LGBTI Minorities and Queer Politics in Eastern and Southern Africa

Abstract

LGBTI embodies diverse life experiences of the groups included, with different levels of knowledge about and understanding of each group contributing to varying degrees of acceptance and inclusion. Notwithstanding these experiences, the anti-gay rhetoric of many African leaders, anti-homosexuality legislation in a number of African countries, and harassment of sexual minorities throughout Africa raise vital issues and important lessons, including ample reasons for optimism. Probing these issues provides important and wide-ranging perspectives on how political and social systems work, including processes, barriers, and opportunities for social change more generally. Numerous accounts of traditional “cultures of discretion” surrounding same-sex practices debunk the myth that homosexuality is a decadent un-African import designed to corrupt African societies. Even though, traditionally, “looking the other way” was widely accepted, it is inadequate in complex contemporary settings. Many scholars argue cogently that it is not homosexuality that is un-African, but homophobia and the rigid dichotomy between what is today regarded as heterosexuality and homosexuality. Some refer to “homophobias” to emphasize the multiple ways in which discrimination, anxiety, and hatred are directed toward sexual minorities. Heterosexuality encompassed a broad range of relationships that flourished in stark contradiction to widely stated claims about homogeneous African heterosexuality. The role of religion in fueling anti-homosexuality rhetoric is also more nuanced than generally portrayed, with numerous examples showing that religion can play positive roles in (re)building Africa as a continent accepting of sexual diversity. Same-sex issues intersect with many matters, including gender, race, and class, creating openings for exploring how, for instance, same-sex marriage advances understandings of changing gender relations, and the price paid by those who do not conform to patriarchal and heteronormative expectations. Literature on activism includes descriptions of how sexual minorities have strategically managed visibility and invisibility to make LGBTI rights intelligible as African rather than foreign, and used other concerns and campaigns to advance their interests. However, enormous challenges remain. For example, South Africa became the first country to enshrine the rights of sexual minorities in its constitution. Yet vicious homophobic hate crimes and persistent heteronormative values and practices in education systems illustrate how same-sex-friendly legislation is necessary but not sufficient. Sexual minorities have been well represented in literature and the arts, often before anti-gay rhetoric appeared. This includes biographies illustrating the great diversity and fluidity of lives, including multiple forms of agency and strategic resistance, and the ways that sexuality and faith have sometimes been reconciled.