There are three drivers of contemporary African homophobia: the cultural, the religious and the scientific.
‘Somebody, your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour―and in the oddest places!―for the lack of it.’
— James Baldwin
On May 11 2021, Shakiro and Patricia, two transgender women in Cameroon, were sentenced to five years in prison and fined 200,000 CFA francs (USD $361) each for ‘attempting homosexuality’, an activity that contravenes Cameroonian legislation prohibiting homosexuality as an affront to public decency. The punishment for non-payment of these fines is an additional year in prison.
Shakiro and Patricia had been beaten after their arrest at a restaurant where they had met for a friendly chat. Their experiences are not uncommon in much of Africa. Homosexuality is legal in only 22 out of 54 African states with punishment for ‘gay proclivities’ ranging from a few years of imprisonment to life imprisonment, and even the death penalty. Homophobia in Africa is the norm rather than exception, and...
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