Across the world there is a consensus that June is Pride month. Pride Month is a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQI+ people; advocating for and protecting their rights and freedom. Pride month is dedicated to paying respect to LGBTQI+ people who have lost their lives because their sexual orientation and gender identity does not fit into the “norm”. Another key objective of pride month is to promote understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQI+ community. There is little to celebrate because homophobia and transphobia persist everywhere.
Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, signed the anti-homosexuality act into law on May 26, 2023. In Uganda, same-sex relationships and gender diversity are already illegal. The anti-homosexuality statute imposes tougher sanctions on LGBTQI+ individuals. It makes the death sentence legal for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as same-sex relationships involving HIV-positive adults, minors, or other vulnerable people. Anyone convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” faces up to 14 years in prison. Ugandans who participate in gay intercourse face life in jail, while those who try same-sex relationships face a 10-year sentence.
Same-sex relationships and gender diversity are illegal in 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, including Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The sentence in Sierra Leone is life imprisonment, but in Sudan and Mauritania it is death by public stoning. There is little to celebrate during Pride Month for feminists who are unwavering in our support for human rights, freedom of expression, freedom from fear, violence, discrimination, stigma, and intimidation, bodily autonomy, and sexual reproductive health and rights, and the concept of pride is questionable.
Unfortunately, the fight to end homophobia and transphobia are often left to LGBTQI+ people and regarded as an “LGBTQI+ issue”. However, it is essentially a human rights issue rooted in patriarchy and the growing global anti-rights and anti choice sentments. Homosexuality and transphobia are deeply connected to the denial of bodily autonomy; freedom of expression and movement; infringement on personal freedoms and other social, economic and cultural rights such as access to basic services, financial stability, housing and education; sexual reproductive rights. Ending homophobia and transphobia depend on ending patriarchy which dictates who is free, who is not and how far our freedom extends.
To dismantle patriarchy, homophobia, and transphobia, feminist interventions and reactions must be intersectional and gender-transformative. Gender transformative approaches seek to address gender inequality by reforming damaging gender norms, roles, and relationships while aiming to rebalance power, resources, and services. Kimberly Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to refer to intersecting forms of oppression that affect people based on race, class, gender, and other identity markers as they apply to a given individual or group, resulting in overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. She first referred to it to examine and highlight how Black women who have been victims of police brutality are frequently disregarded and their experiences are erased in comparison to Black men. Notably, feminism is a movement, a philosophy, and a clear recognition of how power works to disproportionately oppress girls, women, and people of color. Gender-transformative and intersectional feminist interventions and responses to end patriarchy, homophobia, and transphobia refer to interventions and responses that protect and safeguard human rights centered on girls, women, and gender-diverse people, as well as overthrow oppressive systems that sustain gender inequality and other intersecting inequalities.
It is also important to acknowledge the role that race, class, disability, religion and cuture play in disproportionately increasing the weight of homophobia and transphobia. Girls, women and gender-diverse people in the global south are disproportionately affected and vulnerable to homophobia and transphobia. This is because white supremacy and patriarchy protect white people including white LGBTQI+ in ways that Black and Brown people are not protected. The impact of colonialism continues to affect Black and Brown people in previously colonised countries and white supremacy maintains the legacy of colonialism, ongoing oppression and inequalities. As a result of colonialis and the erasure of African histories and cultures there is the widespread belief across the continent that homosexuality and gender-diversity are unAfrican. This erases the reality that African people had same-sex relations and embraced gender-diversity before colonialism. And as a result, across Africa Black and Brown people are penalised, policed and punished more than white LGBTQI+ people.
White supremacy, colonialism’s legacy, and patriarchy underpin the legacy and manifestations of homophobia and transphobia. We cannot overcome homophobia and transphobia unless white supremacy and patriarchy are abolished, which are the origins of the current legal regimes in Africa. We will also never attain universal human rights and ensure that everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live, has access to basic services, financial stability, housing, and education, as well as sexual reproductive rights. And, without human rights and the elimination of intersecting inequalities, Pride Month will never be a worldwide celebration.