The recent arrest and conviction of 9 men in Senegal for “unnatural acts” (read: gayness) is devastating to all those in support of equal rights. Prop 8 energy, are you listening? An NYTimes article summarizing the situation is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/africa/09senegal.html?ref=world

Many of them activists and educators working with HIV/AIDS populations in the country, these men have been sentenced to spend 8 years in jail for their “crimes.” You can read about the reactions to the Senegalese case in a BBC article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7817100.stm

As someone who once lived in and now regularly travels to West Africa, I must first point out that the region is not just some wild quagmire of homophobic maniacs run rampant. We should all be angry and moved to action by the abuse of human rights that the Senegalese case highlights, but we should also attempt to understand the problem in its social context. West Africa (Senegal especially), according to our Western mores, can be called crazy liberal-tolerant and developed in a lot of ways, so let’s skip the overdone “uggh savages, we just can’t understand them” bullshit and move on to an actual conversation. We are talking an entire continent here, with nearly one billion people, 2,000 languages, probably the most diversity on the planet… OK preacher, point made.

Some of my best nights of dancing EVER were spent at parties in West Africa where a number of the guests were openly gay… at the party/club at least. When I spoke with these folks, it was clear that they kept things on the relative DL in everyday life. My extended West African family is worldly and loving and open. One time while we gossiped over tea and cake about a much-adored young neighborhood man with effeminate tendencies, my sweet host-grandmother said, with a hint of confusion in her voice, “Homosexuality is a DISEASE, no?” Her middle-class, high school-educated teenage granddaughter explained with conviction “No, Grandma, homosexuals are just like us. Maybe it is biology. Maybe God makes them that way. It is not a sickness; they are just born gay and want the right to live their lives without trouble as we do.” Grandma nodded and said “Then they should be left to do as they please. The baker I knew as a girl was said to be a homosexual. And he was a lovely man. And this boy is a very good boy. I do not want anyone to bother him.”

This type of discussion and expression of tolerance is not surprising at all, given that many parts of Africa have understood and accepted homosexuality historically and make a point of educating students about it in the present-day. Research on “traditional” African beliefs on homosexuality is unfortunately underdeveloped, but time spent perusing the Interwebs can somewhat enlighten the persistent. And South Africa presents a fine example of a country that is taking steps toward modern equal LGBT rights.

That said, homophobia is obviously still a dangerous problem in many parts of Africa. The Associated Press has reported that 38 countries in Africa criminalize homosexual acts. Some of the total nutjob African dictators have said insane, violent things about gays and lesbians (for example, Gambia’s president threatened to behead homosexuals in his country). Homophobia and sexual conservatism is certainly a contributing factor to an HIV/AIDS epidemic of terrifying proportions in many countries. But closer inspection reveals that much of this homophobia arises from religious extremism, authoritarian rule, and/or total lack of any discussion in African countries, rather than from some deep-seated historical hatred. Wouldja look at that, attitudes toward sexuality in Africa are characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements. Sounds a lot like US, doesn’t it?

We don’t even know how to fix it here and we want to fix it everywhere. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

At least someone’s trying. Check out the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission here: http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/