Gay Senegal - From Ai's Gay Capal to Centre of Homophobia

Contents:

• OPN: NIGERIA IS A LD-BLOOD UNTRY FOR GAY MEN – I HAVE THE SRS TO PROVE
• A GAY WHE TEEN STGGL TO EXIST IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI IN 'MOFFIE'
• GAY SENEGAL - FROM GAY CAPAL TO COUNTRY OF HOMOPHOBIA
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• AIN GAYS AND LBIANS BAT BIAS
• WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?
• A GAY-FRIENDLY GUI TO CAPE TOWN
• ONLY LADS : EE GAY DATG & GAY CHAT SOCIAL WORK
• IF YOU SAY BEG GAY IS NOT AIN, YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR HISTORY

OPN: NIGERIA IS A LD-BLOOD UNTRY FOR GAY MEN – I HAVE THE SRS TO PROVE

One school of thought vehemently stat that homosexual relatns is un-Ain, satanic and perpetuated by evil spirs, even see as a way through which the wt ntu her lonial fluence on the ntent. Christiany and Islam own on homosexual relatns and as such, s troductn and subsequent entrenchment has ma heterosexual relatnship the norm while homosexualy is viewed as the vice. Acrdg to anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Rose the “Expand Crimalisatn of Homosexualy Uganda: A Flawed Narrative / Empiril evince and strategic alternativ om an Ain perspective, ” they were of the opn that Numero reports also dited that the highly sex-segregated societi of Ai, homosexual behavur and relatnships were not unmon among peers, both male and female, pecially the years before heterosexual marriage.

They went further to state unapologetilly that what the lonisers imposed on Ai was not homosexualy “but rather tolerance of — and systems of surveillance and regulatn for supprsg . Pro Ain homosexualy school of thought believ that sce pre-lonial Ai had no anized means of archivg her history, much of might have been lost through time and time. However, some untri such as France, where this is not legally punishable, homosexuals live and feel for the most part the same fate as their unterparts Ai.

A GAY WHE TEEN STGGL TO EXIST IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI IN 'MOFFIE'

After listeng to our prev episos about beg homosexual Dakar, Senegal, today, we are gog to have a nversatn about toxic masculy and homophobia wh two LGBTIQ+ rights activists who unrstand the Ain ntext, as well as the European one Sheba Akpokli jos om Lomé, the pal of Togo Wt Ai and Yosef Belghmaidi is Aubervilliers France. Now, listeners, if you have not yet had episos on the Góor-Jigéen Senegal or the origs and harshns of homophobia the Wt Ain untry, we ve you to listen to them by visg our webse at In addn to listeng to this nversatn now, is te that there was a time when the LGBTQ+ muny was not persecuted Senegal? Now, I have a qutn for both of you, we are lookg at homophobia and masculy and the prev episos about homophobia Senegal, we have learned that homosexual men there are targeted wh the slur Góor-jigéen - a pejorative term, which lerally means man or woman the Wolof language and is ed to beltle their masculy.

GAY SENEGAL - FROM GAY CAPAL TO COUNTRY OF HOMOPHOBIA

As for French, there is pédé, which is pretty much a translatn of fag, and 's ed to pot out the fact that homosexualy is ferr to heterosexualy, polilly speakg. Khopotso Bodibe: Now, both your experienc om both the environments that you are speakg of right now, the terms are aimed at beltlg the masculy of homosexual men.

This stigma really happens when you actually ci to transform your homosexualy or your queerns as an actual inty, that that n actually, like, challenge the lol and natnal social stctur. Now, as we wrap up this nversatn, the prev episos of Cry Like a Boy, we learned the story of Junr, a young Senegale man who is forced to live wh the secret of beg gay, bee Senegal, if you e out of the closet, you not only risk beg persecuted and harassed, but you n end up jail. I wanted to start meangful nversatns around genr norms and masculy that speak specifilly to our reali as gay men wh a culture that is poisonoly patriarchal and eply homophobic.

Agast a backdrop of adly anti-gay vlence, A Nasty Boy dared to be a haven for gay men Nigeria and, no time, received ternatnal attentn through CNN, BBC, The Guardian, The Enomist, Vogue, and others. And yet, even this gome attack pal parison to the fatal btaly many Nigerian gay men have too often experienced the form of lynchgs or pillory wh tir before they’re set on fire and burnt alive—not for terrorism or worse, but for beg gay, for beg human, a sperately homophobic untry. A 2017 survey by The Iniative for Equal Rights (TIERS), a Nigerian-based human rights anizatn, showed 90% of Nigerians support the ntued enforcement of Nigeria’s anti-gay laws.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

The btal and mmerizg new film tak place South Ai 1981, where 16-year-old Nicholas is g to grips wh his homosexualy an environment that uldn't be more hostile to . Later the story, Dylan vanish whout explanatn, and Nicholas fears that he's been sent to the notor Ward 22, where gay men are mored to be sent for aversn approach another soldier who's been to Ward 22 and asks if he's heard anythg about Dylan. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I hope for his sake that he's "Moffie" was directed and -wrten by Oliver Herman, a gay, biracial filmmaker who has ma several dramas about vlence and reprsn South Ain society, though this is his first film set durg apartheid.

He's said terviews that while he was ially reluctant to tell a story about this era om the perspective of whe men, he saw an opportuny to nont apartheid's culture of hypermasculy and s vastatg impact on gay South Ains. Herman is also well aware of the latent homoeroticism this thlsly homophobic culture, and he floods "Moffie" wh feverishly betiful imagery of mcular young men at work and at play.

In lonial tim, Senegal’s metropolis Dakar was famo for s open and tolerated homosexual prostutn market, and as late as the 1970s, as many as 17 percent of Senegale men admted havg had homosexual experienc. Sce 1965, same-sex activy has been punishable by up to five years imprisonment, but only durg the last five years, Dakar’s former visible gay muny has had to go unrground, riskg punishment.

AIN GAYS AND LBIANS BAT BIAS

Ined, homosexualy has been a visible and well-known part of Wolof tradns, and only moralist opns of the lonialists, later adopted by an creasgly domant Mlim clergy, led to the supprsn of this culture. And by 1958, he rells, homosexualy was not nfed to the French domated centre of Dakar, but to the nightlife the “native quarters” and shantytowns surroundg the pal. A nnectn between the Wolof gor-digen tradn and the ternatnal notn of “homosexualy” – a much wir fn often excludg the optn of marryg someone of the oppose genr – was slowly beg tablished.

But still the mid-2000s, gay meetg pots were well known to Dakar habants and gay men relatively openly uld pick up equally oriented men terrass of the famo beach promena Corniche Out the centre at pla daylight. In Febary 2008, publitn of photographs om a same-sex mment ceremony set off a wave of arrts and an anti-gay media enzy and sent dozens of gay men to exile. In November 2009, Safatoul Amal, an anisatn charged wh the spirual protectn of the town of Touba, raid a man’s home and arrted him for formg a “work of homosexuals.

The arrts were acpanied by sensatnal media verage, strong homophobic statements om relig and polil lears, and vlence — cludg physil attacks and the exhumatn and secratn of the bodi of ceased people spected of beg gay. Other Ain lears, pl several other people on the ntent have shared his view, and this has eliced homophobia, persecutn and anti-gay laws untri like Uganda, Tanzania, Moroc, Nigeria and Kenya.

WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?

Jim Chuchu, Kenya, 2014Kenyan filmmaker Jim Chuchu and the Nairobi-based Nt Collective's anthology, one of Okayai's Top Films of 2014, picts queer life Kenya through a seri of five black-and-whe vigte is based off of a te story om a larger photo project, also tled Stori of Our Liv, which The Nt Collective archived the ttimoni of persons intifyg as gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and tersex om Kenya begng June 2013.

Roger Ross Williams, USA, 2013Amy Award-wng filmmaker Roger Ross Williams' 2013 documentary is a powerful exposé on how Amerin evangelils are brgg vlent homophobia to Uganda. ›Dissectg The 'Homosexualy Is Un-Ain' Myth - OkayAi ›10 Ain Films That Deal Wh Prott Culture & History - OkayAi ›Opn: Nollywood & the Imment Send Comg of Queer Cema - OkayAi ›The Ain Filmmakers Who'll Be Part Of Sundance 2022 - OkayAi ›Loman Ali Is Takg Ugandan Film To The World - OkayAi ›Through Podstg, Selly Thiam Shar AoQueer Stori ›The 10 Bt Ain LGBTQ+ Films to Watch This Pri Month - OkayAi ›Movg Through the World as a Young Black, Queer, Transgenr Artist - Okayplayer ›. While the former practice is often rid by many as “humane” and the latter is often referred to as “homosexual” behavur, the Sambia’s unrstandg and purpose behd the two procs differs om our nventnal unrstandg.

A GAY-FRIENDLY GUI TO CAPE TOWN

For example, while many of might brand the young men and boys “homosexuals” the sense that they have a lastg sire for men whout the need or sire for a woman, once they have passed their re of passage to manhood, they marry women and bee fathers. Image source, Getty ImagIn the latt sign of risg homophobia different Ain untri, a Kenyan opposn MP is leadg a mpaign for parliament to further crimalise the untry's small LGBTQ muny.

ONLY LADS : EE GAY DATG & GAY CHAT SOCIAL WORK

Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May. The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law.

Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. "The bill will propose a total ban on what the Wt lls sex-reassignment prcriptns and procr, and prohib all activi that promote homosexualy, terms of...

IF YOU SAY BEG GAY IS NOT AIN, YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR HISTORY

Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia".

"It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. "It sensis children to sex, " she Slater also quot om the manual, cludg l which say that facilators of lsons should have "a ntral, acceptg attu towards homosexualy".

The ternatnal mpaign for equal rights for homosexuals and other sexual mori took a step forward on 14 November when South Ai beme the first untry Ai, and the fifth the world, to legalize same-sex marriage. Sex between men Nigeria, fed as sodomy, was already punishable by up to 14 years prison, reports the non-ernmental Internatnal Lbian and Gay Associatn (ILGA). “Neher the existence of natnal laws nor the prevalence of ctom n ever jtify the abe, attacks, torture and ed killgs that gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr persons are subjected to bee of who they are or are perceived to be.