Cape Town last month secured enough votes to host WorldPride in 2028.

The bidding process, which started in late October, took place in Medellín, Colombia, where the Guadalajara (Mexico) Pride and WorldPride Cape Town bidding teams contended for the rights to host WorldPride. InterPride, which organizes the event, on Nov. 8 officially declared Cape Town the host of WorldPride 2028.

It will be the first time WorldPride will take place in an African country.

South Africa is the only country on the continent that constitutionally recognizes LGBTQ rights. South Africa, as a result, in recent years has seen a surge in the number of LGBTQ asylum seekers from Africa and around the world.

Reacting to the historical precedence, Cape Town Pride said it was now time for Africa to shine and acknowledged the WorldPride Cape Town bidding team and the city of Cape Town for their role in the bidding process.

“This is a first for the whole continent of Africa,” said Cape Town Pride CEO Tommy Patterson. “A few weeks ago, in Medellín, Cape Town Pride, the city of Cape Town, and the bidding team presented our bid. The team did a wonderful job and we all forged great friendships and allies from Pride groups all over the globe.”

“Cape Town Pride is thrilled by the news and support shown by the global LGBTI+ family,” added Patterson.

Michael Gladwin of the WorldPride Cape Town bidding team echoed Patterson’s excitement.

“This will mark the first time WorldPride is held on the African continent, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome the global LGBTQ+ community to our beautiful city,” said Gladwin. “A heartfelt thank you goes out to all our incredible partners who supported this journey. Together, we will showcase Cape Town as a beacon of inclusivity and diversity.”

Gladwin also congratulated Guadalajara Pride for their bid.

“Their commitment in promoting LGBTQ+ rights is inspiring, and we look forward to collaborating in the future,” said Gladwin.

Cape Town’s LGBTQ community is celebrating the successful bid, while others in the city have criticized it.

Rev. Oscar Bougardt, founder and lead pastor of the Calvary Hope Baptist Church, described WorldPride as “garbage” and “filth” that should be condemned.

“I am happy to say I am amongst the pastors in Cape Town who are in opposition and are outraged at this garbage planned for 2028,” said Bougardt. “The city of Cape Town and LGBTQ+ organizations planned this event without consulting rate payers, this bid was done in secret and taxpayers’ money will be used to fund this filth.”

“Just as the LGBTQ + organizations have the right to host WorldPride 2028, we have the right to say we don’t want it in Cape Town,” he added. “I pray more church leaders will stand up against the planned WorldPride 2028. To church leaders and parents, this is the time to unite and tell the city of Cape Town and LGBTQ+ organizations that we are disgusted at the planned event. Untied we stand and divided we will fall!”

Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2022 won the bid to host WorldPride 2025, but the local planning committee withdrew it amid a dispute with InterPride. WorldPride 2025 will take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, 2025.

The 2024 ILGA World Conference took place last month in Cape Town.

A Ugandan court on Nov. 22 awarded more than $40,000 (Shs 150 million) to 20 men who police tortured after their 2020 arrest for alleged homosexuality.

The High Court of Uganda’s Civil Division ruling notes “police and other state authorities” arrested the men in Nkokonjeru, a town in central Uganda, on March 29, 2020, and “allegedly tortured.”

“They assert that on the morning of the said date their residence was invaded by a mob, among which were the respondents, that subjected them to all manner of torture because they were practicing homosexuality,” reads the ruling. “The alleged actions of torture include beating, hitting, burning using a hot piece of firewood, undressing, tying, biding, conducting an anal examination, and inflicting other forms of physical, mental, and psychological violence based on the suspicion that they are homosexuals, an allegation they deny.”

The arrests took place shortly after the Ugandan government imposed a lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Based on the same suspicion (of homosexuality), the applicants were then arrested, taken to Nkokonjeru B police station, and charged with doing a negligent act likely to spread infection by disease,” reads the ruling.

The ruling notes the men “were charged” on March 31, 2020, and sent to prison, “where they were again allegedly beaten, examined, harassed, and subjected to discrimination.”

Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in Uganda.

President Yoweri Museveni in 2023 signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which contains a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” LGBTQ activists continue to challenge the law.

Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha on X described the Nov. 22 ruling as a “significant victory for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Four young men have been beaten and chased out of a Nigerian city after they were found engaging in consensual same-sex sexual activity.

An angry mob paraded the four men, who were only wearing boxing shorts, down Nomayo Street in Benin City, the capital of Edo state, on Nov. 17. One of them had a visible deep cut on his forehead as a result of the beating.

The mob threatened to kill them if they were to return to the city. It also questioned why they were “into” homosexuality when there were many women in the area.

Samson Mikel, a Nigerian LGBTQ activist, said the attack was misdirected anger.

“Benin City is one of the backward places in Nigeria and a dorm for scammers and other crimes, the people are proud of their roughness, they are never concerned about these other crimes or how the government is impoverishing them, but will light gay men on fire the moment they think,” said Mikel. “All they want is to live and experience love. They are not the cause of the economic meltdown in the country, neither are they the reason why there are no jobs in the streets of Nigeria.”

Attacks like the one that happened in Benin City have been happening across Nigeria — the latest took place in Port Harcourt in Rivers state last month.

Section 214 of the Criminal Code Act on Unnatural Offenses says any person who has “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature, or has carnal knowledge of an animal, or permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature, is guilty of a felony” and could face up to 14 years in prison.

Several LGBTQ people and activists have been arrested under Section 214.

In some cases they are murdered with law enforcement officials showing little to no interest in investigating, such as the case of Area Mama, a popular cross-dresser whose body was found along the Katampe-Mabushi Expressway in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, in August.

The Initiative for Equal Rights, a Nigerian advocacy group, said the federal government should take concrete steps to protect the rights of all Nigerians.

“For many, especially LGBTQIA+ individuals, women, and those within the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity, Expression and Sexual Characteristics (SOGIESC), community, freedom remains a distant goal. Discrimination, violence and human rights violations are daily realities,” said TIERs Nigeria. “Despite the progress we have made, the journey towards justice is long, but our voices remain unwavering.”

TIERs Nigeria also called upon the federal government to repeal the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014, to respond to the African Commission’s recommendation to review laws that criminalize rights of assembly and association, and to enact laws and policies that discourage hate speech and other actions that incite discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Many Nigerians vehemently oppose public discussions about LGBTQ-specific issues because of religious and cultural beliefs.

A number of local and international human rights organizations have advised the federal government to prioritize the rights of everyone in Nigeria, including those who identify as LGBTQ. There is, however, little hope that Nigerian officials will do this anytime soon.

Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death in states with Sharia law. Those who advocate for LGBTQ rights in these areas could also face a similar fate.