A Kenyan Court has recently delayed a ruling on weather to get rid of a colonial-era laws which criminalize gay sex. This news has angered the LGBTQ community, who hoped that Kenya could pave the way to a more accepting and less homophobic Africa. Gay rights organisations are asking the court to scrap two sections of the penal code that criminalise gay sex. One section states that anyone who has “carnal knowledge… against the order of nature” can be imprisoned for 14 years. Another provides for a five-year jail term for “indecent practices between males”. The continent of Africa is continuing it’s war, marked by political opportunism and the clash between cultural relativism and universal human rights, on the gay community. Most laws criminalising same-sex behaviour were inherited from the colonial era. Ironically, in most cases the former colonial powers have themselves rejected these laws as discriminatory. African governments reject anti-homophobia campaigns as the imposition of the wills of former colonial masters. However, there is evidence that homophobic campaigns have been supported by actors from developed countries. Africa has become a battleground for developed countries’ so-called cultural wars, and it is ironic that discrimination that would be illegal in a developed country should be promoted elsewhere. Africa bears most of the global burden of HIV but has few resources to address it. In the long term, it is important to encourage organisation and empowerment of communities to play a key part in addressing the needs of their communities. LGBTQ community groups are emerging across Africa; as advocates and service providers, these are the people best positioned to face the challenges of HIV in their communities. The general public, communities of advocates, and scientists should be educated to deinstitutionalize homophobia across Africa, much as the stigma associated with HIV infection has been targeted. To start, we must simply recognize that homophobia exists and heightens the spread of HIV across a continent that already bears a great burden of the illness.
