The skyline of Kigali, Rwanda — overlaid with Fatteh’s map of the continent.
Fatteh’s monthly round-up of LGBTQ+ news from the continent features blackmailers in Ghana, Kenyan lobbyists, agitators in Morocco, Nigerian ministers and stories from Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda.
by Beza Lealem
This month has been an eventful one for LGBTQ+ communities across the continent, marked by troubling developments but also by valiant efforts to confront harsh realities.
Fatteh’s own investigation exposed the deafening silence of Ethiopia’s human rights organisations on years of violent attacks against gay men. In Kenya, a trans woman won a landmark legal case, which local advocacy group Jinsiangu said marked “the first time a Kenyan court has explicitly ordered the state to create legislation on transgender rights.”
Other important news unfolded in August that affects LGBTQ+ Africans. Here’s our round-up of the headlines:
Rwanda Parliament Passes Surrogacy Law Excluding Same-Sex Couples
LGBTQ+ Advocate Lists Places Blackmailers Target Gay Men in Ghana
Lesbian Survivor of ‘Corrective Rape’ Seeks Justice in South Africa Court
Nigeria’s Anglican Church Severs Ties With Welsh Church Over LGBTQ Issues
Judge Throws Out Charges of Jailed Lesbian Couple in Niger
Caucus Criticises Ghana Government Over Alleged Delay of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
Kenyan Activists Ask MPs to Dismiss Petition by Anti-LGBTQ Groups
US Keeps Quiet on Future of Uganda Sanctions Over LGBTQ Abuses
Cameroon Jails Four Men for Watching Gay-Themed Films After Imam’s Report
South Africa Mulls New National Survey on Attitudes Toward LGBTQ Issues
Jailed Moroccan Activist Denied Bail Over Wearing ‘Allah Is Lesbian’ T-shirt Gay Nigerian Man Deported from Ireland Can Appeal Asylum Case
Zimbabwe Launches Legal Reform Process to Recognise Intersex People