{{Homophobia in sub-Saharan Africa has reached \u201cdangerous levels\u201d with more countries passing laws criminalising same-sex relations, a report released yesterday by Amnesty International revealed.}}<\/p>\n
The rights group said homophobic attitudes and attacks on gays were in some cases \u201cfuelled by key politicians and religious leaders who should be using their position to fight discrimination and promote equality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some African countries political leaders target sexual orientation issues to distract attention from their overall human rights record.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the report, Africa\u2019s strict penal codes were initially imposed by colonial rulers, based on Christian moral values.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrican people were encouraged by the colonising power… to view dislike and fear of those expressing normative sexual orientation as a sign of progress and civilisation.\u201d
\nHomosexuality is illegal in 38 countries in the region, with South Africa the only country that recognises gay rights and allows same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
However, even protection by the country\u2019s liberal laws has not stopped harassment.
\nBlack lesbians in Africa\u2019s largest economy are commonly targeted for attacks known as \u201ccorrective rape\u201d by men trying to \u201ccure\u201d their homosexuality.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Zambia two men Philip Mubiana, 21, and James Mwape, 20, are currently standing trial for charges of sodomy, a crime that carries a 14-year sentence.<\/p>\n
The report titled: \u2018Making Love a Crime,\u2019 says in the last five years South Sudan and Burundi have introduced new laws criminalising same-sex relations, while Uganda, Liberia and Nigeria are pushing bills that would toughen existing penalties. <\/p>\n
Between June and November 2012, at least seven people in the region were murdered in hate-motivated crimes, it said.<\/p>\n
Island nations like Cape Verde, Seychelles and Mauritius were applauded for \u201cpositive developments\u201d in working towards decriminalising homosexuality.<\/p>\n
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{{Homophobia in sub-Saharan Africa has reached \u201cdangerous levels\u201d with more countries passing laws criminalising same-sex relations, a report released yesterday by Amnesty International revealed.}} The rights group said homophobic attitudes and attacks on gays were in some cases \u201cfuelled by key politicians and religious leaders who should be using their position to fight discrimination and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-8685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=8685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}