LGBTQ rights in Africa

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Africa are generally poor in comparison to the Americas, Western Europe, and Oceania.
As of December 2024, homosexuality is outlawed in 31 out of the 54 African states recognised by the United Nations or African Union. Human Rights Watch notes that another two countries, Benin and the Central African Republic, do not outlaw homosexuality but have some laws that discriminate against homosexual individuals. Many of the laws that criminalise homosexuality are colonial-era laws. Most states which have legalised homosexuality do not have legislation specifically protecting homosexuals from discrimination in areas of life, such as employment.
Homosexuality has never been criminalised in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, and Rwanda, and was decriminalised in Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and South Africa. However, in six of these countries (Benin, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Madagascar), the age of consent is higher for same-sex sexual relations than for opposite-sex ones. Namibia is currently the most recent country in Africa to decriminalise homosexuality.
In November 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa and the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. In May 2023, the Supreme Court of Namibia ruled foreign same-sex marriages must be recognised equally to heterosexual marriages. LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws exist in ten African countries: Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and South Africa.
In some countries with criminal punishments for homosexuality, governments have recently been enforcing the law more harshly, and many legislators have recently proposed stricter sentences for same-sex activity. Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which allows the death sentence for certain types of consensual same-sex activities, has attracted international attention.
Since 2011, some developed countries have been considering or implementing laws that limit or prohibit general budget support to countries that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people. Despite this, many African countries have refused to consider increasing LGBTQ rights and, in some cases, have drafted laws to increase sanctions against LGBTQ people. Past African leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni claimed that LGBTQ behaviour was brought into the continent from other parts of the world. Nevertheless, most scholarship and research demonstrate that homosexuality has long been a part of various African cultures.
In a 2011 UN General Assembly declaration for LGBTQ rights, state parties were given a chance to express their support, opposition, or abstention on the topic. Only Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, and South Africa expressed their support. A majority of African countries expressed their opposition. State parties that expressed abstention were Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
In southern Somalia, Somaliland, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, and Uganda, homosexuality results in the death penalty. In Sudan, Gambia, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts, although the law is not enforced in Sierra Leone. In addition to criminalising homosexuality, Nigeria has enacted legislation that would make it illegal for heterosexual family members, allies, and friends of LGBTQ people to be supportive. According to Nigerian law, a heterosexual ally "who administers, witnesses, abets or aids" any form of gender non-conforming and homosexual activity could receive a ten-year jail sentence.
The Republic of South Africa has the most liberal attitudes toward gays and lesbians, as the country has legalised same-sex marriage and its Constitution guarantees gay and lesbian rights and protections. South Africa is the only country in Africa where any form of discrimination against the LGBTQ community is constitutionally forbidden. In 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa and the fifth in the world to enact same-sex marriage. Discrimination is, however, far rarer in bigger cities, and there are large LGBTQ communities in cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Pietermaritzburg, Kimberley, and George. South Africa's three largest cities, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, are considered fairly accepting of the LGBTQ community and are promoted as tourist destinations for LGBTQ people. However, despite legal recognition, social discrimination against South African LGBTQ people does still occur, particularly in rural areas, where it is fueled by a number of religious figures and traditions. Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French territories legalised same-sex marriages.
Travel advisories encourage gay and lesbian travelers to use discretion whilst in Africa to ensure their safety, including by avoiding public displays of affection (advice that applies to both homosexual and heterosexual couples). While South Africa is perceived as being the most supportive African country regarding the legal status of LGBTQ rights, nations like Namibia, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Seychelles, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Lesotho are also recognised for their social acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQ rights. There are an estimated fifty million Africans who are not heterosexual.
It remains unclear what view the ancient Egyptians fostered about homosexuality. Any document and literature that actually contains sexually oriented stories never names the nature of the sexual deeds but instead uses stilted and flowery paraphrases. Ancient Egyptian documents never clearly say that same-sex relationships were seen as reprehensible or despicable. No ancient Egyptian document mentions that homosexual acts were set under penalty. Thus, a straight evaluation remains problematic.
The best-known case of possible homosexuality in ancient Egypt is that of the two high officials Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Both men lived and served under Pharaoh Niuserre during the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC). Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep each had families of their own with children and wives, but when they died, their families decided to bury them together in the same mastaba tomb. In this mastaba, several paintings depict both men embracing each other and touching their faces nose-on-nose. These depictions leave plenty of room for speculation because in ancient Egypt the nose-on-nose touching normally represented a kiss.
Egyptologists and historians disagree about how to interpret the paintings of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Some scholars believe that the paintings reflect an example of homosexuality between two married men and prove that the ancient Egyptians accepted same-sex relationships. Other scholars disagree and interpret the scenes as evidence that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were twins, even possibly conjoined twins. No matter what interpretation is correct, the paintings show at the very least that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep must have been very close to each other in life as in death.
The Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD is said to have exterminated a large number of "effeminate priests" based in Alexandria.
North Africa contained some of the most visible and well-documented traditions of homosexuality in the world–particularly during the period of Mamluk rule. Arabic poetry emerging from cosmopolitan and literate societies frequently described the pleasures of pederastic relationships. There are accounts of Christian boys being sent from Europe to become sex workers in Egypt. In Cairo, cross-dressing men called khawal would entertain audiences with song and dance (potentially of pre-Islamic origin).
The Siwa Oasis in Egypt was described by several early twentieth-century travellers as a place where same-sex sexual relationships were quite common. A group of warriors in this area were known for paying reverse dowries to younger men, a practice that was outlawed in the 1940s.
Siegfried Frederick Nadel wrote about the Nuba tribes in Sudan in the late 1930s. He noted that among the Otoro, a special transvestic role existed whereby men dressed and lived as women. Transvestic homosexuality also existed amongst the Moru, Nyima, and Tira people, and reported marriages of Korongo londo and Mesakin tubele for the bride price of one goat. In the Korongo and Mesakin tribes, Nadel reported a common reluctance among men to abandon the pleasure of all-male camp life for the fetters of permanent settlement.
Gender-nonconforming and homosexuality have been reported in numerous East African societies. In pre-colonial East Africa, there have been examples of male priests in traditional religions dressing as women. British social anthropologist Rodney Needham has described such a religious leadership role called "mugawe" among the Meru people and of Kenya, which included wearing women's clothes and hairstyle. Mugawe are frequently homosexual and sometimes are formally married to a man.
A similar role is played by some men within the Swahili-speaking mashoga—who often take on women's names and cook and clean for their husbands.
In Ethiopian history, the recognition of same-sex activity is obscure, which means little evidence is left for scholarly research. However, The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672) is the first reference to homosexuality between nuns in Ethiopian literature. In the country’s Constitution's Article 629, same-sex activity is criminalised with up to fifteen years of life imprisonment.
According to the Pew Research Center in 2007, 97% of Ethiopians said that homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept, marking the highest level of rejection after Mali. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church plays a significant role in maintaining society’s opinion against homosexuality, and some members form anti-gay movements. One of them is "Zim Anlem" founded by Dereje Negash, who is strongly affiliated with the Church.
Among the Maale people of southern Ethiopia, historian Donald Donham documented "a small minority [of men] crossed over to feminine roles. Called ashtime, these (biological) males dressed like women, performed female tasks, cared for their own houses, and apparently had sexual relations with men". They were also protected by the king.
Similarly to neighbouring Kenya, male homosexual relations were acknowledged and tolerated in precolonial Ugandan society. Among the Baganda, Uganda's largest ethnic group, homosexuality was usually treated with indifference. The Luganda term abasiyazi refers to homosexuals, though usage nowadays is commonly pejorative. Among the Lango people, mudoko dako individuals were believed to form a "third gender" alongside male and female. The mudoko dako were effeminate men, mostly treated by Langi society as women, and could marry other men without social sanctions. Homosexuality was also acknowledged among the Teso, Bahima, Banyoro, and Karamojong peoples. Societal acceptance eroded after the arrival of the British and the creation of the Protectorate of Uganda.
Swedish anthropologist Felix Bryk reported active (i.e., insertive), and also mentioned "homo-erotic bachelors" among the pastoralist Nandi and Maragoli (Wanga). The Nandi as well as the Maasai would sometimes cross-dress as women during initiation ceremonies.
The Dagaaba people, who lived in Burkina Faso, believed that homosexual men were able to mediate between the spirit and human worlds. They also believed that gender was based on the energy of a person rather than that of anatomy.
Writing in the 19th century about the area of today's southwestern Zimbabwe, David Livingstone asserted that the monopolisation of women by elderly chiefs was essentially responsible for the "immorality" practised by younger men. Edwin W. Smith and A. Murray Dale mention one Ila-speaking man who dressed as a woman, did women's work, and lived and slept among, but not with, women. The Ila label mwaami they translated as "prophet". They also mentioned that pederasty was not rare, "but was considered dangerous because of the risk that the boy will become pregnant".
Marc Epprecht's review of 250 court cases from 1892 to 1923 found cases from the beginnings of the records. The five 1892 cases all involved black Africans. A defense offered was that "sodomy" was part of local "custom". In one case a chief was summoned to testify about customary penalties and reported that the penalty was a fine of one cow, which was less than the penalty for adultery. Over the entire period, Epprecht found the balance of black and white defendants proportional to that in the population. He notes, however, only what came to the attention of the courts—most consensual relations in private did not necessarily provoke notice. Some cases were brought by partners who had been dropped or who had not received promised compensation from their former sexual partner. Although the norm was for the younger male to lie supine and not show any enjoyment, let alone expect any sexual mutuality, Epprecht found a case in which a pair of black males had stopped their sexual relationship out of fear of pregnancy, but one wanted to resume taking turns penetrating each other.
Demone talks about how Malawi culture does not value homosexuality as something acceptable in their culture. British Colonial rule included laws against homosexuality, which influenced later government policies. Although Malawi gained its independence from Britain in 1964, Malawi officials kept their anti-homosexuality laws enforced.
In 2010, there was a case in Malawi about a man named Steven Monjeza Soko and a transgender woman, named Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa, who had an engagement ceremony, were caught by the Malawi Police and charged. The court denied bail and sentenced both Soko and Kachepa to prison. The court did not have evidence of sexual activity and based the sentence on the grounds that Soko and Kachepa had the ceremony.
In Malawi prisons, there is documented homosexual behavior. During the 1980s and early 1990s, President Hasting Kamuzu Banda ignored the massive rise of HIV/AIDS. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malawians became increasingly educated on HIV/AIDS, but they associated it with homosexual behavior.
Nicholas Hersh reports how in Morocco, LGBTQ asylum-seekers and refugees fear for their lives due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Queer Moroccan Refugees experience social discrimination and violence, including rape and imprisonment. Queer Moroccan Refugees who have been outed in their communities may experience poverty and may resort to sex in exchange for housing.
The former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, was uncompromising in his opposition to LGBTQ rights in Zimbabwe. In September 1995, Zimbabwe's parliament introduced legislation banning homosexual acts. In 1997, a court found Canaan Banana, Mugabe's predecessor and the first President of Zimbabwe, guilty of 11 counts of sodomy and indecent assault. Mugabe has previously referred to LGBTQ people as being "worse than dogs and pigs".
In the Gambia, former President Yahya Jammeh led the call for legislation that would set laws against homosexuals that would be "stricter than those in Iran", and that he would "cut off the head" of any gay or lesbian person discovered in the country. News reports indicated his government intended to execute all homosexuals in the country. In the speech given in Tallinding, Jammeh gave a "final ultimatum" to any gays or lesbians in the Gambia to leave the country. In a speech to the United Nations on 27 September 2013, Jammeh said that "[h]omosexuality in all its forms and manifestations which, though very evil, antihuman as well as anti-Allah, is being promoted as a human right by some powers", and that those who do so "want to put an end to human existence". In 2014, Jammeh called homosexuals "vermins" by saying that "We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively". He also went on to disparage LGBT people by saying, "As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for Leprosy, Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis; all of which are detrimental to human existence". In 2015, in defiance of western criticism Jammeh intensified his anti-gay rhetoric, telling a crowd during an agricultural tour: "If you do it [in the Gambia] I will slit your throat—if you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it."
In Uganda, there were recent efforts to institute the death penalty for homosexuality until March 22, 2023, where gay sex is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment. British newspaper The Guardian reported that President Yoweri Museveni "appeared to add his backing" to the legislative effort by, among other things, claiming "European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa", and saying gay relationships were against God's will. In a 2014 interview with CNN, Museveni described homosexuals as "disgusting", saying that their acts are "unnatural" and that he would be able to ignore them if it was proven that "[he] is born that way". He also said that he had appointed a group of scientists in Uganda to determine if homosexuality was a learned orientation. This led to widespread criticism from the scientific community, with an academic of the National Institutes of Health calling on his Ugandan counterparts to reconsider their findings. Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 on March 22, 2023, making it illegal to identify as LGBTQ, punishable by life in prison, and imposing the death penalty for aggravated gay sex.
Abune Paulos, the late Patriarch of the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has a very strong influence in Christian Ethiopia, stated homosexuality is an animal-like behaviour that must be punished.
Chad passed a law in 2017 criminalizing sodomy, followed by Mali in 2024. Prior to, both countries never had any laws against consensual same-sex activity. Conversely, some African states like Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Seychelles, have abolished sodomy laws in the 21st century. Legalization is proposed in some African states like Eswatini, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Gabon passed a law criminalizing sodomy in 2019 and reversed its decision by once again decriminalizing homosexuality a year later in 2020.
Signare Bi Sukugn Afroqueer Reporter