Life slowly improving
for Zimbabwean gays, activist says
 07
July 2006, Utrecht, Netherlands -
Zimbabwean gay rights activist Keith Goddard has
been arrested five times, beaten up by police and warned to stop
his ``deviant'' life. But he says he never wants to leave his African
home. "I made sure that I
followed all the regulations to get rid of my British nationality
so that the government would never come up with an excuse to throw
me out,'' says Goddard, 46.
In 2001, the former British colony tightened a law against dual citizenship,
forcing some white Zimbabweans like Goddard to either renounce their
British passports or leave. Thousands left, but Goddard stayed. "Zimbabwe
is where I belong," said Goddard, on the sidelines of a recent
workshop at the University of Humanist Studies in the
Netherlands. "I was born and brought up there
and I believe gays are also part of the society."
Not many in southern Africa would agree. But there are some signs of
change. "Although the number of people willing
to stand publicly for lesbian and gay rights in
Africa remains small, there is a growing number of us who are willing
to be outspoken," said Goddard. Goddard is a
rare campaigner for gay rights in a region where hostility to homosexuality
is embedded in law and where few gays dare to go public. Many
of the 500 members of Goddard's Gay and Lesbian Association of Zimbabwe
have been routinely arrested and intimidated, he says.
In Zimbabwe, sex between men is outlawed as an "aggravated
indecent assault," mandating a one-year prison
sentence for offences. President Robert Mugabe once
called homosexuals "lower than dogs and pigs." Zimbabwe's
first ceremonial president, Canaan Banana, was sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment in 1998 on charges of sodomy, though he was released after
six months on medical grounds.
Homosexuality is banned in most African countries. In Cameroon, it is
punishable by up to five years in prison. Nigerian law has
a 14-year prison sentence for homosexuals, but in Muslim northern Nigeria,
where Islamic Sharia law is in force, it is
punishable by death. South Africa, Mali and Burkina
Faso are considered gay-friendly countries.
Anti-gay laws in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya and Mozambique don't
proscribe same-sex acts between women. "Women are not thought of as
possessing a sexuality, especially in rural
Africa", said Goddard, "and most are forced into
marriage regardless of their inclinations".
Except in South Africa, which has openly gay bars, meeting places for
gays in several African countries are kept secret,
and gay society is concealed well underground.
The Harare government has banned a daily radio program
aimed at promoting gay rights and has blocked
efforts to "educate the black majority that homosexuality
is not a white man's disease," Goddard said. In the last five
years, gay presenters have lost their jobs on state radio. "It
will take some time for Zimbabwean homosexuals to be accepted", said
Pascal Richards of Zimbabwe Watch, an Amsterdam-based
platform for Dutch NGOs working in Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe is a known human rights violator. Like in
many human rights areas, the government doesn't honour gay rights."
Goddard's organization, GALZ, has won accolades from international gay
rights organizations for its advocacy work. Paula
Ettelbrick, director of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission, said GALZ has been a "creative and fearless
human rights leader, not just in Zimbabwe but throughout Africa."
Despite the harassment, Goddard says attitudes are softening. Many
Zimbabweans have "embraced and generally accept
homosexuality," he said in an interview.
Though much work remains to be done, Goddard says he has
found allies in unusual places, even among the
police. "Sometimes the police give us tips on
how and where to hold meetings without seeking police approval as is
required by the law,'' he said. |
