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1 Gay Africans and Arabs come out online 2/08

2 African lesbian conference demands equal rights 2/08

3 Lesbians rise against discrimination 3/08

4 Website celebrates Africa's gay heroes 4/08

Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL0830007120080218?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

February 18, 2008

1
Gay Africans and Arabs come out online

by Andrew Heavens
Khartoum (Reuters) - When Ali started blogging that he was Sudanese and gay, he did not realize he was joining a band of African and Middle Eastern gays and lesbians who, in the face of hostility and repression, have come out online. But within days the messages started coming in to black-gay-arab.blogspot.com. "Keep up the good work," wrote Dubai-based Weblogger 'Gay by nature'. "Be proud and blog the way you like," wrote Kuwait's gayboyweekly. Close behind came comments, posts and links purporting to be from almost half the countries in the Arab League, including Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain and Morocco.

Ali, who lists his home town as Khartoum but lives in Qatar, had plugged into a small, self-supporting network of people who have launched Web sites about their sexuality, while keeping their full identity secret. Caution is crucial - homosexual acts are illegal in most countries in Africa and the Middle East, with penalties ranging from long-term imprisonment to execution. "The whole idea started as a diary. I wanted to write what's on my mind and mainly about homosexuality," he told Reuters in an e-mail. "To tell you the truth, I didn't expect this much response."

In the current climate, bloggers say they are achieving a lot just by stating their nationality and sexual orientation. "If you haven't heard or seen any gays in Sudan then allow me to tell you 'You Don't live In The Real World then,'" Ali wrote in a message to other Sudanese bloggers. "I'm Sudanese and Proud Gay Also." His feelings were echoed in a mini-manifesto at the start of the blog "Rants and raves of a Kenyan gay man" that stated: "The Kenyan gay man is a myth and you may never meet one in your lifetime. However, I and many others like me do exist; just not openly. This blog was created to allow access to the psyche of me, who represents the thousands of us who are unrepresented."

News and Abuse

That limited form of coming out has earned the bloggers abuse or criticism via their blogs' comment pages or e-mails. "Faggot queen," wrote a commentator called 'blake' on Kenya's 'Rants and raves'. "I will put my loathing for you faggots aside momentarily, due to the suffering caused by the political situation," referring to the country's post-election violence. Some are more measured: "The fact that you are a gay Sudanese and proudly posting about it in itself is just not natural," a reader called 'sudani' posted on Ali's blog. Some of the bloggers use the diary-style format to share the ups and downs of gay life -- the dilemma of whether to come out to friends and relatives, the risks of meeting in known gay bars, or, according to blogger "...and then God created Men!" the joys of the Egyptian resort town Sharm el-Sheikh.

Others have turned their blogs into news outlets, focusing on reports of persecution in their region and beyond. The blog GayUganda reported on the arrests of gay men in Senegal in February. A month earlier, Blackgayarab posted video footage of alleged police harassment in Iraq. Kenya's "Rants and Raves" reported that gay people were targets in the country's election violence, while blogger Gukira focused on claims that boys had been raped during riots. Afriboy organized an auction of his erotic art to raise funds "to help my community in Kenya". There was also widespread debate on the comments made by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last September about homosexuals in his country.

The total number of gay bloggers in the region is still relatively small, say the few Web sites that monitor the scene. "It is the rare soul who is willing to go up against such blind and violent ignorance and advocate for gay rights and respect," said Richard Ammon of GlobalGayz.com which tracks gay news and Web sites throughout the world.

"There are a number of people from the community who are blogging both from Africa and the diaspora but it is still quite sporadic," said Nigerian blogger Sokari Ekine who keeps a directory of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender blogs on her own Web site Black Looks.

Ways to Meet

The overall coverage may be erratic, but pockets of gay blogging activity are starting to emerge. There are blogs bridging the Arabic-speaking world from Morocco in the west to the United Arab Emirates in the east. There is a self-sustaining circle of gay bloggers in Kenya and Uganda together with a handful of sites put up by gay Nigerians. And then there is South Africa, where the constitutional recognition of gay rights has encouraged many bloggers to come wholly into the open. "I don't preserve my anonymity at all. I am embracing our constitution which gives us the right to freedom of speech ... There is nothing wrong that I am doing," said Matuba Mahlatjie of the blog My Haven.

Beyond the blogging scene, the Internet's chat rooms and community sites have also become one of the safest ways for gay Africans and Arabs to meet, away from the gaze of a hostile society. "That is what I did at first, I mean, I looked around for others until I found others," said Gug, the writer behind the blog GayUganda. "Oh yes, I do love the Internet, and I guess it is a tool that has made us gay Ugandans and Africans get out of our villages and realize that the parish priest's homophobia is not universal opinion. Surprise, surprise!"

(Editing by Andrew Dobbie and Sara Ledwith)

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6974.html

27th February 2008

2
African lesbian conference demands equal rights

by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
Lesbians from across Africa have held a conference in Mozambique to highlight the homophobia and prejudice they face across the continent. Most nations in Africa criminalise same-sex relationships and in some countries gay people can be put to death. The Coalition of African Lesbians conference was attended by more than 100 delegates.

Women from 14 African countries gathered in Namibia's capital Windhoek in August 2004 to develop the Coalition of African Lesbians. Lesbian organisations and a number of individual women from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia are members of the organisation. "Our main goal is that lesbian and homosexuality can no longer be seen as a criminal offence," the group's director and conference spokeswoman Fikile Vilakazi told Reuters. "You should not be arrested and charged for how you use your own body."

The coalition lobbies for political, legal social, sexual, cultural and economic rights of African lesbians by engaging strategically with African and international structures and allies and to eradicate stigma and discrimination against lesbians. South Africa, one of the few countries on the continent where gay men and lesbians are allowed to marry and legally protected from discrimination, has been rocked by several murders of prominent lesbian activists.

Sizakele Sigasa, 34, an activist for HIV/AIDS and LGBT rights, and Salome Masooa, 24, were discovered dead at field in Soweto, Johannesburg, on July 8th. They had both been shot and, it is suspected, raped.

On 22nd July Thokozane Qwabe, 23, was found in a field in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal with multiple head wounds. She was naked and it is thought she was also raped.

Africa Today
http://africatoday.eh7.co.uk/cgi-bin/public.cgi?sub=news&action=one&cat=65&id=1374

March 31, 2008

3
Lesbians rise against discrimination

byBunmi Akpata-Ohohe
The Coalition of African Lesbians from across the continent has, at an extraordinary meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, called on African governments to confront discrimination against homosexuals across the continent and to stop treating them like criminals. Conference spokeswoman Fikile Vilakazi, told the forum that action was needed on growing homophobia that, she claimed was widespread in Africa and which violates individual's human rights. Scores of traditional African societies deem same-sex relationship as detestable and campaigners accuse some African governments of state-sponsored discrimination and persecution.

According to the International Gay and Lesbian Association, homosexuality is outlawed in 38 African countries, and legal or unmentioned in the statute book in at least 13. In Mauritania, Sudan and northern Nigerian states, homosexuality may be punished by death. In Uganda, 'offenders' may receive life imprisonment, and in countries including Gambia, Kenya and Tanzania, homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in jail. In contrast South Africa has the most liberal attitude enshrined in its constitution banning discrimination against gays and lesbians, although discrimination is still alive and kicking in the country too.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7456.html

April 21, 2008

4
Website celebrates Africa's gay heroes

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
A Supreme Court judge, an HIV treatment campaigner and an anti-apartheid activist all feature on a new website highlighting African heroes. All three are from South Africa. The website, africansuccess.org, was created by Kadija Traoré Bush, who is of is Malian and Beninoise heritage. She wants to add more African lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) biographies to the site, and is asking people to submit entries. "Gay Africans make up a part of the landscape of the continent," she said. Any member of the gay community who has achieved something of merit deserves a place on our site. We welcome the submission of their biographies."

Simon Nkoli, the South African gay rights and anti-apartheid activist, Zachie Achmat, the HIV treatment campaigner and Edwin Cameron, the openly gay and HIV-positive South African Supreme Court judge are the first three entries. The new website is being supported by gay human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell of OutRage! "The first three LGBT entries are all South Africans," he said. "There are many other heroic LGBT campaigners in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and elsewhere. I hope that people who know these courageous, inspiring individuals will add their biographies to the AfricanSuccess website in the coming weeks and months. This is, in part, a user-generated website, a bit like Wikipedia. It depends on public contributions to expand its data base."

The website organisers are keen to debunk the often negative public image of Africa. "Africansuccess.org wants to get people to look at Africa in a different and positive way," said Kadija Traoré Bush. "We want to inspire the young, give hope and ambition to Africans everywhere, and to change the way the world sees Africa. Our aim is to create a website that will inspire a continent. If we can show the world where Africans are successful, we can change the way in which we are perceived. It is an interactive community website, which encourages the people who visit the website to add the names and biographies of people that they know and consider worthy of being included. The site is free access and it is free to add names, biographies and other historical information. We hope that people from all countries and all walks of life are going to put up the biographies of people they feel proud of, so we can offer role models for today's children and tomorrow's leaders."