Respect for All! Another World is Possible for African LGBT People, Too

Nairobi, Kenya, January 2007. LGBT groups marched together with feminist groups around the stadium where the World Social Forum was organized. Photo: Stephen Barris

This World Social Forum was particularly important for the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) and its members: after it was formed by eight gay and lesbian associations in Nairobi and made a first, timid appearance in a march for World AIDS Day on December 1, 2006 behind a banner held by five brave activists, the Forum was meant to be the climax of a campaign, whose first success was the first legal registration of an LGBT association in the history of Kenya.

Approximately forty young people had participated in the preparation meetings for the Forum led by Annika, an admirable Norwegian volunteer from Queer Solidarity, and Angus, who worked in a center for AIDS prevention. Their tent, which was called the Q Spot, turned out to be one of the spaces that was most talked about at the forum, and one of the most visited.

The freedom of tone of the activists invited to participate in debates in the tent was really extraordinary, and the public -- curious, intrigued, and rarely hostile -- were amazed.

Is Homosexuality UnAfrican?

A Nigerian activist recalled how the people of her village spoke of sexuality and pleasure in her youth. She recalled the words that existed for speaking of love between people of the same sex, and explained how the missionaries had forbidden those words to deny that reality. She challenged her listeners: "The church arrived here recently. Who is it to say what's African and what isn't?"

Participants listened attentively to South African activists who explained the success of the campaign for same-sex marriage in their country. An Indian jurist recounted the history of anti-sodomy laws in the British Commonwealth: people laughed as he read the correspondence between judges who seemed determined to find the broadest possible definition of sodomy so that the laws would cover, with excruciating detail, any acts remotely related to homosexuality. The public also learned that these laws didn't exist in their own countries until the British imposed them.

The presence of the Kenyan Commission on Human Rights was significant, although it seemed to have trouble reiterating publicly and simply, what it had sent in writing to GALCK: that the Commission opposes any discriminatory law in Kenya, including the 14-year prison sentence for sodomy.

But the show was almost stolen by the audience. They came to see with their own eyes those gays and lesbians, black, African, like themselves. The activists improvised and made impromptu circles of chairs. Ten, twenty, sometimes thirty people surrounded an activist, their questions and comments blurring together: "You're gay? Really?", "That doesn't exist in Africa," "How did you get like that?" and, always, "How do you do it?" "What?" "Sex..." Once their curiosity was satisfied, it was clear that the young people really wanted to understand. This also seemed to be a rare chances to talk about sexuality and pleasure, and the freedom of language and tone were liberating. The groups laughed together with the young Kenyan activists who readily reversed the questions: "And you, how do you make love?"

Pride and Prejudice

Together with GALCK, activists from Uganda, Tanzania, and other parts of Africa marched no less than three times this week. The joy is the same as in anyone's first Pride march but the energy was multiplied by the years of fear and silence. At a private party hosted by GALCK at a small discotheque, there were 200-300 people, and my new comrades couldn't believe their eyes: "We've never seen so many people. There are even people nobody knows!"

But another emotion was in store for us as well. At the closing ceremony on Thursday afternoon, Kasha, a Ugandan activist, spoke to the crowd: "I speak in the name of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, the Coalition of African Lesbians, the Sexual Minorities of Uganda, the International Lesbian and Gay Association..." the audience fell silent, and then fists begin to rise, with some crying "No! No!"

Kasha continued, and the hostility in the crowd grew. The emcee, uncomfortable, tried to take back the microphone but Kasha persevered... "People, people, if you do not agree, if you do not understand homosexuality, you have to at least agree with me on one principle: We have to learn to live together. Gays and lesbians also have the right to live in peace in Africa!" Before thousands of people, Kasha dropped to her knees and improvised: "I beg you, tolerate us!"

As she left the stage, two men ran at her with their fists raised, yelling "Fire! Fire on homosexuals!"

Kasha ran into the crowd and rejoined our group. She regained confidence while people, shaken, expressed their support.

Why didn't the organizers come to her defense? Why did they let this happen, after five days of a World Social Forum and five hours on stage, shouting that "another world is possible"?

Looking Ahead

The political outcome of the Forum is mixed. ILGA got the decriminalization of sodomy included in the Forum's manifesto, which regardless of the sad episode at the closing ceremony has always included respect for sexual diversity. In the absence of a physical Forum in 2008, groups have been asked to organize their own events around the slogan "In a Diverse World, Equality Comes First." Earlier in the week, Desmond Tutu declared in the presence of other religious Africans at the Forum that "Africa must deal with two evils, the dominance of men and homophobia."

Journalists hurried to report on the success of the Q Spot, but also began to spread misinformation, writing that gay Kenyans primarily want marriage. Because of the success of the gay and lesbian movement in the West and the same-sex marriage victory in South Africa, the media, politicians, and therefore the public hear "marriage" any time LGBT rights are mentioned. But marriage is way down the priorities of GALCK members, who are aiming for more basic rights.

Already, the Ugandan activists invited by the Forum are thinking of organising a similar action during the next international meeting of the Commonwealth, in Kampala. I admire their courage. How can you explain the tepidity of the movements in the West and our indifference in the face of injustice elsewhere? Here, there, we're motivated by the same desire for life and liberty, we share the same struggle. How can we not be invested in their hopes?