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Gay Zanzibar News & Reports

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1 Gay men liable to jail for life in Zanzibar 3/04

2 Call for travel boycott as Zanzibar bans gays 4/04

3 Zanzibar's gay community fears tough new law will force it into twilight zone 6/04

4 Secrecy, Stones and Insults: The Gay Life on Zanzibar 11/04

5 Another one bites the dust 9/06

The Guardian, London, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1229232,00.html

March 25, 2004

1
Gay men liable to jail for life in Zanzibar

Jeevan Vasagar, east Africa correspondent
A moral panic over homosexuality in Zanzibar has prompted the island's government to draft a law imposing life imprisonment for men convicted of gay sex.

Homosexuality is already illegal on the Indian Ocean island and the gay scene is covert, but the draft bill appears to be a backlash against the increasing numbers of Zanzibaris living more openly gay lifestyles.
The proposed law bans same-sex marriages and sanctions a 25-year jail term for sex between men and a seven-year term for lesbians.

" We have heard that same-sex marriages have taken place here and we want to guard against this trend," Zanzibar's deputy attorney general, Omar Makungu, told the BBC.
Homosexuality is still largely taboo in Africa, and bigoted attitudes are held by the church and politicians, but the east African coast has traditionally taken a more tolerant approach. While there are no gay clubs or bars, coastal regions like Zanzibar, and Lamu and Malindi in Kenya, are popular destinations for gay tourists.

The clampdown follows a same-sex marriage reportedly celebrated publicly on the island last year.
There is scepticism about whether Zanzibar's authorities will put the law into practice, or whether it is simply a sop to conservative opinion on the Muslim-dominated island.
" I don't think the police are going to go looking for homosexuals in the clubs," Mr Karim said. "They are just putting out a new law to show the government is serious. It's a political issue. Because some people are saying openly they are homosexual and are not afraid, the government is showing it is going to take some action."

Zanzibar and nearby Pemba island enjoy a degree of autonomy within the Tanzanian republic, which already has a law, inherited from the British colonial era, which penalises homosexuality with up to 14 years' jail, though it is rarely enforced.
African leaders such as Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, regularly fulminate against homosexuality as a practice illustrating western decadence and alien to Africa.

However, anthropologists have documented cases of "male wives" on the continent in pre-colonial times and the main opposition to homosexual equality is from the churches bearing Victorian attitudes to sex.

April 25, 2004

2
Call for travel boycott as Zanzibar bans gays

by Gemma Bowes, The Observer
A gay rights group is calling for travellers to boycott Zanzibar after the East African island outlawed homosexuality.
The Tanzanian island's parliament passed a bill earlier this month to jail people in same-sex relationships for up to 25 years. Ministers declared tourism had corrupted traditional values in the largely Muslim state, stating that in Islam homosexuality is prohibited.

Peter Tatchell, spokesperson and campaigner for OutRage!, said: 'I would hope that both gay and straight travellers will boycott Zanzibar.'
However, the boycott call was described as an 'irresponsible and knee-jerk' reaction by a spokesman for specialist travel agent Zanzibar Travel. 'Has any thought been given to the local economy? It is the local people that would suffer from a reduced number of visitors. Tourism is the second-largest sector of the economy after spice production.'

Tatchell has campaigned for gay rights internationally for decades and encouraged a boycott of Caribbean resort chain Sandals in the 1990s, which only allows mixed-sex couples on its holidays. 'I think gay people should be extremely careful if they go to countries like Zanzibar, and the safest policy is not to go there at all,' he said.
More than 70 countries, a third of the world's total, ban homosexuality, and in some, such as Saudi Arabia, gay sex is punishable by death. Last year, Indonesia made gay sex punishable by imprisonment.

'Most Caribbean states have very tough anti-gay laws and a very dangerous climate, gay people are routinely beaten and murdered in places like Jamaica,' said Tatchell.
The Zanzibar Travel spokesman urged people to take the local history, culture and morals of the country into consideration. He said: 'One needs to be sensitive to the society which is introducing the law, rather than impose our own standards on a very different culture.' He said the company would not comment on the situation to customers until details of how the law would be enforced and to whom it would apply were made clear.

Another tour operator that offers Zanzibar, Iglu (www.iglu.com), said it would only advise travellers on safety based on recommendations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Association of British Travel Agents, both of which have not commented on the issue.

A spokesman for Stonewall, which campaigns for equal rights for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, said it would not advise people to avoid the country as it was the individual's decision, but he expected there to be a boycott.
For more information contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (0870 606 0290; www.fco.gov.uk), or visit the International Lesbian and Gay Association site (www.ilga.org).

June 2, 2004

3
Zanzibar's gay community fears tough new law will force it into twilight zone

by Jeevan Vasagar
Sabri Ali sashays through the narrow alleys of Stone Town, the warren of 19th century streets at the heart of Zanzibar, attracting delight and disapproval in equal measure. Children glance at him curiously and teenagers mimic his catwalk strut. Some men give him hostile stares. A woman in a bui bui, the flowing black veil worn by Muslim women on the east African coast, calls out in Swahili: "By Allah, he looks fine!"

And he does. Sabri's eyebrows are plucked, his glossy hair is swept back and he has dressed for the evening in an olive-green trouser suit and a ruffled, black satin blouse. But few gay men on Zanzibar dare to be so bold. Last month, legislators passed a bill bringing in stiffer penalties for gay sex, a sign that a mood of conservatism may be creeping over the traditionally tolerant island. As in most African societies, homosexuals in Zanzibar have been regarded with disapproval and scorn, but until recently there was a willingness on the island to turn a blind eye to discreet gay relationships.

Although, contrary to earlier press reports men convicted of gay sex will not risk being jailed for life, the crackdown has caused dismay among members of the gay community. Once the new law is approved by the island's president, Amani Karume, gay sex acts will be punishable by up to five years in prison, while gay partners who celebrate a "marriage" will face up to seven years' behind bars.
Homosexuality was already illegal, but the penalties were toughened after two gay men outraged conservative opinion by publicly celebrating their "marriage" at one of the island's hotels last year.

Othman Masoud, the director of public prosecutions on Zanzibar, said: "In the past, this was a closed society and very religious. Those who were doing this kind of thing were doing it in private. But now it is becoming much more public, and causing public concern. "We cannot allow our society to crumble, to decay like this."

Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean island 25 miles off the Tanzanian coast – the birthplace of the late rock star Freddie Mercury – has got a thriving, if covert, gay scene. Certain clubs and bars are known to be occasional gay hang-outs. At the Bwawani hotel, where the gay "marriage" was celebrated last year, men meet to flirt and sometimes dance with each other on a Tuesday night. At the Garage bar in Stone Town, the cultural heart of Zanzibar, Monday is the unofficial gay night.

The scene is dominated by casual and often anonymous sex. Some of the men involved are married, and matters are complicated by the fact that many do not regard themselves as homosexual, even if they have got boyfriends. "In Swahili a gay man is known as a msenge," one gay Zanzibari explained. "He is the passive one. The active one is called the basha. He gets respect and he will not call himself gay."

The dishonesty around gay sex tends to encourage dubious relationships. Ahmed, a hairdresser, is openly gay, but prefers to conduct affairs with married men. "When someone is married they respect you, because they are afraid of being found out," Ahmed explained at a dimly lit salon decorated with posters of women's haircuts and a newspaper picture of his heart-throb, the actor and singer Will Smith. "And I like to play around. If someone is married, they will not have time to see anyone else, but I am free to get another man."

Health workers fear that the advent of a more repressive climate in Zanzibar could trigger an increase in HIV/Aids infections.
Ricardo Fernández, the project coordinator for a Spanish medical aid agency, said: "This measure will increase the stigma of homosexuality and increase the risks, by making homosexuals behave more secretively." The legislation is also likely to entrench the repressed attitudes to homosexuality, making gay men even more cautious about openly identifying themselves, and more fearful of being caught.

"In the past, it was simple," said one gay man who runs an Aids charity on the island. "You would look at somebody and if you wanted them, you would call them over – as long as you didn't call them gay. But with the new law, you need to know if you can trust them."

The changes in the law have been supported by the Islamic Awareness Society, a Muslim pressure group which wants Zanzibar to adopt sharia law. Although Muslims on the island have traditionally practised a gentle and tolerant brand of the faith, there have been occasional flare-ups of violence, thought to have been inspired by Islamist militants. About 90% of Zanzibar's one million people are Muslim.

In March, a spate of bomb attacks, including a hand-grenade which was tossed into a tourist restaurant while a British diplomat was having dinner, was blamed on Muslim radicals.

The director of public prosecutions said that criminal cases were unlikely if the island's gay population behaved with discretion. He said: "So far as that [homosexuality] is done in private, it is not the concern of prosecutors. "But when it is in public, that is our concern – like when the two men openly celebrated their union at the Bwawani hotel. That caused a lot of complaints from the public. This is not a question of trying to spy on the private life of somebody, but when it is done publicly, there will be concern."

Even if prosecutions turn out to be rare, the new law on the statute books gives an effective tool for blackmail and repression.
Sabri Ali, who sings traditional taarab music at a Zanzibar club, is already aware of the cost of being different. Sometimes he is feted in the streets, but at other times youths have called out insults and thrown stones at him. He was ostracised by his family after his younger brother shaved off his hair and locked him in his bedroom for four days in a futile attempt to stop him being gay.

Now he fears having to conceal his sexuality. "I want to be free," he said. "I don't want this law. But maybe I will have to change the way that I dress."

Reuters
http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/tanzania/tznews014.htm

November 8, 2004

4
Secrecy, Stones and Insults: The Gay Life on Zanzibar

by Helen Nyambura
It’s the eve of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims, but Hamedi says he will not set foot in a mosque for the whole fasting period, or at any other time for that matter. As a homosexual in the devoutly Islamic Indian Ocean island, Hamedi is afraid other worshippers will attack him if he dares enter a mosque.

“They know I am gay, they throw stones at me on the streets, they insult me. I don’t have time for them, I keep to my business,” Hamedi said, asking that his name and profession be kept secret. To the outside world, Zanzibar is a laid-back tourist’s paradise but in recent months, Islamic groups have spearheaded a campaign to cleanse the island of “corrupting” practices such as homosexuality and alcohol.

In August, the government of the semi-autonomous island archipelago that forms part of Tanzania, outlawed gay sex and set prison terms of up to 25 years for men and seven years for lesbians. The law also set a penalty of life imprisonment for sodomising a minor. The government argues there has always been a law against homosexuality, but that it was vague. Officials say the revised legislation is effective because it defines clearly what parliament considers indecent sexual practices.

The crackdown seems like a draconian measure to Hamedi, who says he has always wanted to be a girl. “It was my destiny, I couldn’t hide from it. I played with girls and dolls. I want make-up and to look like a girl,” he said, patting his long hair into place with graceful, manicured fingers. He currently does not have a boyfriend, nor has he ever slept with anyone’s husband. “Men are liars, they just want to use you—male or female,” Hamedi says resignedly.

Hypocrites
Although Zanzibar is 95 percent Muslim, islanders say homosexuality and bisexuality have been practised among its one million people for as long as many can remember. “There are Zanzibaris that we know, and are popular and every Zanzibari knows that that particular person is gay,” said Ismail Mohammed, who owns a popular restaurant and nightclub. “Zanzibaris are hypocrites, we love to do things behind the door.” Abilahi, another gay man, said very few men were exclusively homosexual in Zanzibar. “Gay people here are already married or go ahead and get married. It is not seen as homosexuality as you know it in the West, it is part of the culture here.”

Some islanders, like Farida, welcome the tough new law. Farida married when she was only 18. Two years into the marriage and with a second daughter on the way, she discovered that her husband preferred the company of other men. “His friends would tell me, ‘that is your co-wife,’” Farida said referring to her husband’s male partner. She divorced soon after she caught him in bed with a man. “I was happy about the law and hope it will be implemented,” she said.

However, few islanders believe the law will change people’s lifestyles much. “I think homosexuality is a filthy thing for society, but I don’t think the law will do much to stop it,” said tour guide Jihad Hassan. “Many things have been banned but that doesn’t stop people from doing them.” Human Rights Zanzibar has long relied on tourism for much-needed foreign exchange revenue, but the government’s recent move has prompted travel agencies specialising in trips for gays and lesbians to threaten a boycott.

The government protests.
“Homosexuality has not yet been accepted internationally. When you say you will boycott Zanzibar because of the issue of homosexuality, then I think that is a very narrow way of thinking,” said Zanzibar Minister of State Hassan Diria.

But there may be hope for a reprieve for Zanzibar’s gay community. The main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), say they would amend the law if they came to power in elections due in 2005. “In today’s world, human rights are given a very prominent place. I feel there is need to review such laws that violate some people’s basic human rights,” said Ismail Jussa Ladhu, CUF’s deputy director of foreign affairs.

From the Agence France Presse

1 September, 2006

5
Another one bites the dust

A 60th birthday gala for the late gay rock star Freddie Mercury was canceled Thursday on the east African island of Zanzibar, where Mercury was born, after outraged Muslims threatened to disrupt it, Agence France Presse reported. On Wednesday, organisers said they would continue with the planned September 2nd event despite fierce opposition from Islamists, who said the lifestyle of Queen's flamboyant lead singer was offensive to many on the overwhelmingly Muslim archipelago. Organisers said Thursday they have no choice but to call it off.

"We have decided to cancel the party after misleading and erroneous information was spread about it," said organiser Simai Mohamed Saidi, who runs a Freddie Mercury theme restaurant in the capital. "I urge Muslim groups in the future to seek correct information from us instead of relying on rumours," he said in an open letter, adding the event was intended to honour Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991. Saidi lamented that the cancellation would hurt his intention to use the party to raise money for HIV/AIDS victims on Zanzibar.
Zanzibar, a semiautonomous region of Tanzania, criminalised gay and lesbian sex in 2004, but remains a popular resort destination for South African gays.

Conservative Zanzibari Islamists last week demanded that authorities ban the party and then vowed to stage mass demonstrations if it went ahead, saying it would tarnish the islands' reputation and culture and promote homosexuality. "We were ready to join forces against the party because we had information that a number of gays from abroad had come to take part," Sheikh Azzan Hamdani of the association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation, told AFP. "We had also written letters to the tourist commission and the owner of the Mercury restaurant, demanding that they stop the party."

Authorities, who have long tiptoed between the demands of a booming tourist industry and the wishes of conservative Muslims, never formally responded to Islamists, AFP reported. But Zanzibar's information ministry this week ordered local state-run media not to give the event any coverage.

Few on Zanzibar are aware of Queen or Freddie Mercury, who was born Farrokh Bulsara on the main island of Unguja to ethnic Persian parents on September 5, 1946. But the appearance of posters advertising the beach party to celebrate what would have been his 60th birthday in recent weeks prompted the Islamist complaints. Although he was educated in India and moved with his family to Britain in 1964, Mercury remains Zanzibar's most famous son to many Westerners and rock music fans.