Out of the closets, and into the streets

                    Out of the closets, and into the streets

         

By: Desiree Medina

You are harassed daily in your town, your parents reject you, everyone around you agrees that you are inhuman, and you receive death threats daily. This is what the daily life of a LGBTQ person in Africa is like. The rates of hate crime have gone up” (Fletcher). Also, many have tried to make new laws, and get justice but it just isn’t working out the way they had hoped it would. The LGBTQ community is practically invisible in Africa, they are not receiving the basic human rights everyone else is entitled to. Instead they are being harassed and murdered. If people do not wake up and realize that this is a problem, than many more individuals could die. It is also unjust for others to have less rights, over something that they cannot choose to be.   

                  Many individuals in Africa are being attacked. People have been stalked, murdered, raped, and persecuted in villages. A lot of gay people in Africa report not feeling safe on the streets because of their sexuality. James fletcher himself writes, “On the evening of 22 March 2014, David Olyne a man who identified as gay, was raped and constricted with wire, his head was then beaten with a brick, and he was set alight” (Fletcher). When the so called investigation was over, this case turned out to be a hate crime. What Fletcher is trying to portray is that, people resort to violence, when they do not agree with something. There are countless incidents where the exact same situation occurred, but the criminals are never held accountable for their crimes. One man that was interviewed in Africa about what he would do, if his daughter turned out to be gay, had this to say, “I might kill her myself... That thing is unnatural, it is awkward, so I cannot accept something that is awkward in my house” (Fletcher). Fletcher put this piece in his article to show that, the fact that this man said this about his own daughter, shows how insensitive people are to the LGBTQ community, it is a little bit disturbing too. It also dips into the reality of how, people are raised to believe being gay, is wrong. Also Naib Mian, reported that “ten cases of “corrective” rape take place in Cape Town every week, so that they can “fix” the mindset of these individuals” (Mian).

             There has been an effort to obtain laws to legalize gay marriage, and gay rights but it is becoming a futile mission. Thom Senzee states that, “Today a staggering number of 32 countries in Africa consider same-sex a criminal act” (Senzee). There hasn’t been much improvement in these countries in abolishing this law since it was made. Adding onto that, there has been a bill made, to protect LGBTQ lives, and put an end to their nightmare. Naib Mian states, “The bill has not been free of controversy… many have taken issue with the inclusion of hate speech, a decision made in January following various outbursts over racist comments on social media. The concern is that such legislation will limit freedom of speech” (Mian). By obtaining a new law, they are also limiting their freedom in a way. The government of Africa is basically saying that, they can have rights, but not too much. Furthermore, as foolish as this might seem, adding the LGBTQ community in the hate crime legislation, as a group that needs protection, might do more harm than good. According to Peter Fabricius, “Jerry Matjila Infamously said that adding sexual orientation to a list of categories of people requiring protection against discrimination would ‘demean’ the victims of racial discrimination and dilute their protection”(Fabricius). Again by granting freedom, they also have a risk of being hurt, because there is so much attention called on the topic

             All the LGBT community in Africa is asking for, is a little common decency.The biggest reason that these crimes are occurring is that many people in South Africa are ignorant, and Xenophobic to this topic. Unless you are a psychopath, I do not think that human beings like to witness their brothers and sisters being murdered on the streets. Although there are many people in Africa that do not agree with this law being passed, if people work together, and are educated, then there is a good chance of LGBTQ rights being a reality one day.

Work cited

Fabricius, Peter. "Just How Serious Is South Africa about Gay Rights?" ISS Africa. ISS Africa, 2 Feb. 2015. Web.

06 Mar. 2017.

Fletcher, James. "Born Free, Killed by Hate - the Price of Being Gay in South Africa." BBC News. BBC, 07 Apr.

2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Mian, Naib. "Hopes and Worries about Hate Crime Legislation." GroundUp. GroundUp, 3 July 2014. Web. 07

Mar. 2017. Mian focuses on the hate crime legislation.

Parris, David. "'South Africa Needs to Find a New Way to Talk about Being Gay'." Guardian Africa Network.

Guardian News and Media, 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Senzee, The Advocate Mag Thom. "The State of LGBT Equality in Africa." ADVOCATE. ADVOCATE, 17 Nov.

2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Warner, Gregory. "When The U.S. Backs Gay And Lesbian Rights In Africa, Is There A Backlash?" NPR. NPR,

30 Aug. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.