Black Looks

On being a Lesbian activist in Africa.

The Nigerian government is in the process of passing legislation that will make homosexuals illegal people. Any advocacy around LGBT rights will also be illegal. LGBT’s in Nigeria as elsewhere in Africa are in constant danger of being expelled from educational institutions, dismissed from work and evicted from their homes. They risk being beaten, raped and even murdered with impunity. How do you engage in activism in an environment where you are an illegal person. How do you engage in activism in an environment when the community you live in is hostile and dangerous. These are the questions faced by LGBT human rights defenders in Africa.

The LGBT community in Africa live perilous lives and activists because they are challenging the status quo, are in even more danger. They may have to move from house to house in order to avoid being outed by neighbours and reported to the police. If they are able to find work in the formal economy they have to hide their sexuality and bear the psychological pain of living a lie. Alternatively they may have to work in the informal sector moving from job to job to avoid being discovered. Quite often LGBT activists go into hiding for short periods to avoid being discovered.

Traditional methods of bringing about transformation such as direct action and civil disobedience, petitions, demonstrations, lobbying, theatre for social change are not possible. So the first action an LGBT activist in Africa has to take is one of survival.

To survive is to resist, to resist is to act and to act is activism. Secondly activists have to look to other struggles such as human rights, poverty, gender violence, sexual health or reproductive rights. All of these are very apart of the LGBT community so it is right and proper that activists define their struggle within the context of these. Thirdly activists need to take their struggle to the wider world through cyber-activism. The use of tools such as discussion lists, forums, blogs, wikis, podcasts and videocasts can be effective tools as they can be used to organise across borders and regions, for community and capacity building, building alliances and support from activists in countries in the West where LGBT’s are not illegal people.

One of the biggest problems facing LGBT activists in Africa is funding. Where and how can activists obtain funds for example to engage in cyber-activism or capacity building? For the former the very minimum needed is access to cyber-cafes which may not always be safe and secure plus there is a financial cost. The cost of a laptop plus internet access is prohibitive for most people given that an activist may be working in the informal economy and may not even have a permanent home in which to get an internet connection even if you can pay for it.

Another issue for LGBT activists is the need for emotional and psychological support. Constantly having to hide one’s sexuality is an enormous burden to live with. Even if one does not hide your sexuality, just the mere fact of knowing you may have to move house at short notice, run from security forces, leave or loose your job and risk rape and other forms of violence, puts added pressure on the lives of LGBT activists.

I stated earlier that one of the ways of challenging homophobia and the criminalisation of the LGBT community is to present LGBT rights in the context of other struggles. Ironically the clergy, which on the one hand has been the most viciously vocal against the LGBT community has in some countries have been one group that has provided a voice for the LGBT community and activists. For example in Uganda and Kenya, a very small number of clergy have used the pulpit to speak up for LGBT rights provided a safe space for members to meet. This has been done at considerable risk to themselves and in many instances they have paid a high price of being ostracised from the church hierarchy and their congregations. In South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a lone voice in the Anglican Church in Africa in support of LGBT rights.

Some of you may be aware of the case of Victor Mukasa, a prominent Ugandan lesbian activist who has spent the last 12 months living in hiding in Uganda. Briefly Victor’s house was searched without a warrant and her personal papers removed from her house. A house guest from Kenya who was at home at the time was forcibly removed and taken to the police station where she was interrogated and humiliated. Victor also attended the police station where she had to report regularly. She decided to sue the police officer in charge of the operation and for that she has been in hiding since last July. Details of her case can be found here and here. Victors case is extreme in that she has chosen to use her case to expose the human rights violations that are faced by the LGBT community. By using the courts she hopes she will not only highlight the human right violations but also bring about changes in the law and attitudes towards the Ugandan LGBT community.

One of the reasons the case has taken so long is funding. Funding for the lawyers, for Victor to have a computer and internet access in order to work on her case and collaborate with LGBT activists across the continent as well as human rights organisations such as the IGLHRC and AI both of which are providing her with some support. Nonetheless, Victor has spent much of the past year alone in a house with no human contact sometimes for days. The emotional and psychological toll has been great which brings me back to the lack of support available to activists in Victors position.

The international LGBT community can play a huge roll in supporting LGBT activists in Africa, through funding, collaboration, providing resources, emotional and psychological support and just plain reaching out and acknowledging the struggle that we in Africa are facing.

Published as part of the Radical Women of Color Carvnival Taking Place at Fabulosa Mujer
Sponsored by Taking Place: Ideas for the Masses