Uganda and Nigeria have passed draconian anti-LGBTQ laws, grossly restricting the human rights of non-heterosexual persons and stirring up an international firestorm. Uganda, in particular, long a poster-child for these sorts of laws—such as publishing identities in a newspaper in what clearly is an attempt to whip up hate violence—has drawn condemnation from commentators ranging from LGBTQ activists to some occupying the imperialist halls of power. It is criticism from the latter that has given the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, an opening to defend the indefensible by painting opposition to the laws as “Western meddling.”
This dishonest appeal to anti-imperialist sentiment has no basis in the reality of this issue, and progressive anti-imperialist forces around the world should give it no credence. Museveni and Ugandan lawmakers, as we shall see, are practicing extreme hypocrisy in attempting to use a progressive rationale as a smokescreen to promote reactionary ideas not specific or “traditional” to Africa.
Draconian and hateful
Nigeria was the first to make news this past January when President Goodluck Jonathan secretly signed into law a 2011 bill known as the “Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act.” Due to its outrageous provisions, the president no doubt hoped his signing would go unnoticed. The law bans not only same-sex marriage, punishing it with 14 years in prison, it punishes with a 10-year sentence any participation in or affiliation with an LGBTQ organization. Further, it slaps a 10-year sentence on anyone who witnesses a same-sex marriage or civil union, holds hands with the same sex in public, or kisses someone of the same sex in public.
On top of all of this, in Nigeria homosexual sex acts are already illegal and carry up to a 14-year prison term. This law was originally imposed by British colonialists, and has been held over post independence. It violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights—specifically the second and third articles—which was drafted and unanimously approved by the Organization of African Unity in the 1980s, and adopted by Nigeria.
In Uganda, President Museveni signed into law in February the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill.” Again, in Uganda it was already illegal to engage in anal intercourse, the maximum penalty being life in prison. The new law extends this to a mandatory life sentence for any same-sex act, including “kissing and touching with homosexual intent.” Further, you can be sent to prison for 5 to 7 years for advocating LGBTQ rights.
Once again, this violates the African Human Rights Charter, which Uganda has ratified, and it also transgresses on the Ugandan constitution. Further, anti-gay laws in Uganda have been supported by right-wing Christians in the United States, who have also backed Nigerian preachers who promote sentiments that have led mobs to commit anti-LGBTQ violence.
In particular, the religious organization known as “The Family,” which organizes the National Prayer Breakfast and has close ties to major politicians (including Hillary Clinton), has played a key role in promoting the anti-gay laws in Uganda.
No rationale for bigotry
In both countries, opponents of LGBTQ people have put forward a range of disgusting rationales, comparing non-heterosexual sex to bestiality or child molestation. President Museveni has attempted to defend the law as “traditionally” African, and the opposition to it as Western interference with African self-governance. This is false. In Nigeria, the roots of anti-gay laws are in British colonialism, and in Uganda they are part of a world-wide anti-gay offensive by the religious right, funded and coordinated by groups in the U.S. Apparently for President Museveni, Western meddling—from powerful forces, no less—is perfectly okay as long as it helps demonize LGBTQ people.
It is absurd for Museveni, in particular, to make any claim in defense of the national sovereignty of African states. He is one of the key pillars of the Western-backed occupation of Somalia, and his own military has raped and pillaged its way all over the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, often with support from—who else?—Western imperialists.
African leaders who also attempt to claim these anti-gay laws are somehow upholding indigenous values shame African people and their heritage.
Anti-LGBTQ bigotry is not indigenous to any human society. While it is beyond the scope of this article to deeply explore this history, it can easily be shown that African societies have their own traditions of diverse sexual practices and gender expressions. This is not surprising, as it is the case in every part of the globe. The African continent is also a place where the struggle against colonialism and foreign exploitation has resulted in advances for LGBTQ liberation. The new constitution adopted in South Africa by the Black majority after the dismantling of the racist Apartheid system affirmed the rights of the LGBTQ community. South Africa became the first country on the planet to enshrine LGBTQ rights in its constitution and the fifth to legalize same-sex marriage.
The historical evolution of sexuality and gender expression is long and complex. The rise of the patriarchal family structure, itself linked to the shift from “primitive communism” to the earliest forms of class society, made the marginalization of non-heterosexual and strictly “biological” male-female gender norms the order of the day for an entire epoch. This is why, from Uganda to Russia to Arizona, bigots of varying cultural and ethnic backgrounds claim “tradition” in their support. They do indeed have the traditions of class society to look to, but not human nature or the vast majority of human history.
When bigots seek to hide behind progressive ideas, we should expose them. The bills in Uganda and Nigeria are odious and bigoted and should be opposed by progressive people worldwide.
