Strong African cultural morals and beliefs that embrace heterosexual continue to make homosexuals in Africa unwelcome and insecure.
In the past, the African societies used to see homosexuals as outcasts like it is today but their existence faced more threats when colonialists introduced laws against them.
For example, of the 72 countries worldwide that criminalize homosexuality, 32 of them are in Africa, where punishments range from imprisonment to the death penalty in countries such as Mauritania and Sudan.
More than half of these African countries are former British colonies where the colonial masters introduced these laws.
Countries like Uganda have recently come up with stronger laws that have worsened the situation because of the already strong cultural and religious beliefs against same sex relationships or marriages.
Even at the family level, some relatives cannot tolerate their people being gay because it’s seen as an embarrassment to the families.
For example Shamirah Nabukeera was forced to marry a man who was way older than her before she took off and went into hiding in November last year.
Her cousin Jalia Nakiyaga says her family doesn’t know where she went despite continued efforts to find out her whereabouts.
As Muslims and also cultural beliefs against homosexuals they couldn’t tolerate her. The family arranged a traditional marriage before she escaped and went into hiding.
Africa is the world’s most religious continent with around 93% of sub-Saharan Africans either being Christian (63%) or Muslim (30%).
The increased talk and discussion about the gay community in Uganda and Africa is seen as a western move to promote these acts.
Africa’s elites, which include political, religious and community leaders, often claim that homosexual practices are an imported Western evil. For example, President Yoweri Museveni has called a “western import.”
The Western world piled pressure on the government of Uganda to remove the law including withdrawal of some financial aid.
