Posts tagged Homophobia

To answer this question, you will need to explain to your grandmother about “queer theory”and the “diffusion”of human rights and “international instruments” that hold states “accountable” to “macro obligations.” Problem is, these terms and phrases mean nothing to her.

Botswana has deported Steven Anderson, a controversial American pastor over his views on homosexuality. The deportation comes a week after Anderson was banned from South Africa because of his statements on homosexuality.

The results of a new study, A Survey of South African Attitudes to Homosexuality and Gender Non-Conformity, have just been released. Conducted by The Other Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council the survey provides for the first time “statistically sound, nationally representative data” on the attitudes of South Africans to sexual orientation.

Evan Hempel was born a female. 16 years ago, the 35 year-old came out as transgender, and since 2003, he has been taking hormones to physically become male. After a failed pregnancy, the 35-year-old finally gave birth to a son in April. Pregnancies like Evan’s surely stretch our cultural perceptions of gender norms. While Americans are starting to open up to the idea that you may be born into a female body, but believe that you are really a man, or vice-versa, it appears such an idea is making some African uncomfortable.

South Africa has recorded another first with the launch of the country’s first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) video-on-demand (VOD) channel, Pride TV. The channel offers programmes, which encompass various LGBT issues and themes by South African and African broadcasters.

Unoma Azuah is a Nigerian academic and the author of Length of Light and Sky-high Flames, both works of fiction. In this interview, she spoke to TIA contributor Cosmic Yoruba about her latest project, Blessed Body, an anthology of real-life stories from Nigeria’s LGBT community.

In the majority of African countries, same-sex relationships are a criminal offence. In some countries, “offenders” can be punished with death; in many more, with harsh jail sentences. Even in South Africa, the only country on the continent that allows marriage between same-sex couples, the constitution’s aspirations for equality and non-discrimination are regularly contrasted with news about violent attacks on black lesbians in townships around the country.

They say God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. Very cute, but because it rhymes doesn’t mean it’s true. If the creator, Obatala, can bring babies into the world retarded, is it not conceivable that sometimes he puts a female ‘spirit’ in a male body?

One of Uganda’s most popular musicians is in the news after being denied a UK travel visa following complaints from pro-gay rights groups that the artist incites hatred in his music. The latest saga potentially endangers the singer’s socially-conscious image.

He was reported to have told fans, “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”