THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF GAY PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA

Contents:

• FOR GAY MEN ZAMBIA, WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS BANNED, SUICI IS A COMMON END
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) TRAVEL TO ZAMBIA
• THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF GAY PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA

FOR GAY MEN ZAMBIA, WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS BANNED, SUICI IS A COMMON END

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — Chanda is lm as he reunts his battl agast homophobia.

It’s a crime to be a homosexual here. Many people Zambia’s lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny, who face potential imprisonment acrdg to lol law, say ’s a stggle to pe wh the emotnal trma that wh livg a place where one’s most personal practic or inty is regularly attacked. Chanda, a gay man.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) TRAVEL TO ZAMBIA

There are no official statistics about the mental health of Zambia’s LGBT muny bee the ernment don’t legally regnize s existence, but Robertson’s experience match the data culled om other untri, even plac where ’s not illegal to be gay. Chanda says he first attempted suici when he was 15 years old, when he disvered that he was gay but uldn’t talk wh anyone about . Three years later, after hearg a prit preach hate and nmnatn for gay people, Chanda began to pray fervently that his sexual orientatn would change.

The last attempt was at universy, he says, after his room was nearly set on fire at night by stunts who disvered that he was gay. He asked that GPJ not publish the name of his anizatn bee he worri that will be targeted by anti-gay activists.

Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr (LGBT) travel to Zambia. Although Zambia hered the laws om Bra, they remaed place after they gaed pennce 1964 and after crimalisatn of homosexualy Bra.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF GAY PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA

The Zambian ernment also do not perm advocy of LGBT rights, and 1995 the then Vice Print Christian Tempo announced that “if anybody promot gay rights after this statement, then the law will take ’s urse”, a statement followed by an orr by the Home Affairs Mister Peter Machungwa for police to arrt anybody advotg for homosexual rights. This forced LGBT activists unrground, and rulted one of the foundg members of the Lbians, Gays, and Transgenr Associatn (LEGATRA) to flee the untry to South Ai after papers prted articl exposg his sexualy a highly flammatory then print Edgar Lungu affirmed the Zambian ernments overall posn to homosexualy, and 2013 was quoted as sayg “those advotg gay rights should go to hell” followg the arrt of two gay men.

Arguments the Zambian prs and by nservative policians agast the legalisatn of homosexual activi range om argug Zambia’s stat as a Christian untry, that homosexualy is not permissible unr Zambian culture, or that homosexualy is said, while there is a sporadic arrt or prosecutn for homosexual activy the untry, we only know of this occurrg wh the Zambian populatn nservative ral areas. Zambian attus towards LGBT travellersNegative attus towards homosexualy are wispread throughout Zambia, and like ’s archaic laws the views have remaed largely unchanged recent years.

The general public opn is that while homosexualy may be existence elsewhere, ’s alien Zambian society, and spe a plethora of evince to the ntrary homosexualy is nsired an immoral activy learned om wtern untri; an attu particularly prevalent more ral such nservative societi, public displays of affectn or overtly sexual behavur between any two people, whether heterosexual or LGBT, are disapproved of, and any clear sign of an LGBT relatnship would be perceived negatively. We would advise all of our travellers, gay or straight, to avoid overt displays of affectn or sexual behavur public, as the uld e recent years tourism has bee of creasg importance to Zambia as they try to diversify their enomy. While the legal and social background of homosexualy across Zambia as a whole is largely negative, the tourism dtry, often operatg the more remote and ral areas of the untry, has for s been exposed to and acceptg of an creasgly wi range of guts om different untri and backgrounds.