Resisting Homophobia: The Colonial Origins of Anti-Gay Laws

Today, there are 71 countries in which sexual relations between people of the same sex are illegal. And there are 64 countries that have laws explicitly criminalizing homosexuality – nearly half of these are in Africa. Across the continent, there have also been many examples of lawmakers working to tighten laws that already outlaw ‘homosexual acts,’ including in Nigeria and Uganda. Uganda's parliament, for example, recently passed a draconian bill that includes punishments as severe as life in prison for those who identify as gay, and possibly the death penalty in certain cases. The country’s longtime autocratic leader, Yoweri Museveni, has publicly called on Africa to ‘save the world from homosexuality.’ Underpinning these arguments is a feeling that queerness -- non-heteronormative sexualities that involve physical, emotional, or sexual intimacy with a member of the same sex – is somehow ‘unAfrican.’ Leaders like Museveni, and Robert Mugabe and Yahya Jammeh before him, have argued that queerness is a ‘Western’ import designed to ‘destroy’ the African family – ironically, with the financial backing of evangelical leaders based in the United States. In this show, we’ll explore the colonial roots of homophobia and its layered complexities, while also attempting to unpack the political motives behind anti-LGBT campaigns, in both dictatorships and democracies: from Kenya to Ghana and from Zimbabwe to Uganda. Please join us!