Not all African countries welcome homosexuals with beautiful eyes. Of the 72 countries in the world that criminalize gay people, 32 of them are in Africa, where sentences range from imprisonment to the death penalty in African countries such as Mauritania and Sudan.
There are hundreds of governments around the world that are still doing their best to make life miserable for the people of LGBT. From Sharia-Muslim states that demand the death penalty to harsh Christian nations that let gay people rot in prisons, the Earth remains a very dark and bleak place for millions of non-rights people.
In the same argument, former Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, used to suppress the human rights of LGBT people in Zimbabwe. It is the same argument used by the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan when he signed the most outrageous law against LGBT people. The same notion President Yoweri Museveni used during a signing ceremony for the anti-gay bill in Uganda. Even the former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, called for the slaughter of gay people.
The top 10 African countries that absolutely hate gay people
1. Uganda
Uganda is home to some of the strictest anti-gay laws in all of Africa – a contest you really don’t want to win at. Most countries in Africa generally disapprove of homosexuality at best and violently persecute it at worst.
If you live in Uganda and practice same-sex, you can spend 14 years living in the most horrific prisons. The state regularly harasses LGBT rights activists, and newspapers have been known to publish the names and addresses of LGBT alongside lynching incitements.
Even these horrors don’t compare to the “Killing Gays Bill”. A shameful bill that has been on and off the table for a few years, the law prescribes the death penalty for gay people. In other words, there are legislators in Uganda who care so much about what others do with their genitals that they are willing to slaughter them for it.
2. Nigeria
According to the result of the research conducted by PEW, Nigeria is one of the most homophobic places on Earth. When asked if gay people should be accepted by society, almost 98 percent of the people replied no.
This real hatred against the people of LGBT manifests itself in a particularly horrific way. In the north of the country, which is exploitative under Sharia law, homosexuality is punishable by death.
Specifically, the law stipulates that homosexuals must be stoned to death, an inhuman form of execution that should have died in the Dark Ages.
Things are not much better in the Christian South at all. Currently, being gay or having same-sex marriage is punishable by 14 years in prison, and at the end of last year, a bill was passed, making it illegal.
3. Zimbabwe
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe describes homosexuality as “inhuman.” “The West says we have to accept that there is a change in the world, that gays have human rights,” he lauded at a hotel event in Harare, the country’s capital. “Gays don’t have human rights. They have human rights – human rights to do an inhumane thing.”
Mugabe has faced constant criticism from Zimbabwean LGBT rights activists and others over his homophobic rhetoric. Mugabe, at the same event, criticized the Anglican Church for blessing same-sex marriage and President Obama on his support for gay and lesbian weddings.
The former Zimbabwean president described gay people and lesbians who attended a 1995 Harare book fair as “dogs and pigs.” Mugabe was quoted in a speech to a teachers’ college in the town of Masvingo that gay people and lesbians “should rot in jail.”
The government of Zimbabwean has also frequently targeted members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), a local LGBT advocacy group. In August 2012, police arrested more than 40 members of the organization in their Harare office.
4. Gambia
Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh threatened gays during his regime in a speech, saying, “I will slit your throat.”
While addressing an audience in the town of Farafeni as part of a nationwide tour, Jammeh said, “If you’re a man and you want to marry another man in this country (Gambia, e.d.). And we catch you, no one will ever look at you again, and no white person can do anything about it”.
The law classified LGBT actions as criminalized acts of “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by life imprisonment. The new law reinforced the current ban on homosexuality in the Gambia, which was previously punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
About 95% of the country’s population is Muslim.
Jammeh has a history of making violent comments targeting LGBT people. In 2008, he threatened to behead them. In 2014, during a speech on the anniversary of Gambia’s independence, he compared homosexuals to vermin. A comment from the then U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, explains that it left him “deeply disturbed.”
In 2013, he wondered why he had never seen “gay chicken or turkey” and in a statement to Parliament: Homosexuality is anti-God, anti-human, and anti-civilization. Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia. If we catch you, you will regret why you were born.
5. Zambia
The Zambia government sentenced two men to 15 years in prison for having consensual sex in the privacy of their hotel room. In late November, Ugandan police arrested 125 people in a gay-friendly bar in the capital, Kampala, dozens of whom are now facing charges.
In December 2019, Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba were imprisoned on charges of same-sex marriage. A judge rejected an appeal against their conviction, sentencing them both to 15 years in prison. U.S. Ambassador Foote implored the Zambian government to review the case and its homosexuality laws but has since faced a backlash.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has reprimanded the ambassador, saying his government will complain to the Trump administration. The career diplomat then canceled planned appearances at World AIDS Day events “because of the threats made against me” on social media.
In an interview with Sky News, Lungu maintained a combative defense of Zambias laws on LGBT. “Even animals don’t do it, so why should we be forced to do it? …because we want to be seen as intelligent, civilized and advanced, etc.”
6. South Sudan
In South Sudan, sex between men of the same sex is illegal and punishable by up to 10to 14 years’ imprisonment. LGBT persons are regularly prosecuted by the government and are also stigmatized within the general population.
7. Mauritania
In Mauritania, LGBT people face legal challenges not faced by non-LGBT residents. Sexual relations between men and women of the same sex are illegal. Muslim men who practice it risk stoning to death, although; there have been no known cases of executions related to homosexuality in the country.
8. Cameroon
Nkom Alice, a 68-year-old gay rights activist, explained that the law against gay people in Cameroon encourages torture, forced confessions, and denial of access to a lawyer.
It also encourages discrimination against LGBT people, she said. “Even if you complain, the authorities won’t do anything – just because you’re gay or you’re supposed to defend gay people,” she told DW.
“Our constitution says the state must protect all private lives. But we are not free in our country. We’re afraid because we’re not supported by our state and our state authorities, which goes against its commitment to protecting all citizens.”
Gay rights activists in Cameroon have died in suspicious circumstances on several occasions.
Cameroon was among several countries that blocked the accreditation of 22 gay and transgender groups to a UN AIDS conference. Under UN rules, any UN member country can veto the participation of any non-governmental organization without providing a reason.
9. Kenya
In Kenya, same-sex sexual relations are prohibited and punishable by one year in prison. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has included Kenya on its list of countries that sponsor homophobia through its national laws and policies.
The NGLHRC has also challenged Kenya’s laws targeting homosexuality. The right of gay people in Kenya has been a tog war, though likely that are winning some group recently.
10. Tanzania
President John Magufuli does not give damn and replied by banning the operation of pro-LGBTQ organizations, claiming that “even cows disapprove” of homosexuality. In a similar comment with his Deputy Health Minister, Hamisi Kigwangalla, who said that LGBTQ people are “unnatural.” Adding that “have you ever met a gay goat or bird?”
In November 2018, Paul Makonda, the Regional Commissioner of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, announced that the authorities would begin rounding up suspected LGBTQ people. Same-sex sexual relations are punishable by up to 30 years in prison in the country, and Makonda urged the public to report anyone they believe is breaking these laws.
In the year and a half since then, more than 30 people have been arrested in mainland Tanzania and 20 in Zanzibar so far.
