{{Pressure is mounting on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s administration to legalise same-sex marriages.}}
Pro-gay lobby groups said Mugabe should recognise their rights and lift the country ban on homosexuality.
The beleaguered groups spoke as local churches mounted a fresh campaign against homosexuals, with top bishops sensationally likening them to mentally sick people.
Officials of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) claimed Mugabe and his administration was using propaganda and mooting more repressive legislation to silence them, but added they would not back down.
Speaking in Harare yesterday, the lobby said anti-gay pronouncements by the President and church leaders had led to discrimination in employment, education and healthcare.
Mugabe has also backed the controversial anti-gay law in Uganda. No matter what they do and say, we are going nowhere and will continue fighting for recognition from within, said Samuel Matsikure, the GALZ Programmes Manager.
The Zimbabwean constitution, enacted in March last year, criminalizes gay sex and same-sex marriages. The practice is also officially outlawed in Uganda and Nigeria while many other African countries have a silent ban anchored in statutes.
Bishop Emmanuel Makandiwa led local clergymen last Sunday in declaring gays are mentally sick, saying most Zimbabweans do not believe gays are out of their mind “because they (gays) have more wealth than you.
Yesterday, Matsikure also hit back at Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya for continued discrimination of gays, saying African nations should join the league of countries that treat their nationals equally without prejudices drawn along sexual orientation.
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