Africa
South Africa retail giant supports Pride month despite customer backlash
Woolworths South Africa to continue selling LGBTQ-specific merchandize
A South Africa retail giant has vowed to continue celebrating Pride month and LGBTQ and intersex people despite backlash from some customers.
Woolworths South Africa said will continue offering its Pride regalia to its staff and selling merchandize that recognizes the LGBTQ and intersex community. Woolworths South Africa also said it has established a Woolworths Pride (W.Pride) team, citing its values are firmly in favor of kindness and inclusivity.
āWe have established an internal W.Pride task team to give voice to and address issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community. We have adapted our working wardrobe policy to recognize everyoneās unique preferences to style, cultural or religious needs and gender identity or expression. We have created a range of Pride merchandise and are donating funds to LGBTQIA+ support organizations,” said Woolworths South Africa. “However, we know that there is always more to be done; and we will keep looking for ways to enable, uplift and celebrate the LGTBQIA+ community. Our community guidelines don’t allow for hate speech or discrimination. Our values are firmly in favor of kindness and inclusivity.ā
OUT, an LGBTQ and intersex rights organization that is based in South Africa, commended Woolworths South Africa and criticized the backlash it received from some of its customers.
āWoolworths’ public affirmation of LGBTQIA+ allyship aligns with South Africa’s vision of a society that guarantees equality, safety and dignity for all. Itās also clear that Woolworths recognizes the importance of celebrating diversity in the LGBTQIA+ community, rather than merely tolerating it,” said OUT Human Rights Coordinator Sibonelo Ncanana. “However, the level of hateful discourse we have seen on social media in response to Woolworths’ Pride campaign is disheartening and shameful. We urge the company and other LGBTQIA+ allies within the corporate sector to stand firm against fear and hate. They should remain steadfast in the knowledge that they are on the right side of history and our constitutional values.ā
Activists hope to use Pride to raise awareness of anti-LGBTQ violence, discrimination
Although South Africa is the only African country on the continent that constitutionally recognizes LGBTQ and intersex people, sporadic attacks and hate speech remain common. One of the reasons is South African society remains oriented around cultural and religious beliefs that denounce LGBTQ and intersex people.
Violence against LGBTQ and intersex South Africans that includes rape, murder and mutilation also remains a problem.
Tankisho Tawanyana, a 34-year-old lesbian woman from Kimberly, last October was raped and killed by three men who later doused her with paraffin and set her on fire. Two women in April 2021 killed Khulekani Gomazi, a transgender woman from Mpophomeni.
Some LGBTQ and intersex rights organizations have therefore taken it upon themselves to try and ensure South African students are taught to accept people from different gender identities in order to curb attacks based on gender identity.
The Uthingo Network and 23 other civil society organizations have already raised a series of concerns about the ongoing queerphobic bullying and discrimination against queer students in South African schools and called on Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, to hold teachers accountable and create queer-affirming school environments.
āIt does not matter who you are or whom you love, everyone has a constitutional right to be themselves. Uthingo Network promotes equal rights for LGBTQI+ South Africans,ā said Uthingo Network.
Despite these problems, a number of LGBTQ and intersex rights organizations will host Pride events throughout South Africa in the coming months with the hope of raising awareness and end the discrimination and attacks against the community.
Kenya
Kenyan court awards two gay men $31K
Couple subjected to genital examination, given HIV tests after āunnatural sexā arrest
A Kenyan court has awarded two gay men charged with āunnatural sexā for engaging in consensual sexual relations a total of Sh4 million ($31,000) in compensation.
This is after the Magistrates Court in the coastal city of Mombasa ruled the authorities violated the menās rights in obtaining evidence.
During the arrest, the two men were forcefully subjected to genital examination and HIV tests against their constitutional rights to privacy and the rights of an arrested person, including being allowed to speak with a lawyer.
Section 162 of Kenya’s penal code criminalizes consensual same-sex relations with a 14-year jail term. Prosecutors wanted the court to find the two gay men, who were arrested in 2021, guilty of the offence.
In a ruling issued on Oct. 24, the court, while awarding each of the men Sh2 million ($15,600) in compensation, faulted prosecutorsā unlawful extraction of evidence.
The Center for Minority Rights and Strategic Litigation, a local LGBTQ rights organization, last year petitioned the court not to admit the evidence for having been obtained unlawfully, to stop the hearing, and for the accused to be compensated.
In the petition, CMRSL cited infringement on the gay menās right to human dignity: A ban on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, the rights to privacy and a fair trial, rights of an arrested person, and violation of their freedom and security as the constitution and international law mandates.
āThis provision (Section 162 of the penal code) has historically been used by the State to target and harass LGBTQ+ persons based on their gender identity and sexual orientation,ā CMRSL Legal Manager Michael Kioko told the Washington Blade.
The High Court in 2019 declined to decriminalize sections of the penal code that ban homosexuality in response to queer rights organizationsā petition that argued the State cannot criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations between adults. The constitutionality of laws that criminalize homosexuality is still contested in the appeals court, based on the argument they infringe on the rights to privacy and human dignity.
CMRSL termed the latest ruling āa crucial step toward dignity and human rights for allā while noting that the case was critical in its legal representation efforts to protect the fundamental rights of queer people in Kenya.Ā
The Oct. 24 decision affirms the Mombasa appeals court’s 2018 ruling that struck down the use of forced anal testing in homosexuality cases by terming it as unlawful. Kenyaās National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission brought the case.
The appeals court verdict stemmed from a 2015 case where police in Mombasa obtained a court order to force two gay men to undergo anal examinations and HIV testing at a local clinic after authorities arrested them and charged them with unnatural sex.
NGLHRC, in challenging the court order, argued forced anal examinations are cruel, inhuman, degrading, and breached local and international medical ethics and human rights.
The latest ruling exonerating the two gay men from prosecution is among numerous cases in which CMRSL has represented queer people in court to defend and protect LGBTQ rights in the country.
The case against a gay man in Mombasa charged with an unnatural act (a same-sex affair) and represented by CMRSL in court saw the matter dropped last September. The court last June acquitted transgender women in Lamu charged with committing gross indecent acts between males against provisions of the penal code.
CMRSL represented the trans women.
The group has deployed community paralegals and field monitors to monitor, document, and report queer rights violations.
āThey (field monitors) work closely with LGBTQ+ community paralegals to link survivors to justice by providing legal support and connecting those to pro bono lawyers and legal aid services,ā Kioko said. āOn average, our monitors handle around 10 cases each month, ensuring that violations are addressed and survivors receive the necessary legal pathways to seek justice.ā
CMRSL in partnership with several queer lobby groups, is also challenging the Kenya Films Classification Board in court for banning a movie titled āI Am Samuelā on the pretext it contained gay scenes that violate Kenyan law.
The Kenya Films Classification Board in 2018 also banned the āRafikiā because it contains lesbian-specific content. Petitioners who challenged the ban in court argue the decision violates freedom of expression and other constitutional provisions.
Ghana
Ghanaian cardinal reiterates support of LGBTQ people
Country’s Supreme Court considering challenge of anti-LGBTQ law
A Catholic cardinal in Ghana has reiterated his support for LGBTQ people.
Peter Turkson has been vocal against the criminalization of LGBTQ people, advocates, and organizations. He is also among the few African cardinals who have supported the Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust) document that Pope Francis released last year.
The document offers a narrow set of conditions under which a priest or deacon can offer a blessing to a same-sex couple or unmarried heterosexual couples.
In an interview with TV3 News, a Ghanaian television station, Turkson expressed his grave concerns over the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill currently before the Supreme Court.
The bill, among other things, would further criminalize LGBTQ people and make advocacy on their behalf illegal.
Lawmakers in February approved the measure. President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he will not sign it until the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
Turkson said homosexuality is not new to Ghanaian culture and those who identify as LGBTQ should be treated like any other person.
“Who controls how one is born? And if one is born this way, how does it in itself constitute a crime? You criminalize them for what,” he asked.
Turkson also said there should be respect for diverse views, urging against the criminalization of identity.
Father Peter Knox from the Jesuit Institute in South Africa said there is an almost what he described as a neurotic denial of the fact there are African people who are attracted to people of the same sex.
āThe fact that people of the same sex enter into a permanent, loving, supportive, stable, fruitful relationships is beyond the imagination of many Africans. The very notion runs contrary to what many theologians and pastors claim is African culture,ā said Knox.
Knox also questioned why homosexuality is regarded as a Western concept, noting South Africa offers asylum to many LGBTQ Africans who are fleeing persecution from their countries of origin.
āFor decades South Africa has recognized the refugee status of people who are persecuted or whose lives are endangered because of their sexual orientation,” he noted. “For those who do not try to make it to Europe, South Africa is often a second-best destination.”
Knox noted one South African parish has a support group for LGBTQ parishioners.
“It is noteworthy that none of the members of the group are so-called Europeans. They all come from African countries,” he said. “One also hopes for more prophetic protection of a severely marginalized group on this continent.”
Cardinal Maurice Piat of Mauritius, along withĀ Turkson, is the only other of the continent’s 22 Catholic cardinals who hasĀ spoken publicly in support of LGBTQ people. Non-Catholic officials in Africa have largely dismissed Francis’s document.
Cardinal Stephen Ameyu, archbishop of Juba in South Sudan, has said the church’s role is to respond to sinners with mercy. He questioned the blessings of same-sex marriages last December during a press conference at a Christmas event.
“The church takes mercy first. Thatās why sometimes we are concerned about people who are criminals, people who have killed people. We turn to them in mercy,” said Ameyu. “So, the state of life that somebody lives does not exclude one from the concern of the church. Be merciful to others provide services to others who need the services, and the church can do a lot in order to convince people in their state of sins to come back to the church and be converted.”
Francis in 2023 visited South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kenya
Petition demands Kenyan government stop discriminating against queer asylum seekers
Refugee Affairs Commissioner John Buruguās recent comments criticized
The queer community in Kenya has condemned the governmentās policy of discriminating against LGBTQ asylum seekers, and has launched a petition that challenges it.
The community, through an All Out petition drive, accuses Kenyaās Department of Refugee Services of putting queer asylum seekers at more risk of āpersecution, violence, and exploitationā by not recognizing them as afflicted refugees.
The action is in response to Refugee Affairs Commissioner John Buruguās comments in an interview last month where he said Kenya would not consider persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity as a direct pass to asylum.
Burugu during a telephone interview said āwe are not interested in anyoneās sexual identity,ā and his department will not be convinced that persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity is sufficient grounds for admission as an asylum seeker or refugee.
The Kenya 2021 Refugees Act, which governs Buruguās department in the admission of refugees and asylum seekers in the country, does not explicitly recognize queer people among vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution. The law only recognizes refugees or asylum seekers as people who are persecuted based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a social group.
Opposition MP George Kalumaās proposed anti-homosexuality law also seeks the expulsion of LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers from Kenya.
āDecision-makers like the Department of Refugee Services and UNHCR Kenya are failing to uphold international human rights standards while the media and major NGOs remain silent,ā reads the petition.
It notes the exclusion of LGBTQ refugees has left the majority of them vulnerable to more trauma and isolation.
They can wait up to a decade for the department to issue a decision on their asylum applications. It typically takes 12 months to process asylum applications in Kenya.
The petitioners note this delay has also increased violence, discrimination, and persecution of queer asylum seekers by the public and government authorities without any legal protection.
āHistorically, Kenya provided refuge for LGBTQ+ people fleeing danger, but the situation has worsened dramatically since 2017,ā reads the petition. āFrom 2017, the government refused to process LGBTQ+ asylum claims, forcing over 400 people to flee to South Sudan in search of safety.ā
This change is due to the U.N. Refugee Agencyās handing over the processing of asylum applications in Kenya to the government under the Department of Refugee Services in 2016.
UNHCR has admitted to slowing the processing of queer asylum seekersā applications since surrendering the duty to the Kenyan government. It has asked the Department of Refugee Services to resolve the problem.
More than 200 people have signed the petition, which organizers hope to present to Kenyan and international human rights bodies that include UNHCR Kenya, the Department of Refugee Service, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Refugee Consortium of Kenya. Other groups include the UNHCR High Commissioner in Geneva, U.N. Secretary-General AntĆ³nio Guterres, Amnesty International, the International Organization for Migration, and the Church World Service.
The petitioners want the bodies to ātake immediate actionā to protect LGBTQ asylum seekers in Kenya against discrimination and exclusion, noting it not only violates queer peoplesā basic human rights, but disregards Nairobiās obligations under international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention.
āAs key decision-makers, you have the power to reverse this exclusion and ensure that the LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are protected from harm and granted the rights they are due,ā reads the petition.
There are more than an estimated 1,000 LGBTQ refugees in Kenya. Many queer people ā especially from Uganda ā continue to flee to Kenya in the wake of the enactment of the countryās Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023.
The petitioners want queer asylum seekers recognized for admission and their applications expedited like other refugees and their concerns over discrimination and violence addressed.
āThe Department of Refugee Services should officially retract the discriminatory statement made by the DRS commissioner, which excluded LGBTQ+ individuals from protection under the refugee mandate,ā reads the petition.
The petitioners also want queer people represented in the Global Refugee Forum and the Refugee Working Groups to have their voices heard and needs addressed in global decision-making processes.
The Center for Minority Rights and Strategic Litigation, a Kenyan LGBTQ rights group, described Buruguās sentiments as ādeeply concerning, regrettable, and against the law.ā
CMRSL Legal Manager Michael Kioko told the Washington Blade the organization has received many complaints from queer refugees and asylum seekers about homophobic discrimination and other violations in the country. The Department of Refugee Services and UNHCR Kenya, he said, took no action to address them.
āThe DRS commissioner is obligated under Section 21 of the Refugees Act to ensure measures are taken to protect asylum seekers who have been traumatized or require special protection. This includes LGBTIQ+ refugees in Kenya,ā Kioko said.
He noted this directive is also in line with the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees to which Kenya is a signatory, and applicable under Article 2(6) of the constitution.
āIt is imperative that the Department of Refugee Services adheres to its obligations under the Refugees Act and the Constitution to protect LGBTIQ+ refugees,ā Kioko said. āTheir safety must be prioritized, especially in light of the increasing violence and discrimination that LGBTIQ+ persons in Kenya are facing.ā
Kioko added Kenyan courts have ruled queer people are members of a social group the Refugees Act recognizes for admission as refugees in cases of persecution, and LGBTQ asylum seekers cannot be excluded.
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