanuel |date=November 29, 2009 |website=Sunday Monitor |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202052328/http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/British_PM_against_anti-gay_legislation_95302.shtml |archive-date=2 December 2009}}{{Cite web |last=Nicholls |first=Larry Madowo,Catherine |date=2023-03-21 |title=Uganda parliament passes bill criminalizing identifying as LGBTQ, imposes death penalty for some offenses |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/africa/uganda-lgbtq-law-passes-intl/index.html |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Atuhaire |first=Patience |date=2023-03-21 |title=Uganda Anti-Homosexuality bill: Life in prison for saying you're gay |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65034343 |access-date=2023-03-22 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Affairs |first=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World |title=The Influence of U.S. Evangelical Groups on Anti-LGBTQ Sentiment in Uganda |url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-influence-of-u-s-evangelical-groups-on-anti-lgbtq-sentiment-in-uganda |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=berkleycenter.georgetown.edu |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Judith |title=Who's Afraid of Gender? |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374608224/whosafraidofgender/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Macmillan Publishers |page=57-58 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Report: Scott Lively and the Export of Hate |url=https://www.hrc.org/resources/report-scott-lively-and-the-exporation-of-hate |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=HRC |language=en-US}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/29/uganda-death-sentence-gay-sex |title=Uganda considers death sentence for gay sex in bill before parliament |last=Rice |first=Xan |date=November 29, 2009 |website=The Guardian |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731013441/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/29/uganda-death-sentence-gay-sex |archive-date=31 July 2019}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Landau |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Verjee |first2=Zain |last3=Mortensen |first3=Antonia |title=Uganda president: Homosexuals are 'disgusting' |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/24/world/africa/uganda-homosexuality-interview/index.html |access-date=10 September 2021 |agency=CNN |date=25 February 2014}}

Abune Paulos, the late Patriarch of the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has a very strong influence in Christian Ethiopia, stated homosexuality is an animal-like behaviour that must be punished.{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL5E7MT5IB/ |title=Gay gathering sparks row between Ethiopia church and state |date=November 29, 2011 |website=Reuters |access-date=May 13, 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://thegroundtruthproject.org/guns-knives-and-rape-the-plight-of-a-gay-ethiopian-refugee-in-kenya/ |title=Guns, knives and rape: the plight of a gay Ethiopian refugee in Kenya |last=Kushner |first=Jacob |date=June 29, 2015 |website=The Groundtruth project |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415202433/https://thegroundtruthproject.org/guns-knives-and-rape-the-plight-of-a-gay-ethiopian-refugee-in-kenya/ |archive-date=April 15, 2016}}

Burundi became the first country in the 21st century to criminalize sodomy in 2009, followed by Chad in 2017, and then Mali in 2024. Conversely, African states including Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Seychelles, have abolished sodomy laws in the 21st century. Legalization is proposed in some African states like Eswatini, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Gabon passed a law criminalizing sodomy in 2019, but reversed its decision in 2020, when it decriminalised homosexuality.{{cite web |url=https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2020/july/20200707_gabon |title=UNAIDS welcomes decision by Gabon to decriminalize same-sex sexual relations |date=July 7, 2020 |website=UNAIDS |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708072925/https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2020/july/20200707_gabon |archive-date=July 8, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234 |title=Homosexuality: the countries where it is illegal to be gay |date=March 31, 2023 |website=BBC |access-date=May 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514070751/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234 |archive-date=May 14, 2023}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Nyoni |first1=Zanele |title=The Struggle for Equality: LGBT Rights Activism in Sub-Saharan Africa |journal=Human Rights Law Review |date=2020 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=582–601 |doi=10.1093/hrlr/ngaa019}}
• {{cite book |last1=Gloppen |first1=Siri |last2=Rakner |first2=Lise |title=Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law |date=2020 |isbn=9781788111157 |chapter-url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788111140/9781788111140.00022.xml |chapter=LGBT rights in Africa |publisher=Edward Elgar}}

{{Commons category|LGBT in Africa}}

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724225438/http://www.africanveil.org/ African Veil]}} – African LGBT site with news articles
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110616142813/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425824/1589332 Africans and Arabs come out online], Reuters via Television New Zealand

Signare Bi Sukugn Afroqueer Reporter

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100730223926/http://www.mask.org.za/ Behind the Mask, LGBT Magazine in Africa]
• [http://www.cal.org.za Coalition of African Lesbians]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722222055/http://www.pinkandblack.net.ms/ Pink & Black magazine]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090129080020/http://afrol.com/categories/gay_lesbian LGBT Stories from Afrol]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110601021922/http://features.pewforum.org/africa/question.php?q=16&r=Morally+wrong Morality of Homosexuality] – Acceptance rate per country

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