In many places, homosexuality – itself a slippery category, with roots in 19th century medical literature – is still thought to be quintessentially “un-African”. It is still dangerous and even life-threatening to be out in Africa. “We have our own culture, our own people.”Īt least 76 United Nations member countries have laws that criminalise same-sex relations some 37 African countries, along with Middle Eastern countries, constitute a majority of those. “We don’t want to import it to our country,” he said. In the wake of the trial for “sodomy” of the first president of Zimbabwe, Canaan Banana, his successor Robert Mugabe spoke of homosexuals in a 2002 campaign speech as “mad person” who will be sent to jail. Museveni is not alone in pondering how to kill sexual dissenters. Pondering the issue earnestly, he wrote: “Do we kill him/her? Do we imprison him/her?” A few days later, Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, refused to sign an anti-homosexuality bill that has been in the works since 2009 on the grounds that there are other ways of dealing with “an abnormal person”. On 13 January the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, signed a bill against gay relationships, outlawing gay marriage, public displays of same-sex relationships and membership in gay groups.
