Homosexuality and Homophobia in Africa: A Cultural Debate
Homosexuality continues to be a hotly debated social and political issue in Africa. The reason for this has been the number of African nations which have passed laws which criminalize homosexuality. A most recent example has been in Ghana which passed an anti-homosexuality bill earlier this year.
In my view, this is often a very difficult issue to discuss because the debate usually falls into one of two extremes. There is one side of the debate which views homosexuality as something which is completely un-African. The other side of the debate suggests that homophobia is actually un-African and that negative views towards homosexuality were imported into Africa via colonialism.
My view on the matter is somewhere in-between. This is to state that my view on the matter is that pre-colonial African societies did view homosexuality negatively, yet at the same time the violent repression of homosexuals was not an aspect of most traditional African societies.
It is difficult to have a clear and honest discussion on this issue because there is a lot of misinformation which is spread. For example, those who take the position that homophobia was imported into Africa via colonialism often misrepresent Africa’s history and culture.
For example, in an article titled “African sexuality and the legacy of imported homophobia,” Leah Buckle writes:
In contrast, King Henry VIII had just signed the Buggery Act in 1533 in England, which criminalised sex between two males. The last men to be sentenced to death by hanging in England were in 1835 for engaging in homosexual sex; whilst at the same time there was an openly gay monarch, King Mwanga II of Buganda (present day Uganda), who actively opposed Christianity and colonialism. The Igbo and Yoruba tribes, found mostly in present day Nigeria, did not have a binary of genders and typically did not assign gender to babies at birth, and instead waited until later life.
There are a few points of correction to be made here. In the first place, Mwanga II was not an “openly gay monarch”. The fact is that Mwanga had several wives. Below is a list of his wives as given in the book Ekitabo Ky’empisa Z’abganda. The page states “King Mwanga II, the son of Mukaabya Muteesa, married fourteen wives.” It then lists his 14 wives.
It was reported that Mwanga also had sex with men, so it would perhaps be more accurate to describe Mwanga has being bisexual, but he certainly was not “openly gay.” In fact, when Mwanga was forced into exile he took his wife Salima. Below is a photo of Salima and a child that she had with Mwanga.
As for the Yoruba not having a binary of genders, how then does one explain the Gelede spectacle among the Yoruba people which was specifically meant to celebrate womanhood in Yoruba society? Of the Gelede spectacle, Taiwo Makinde explained:
Gelede is a form of advocating respect for motherhood as well as using the performance to entertain the general public and, in the process, sensitize the public to the virtues of social living and good citizenship. The Gelede spectacle is a means of educating, amusing, and inspiring worship all at the same time. At this ceremony, colorful masks are displayed in addition to arts and ritual dance.
Anyone who has read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe would know that Achebe depicted Igbo society as a patriarchal one. He certainly did not portray a society with a non-binary view of gender.
It is unfortunate to see this misleading view being propagated by a prominent Pan-African organization such as the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, as demonstrated by the post below:
Gender binaries existed in Africa and this had nothing to do with a capitalist framework. In Vodun, the creator deity is Mawu-Lisa, who is half man and half woman. The significance of this is that men and women cannot exist without the other. This is obviously a very binary view of gender. One finds other examples which point to this balance in African cultures. One example that can be found in the Lingala language is the phrase for right side is “na loboko ya mobali” (on the hand of a man) and the phrase for left side is “na loboko ya mwasi” (on the hand of a woman). This again is a very binary view on gender which seeks men and women as being two sides which cannot exist in the absence of the other.
The Dogon people believe that everyone is born with a male and female soul. The Dogon people also believe that circumcision rituals removed the second soul, so that men were left with a male soul and women were left with a woman soul. This again is a very binary view of gender in which men should only have a male soul and women should only have a female soul.
As I noted before, African societies did have a generally negative view of homosexuality. This was seen in E.E. Evans-Pritchard’s article titled “Sexual Inversion among the Azande.” In this article he noted that homosexuality was openly practiced by Azande men. At the same time, this practice was not generally accepted among the Azande people. Evans-Pritchard quoted one man who stated: “What man would prefer a boy to a woman ? A man would be a fool to do so.” The Azande people also viewed lesbianism negatively. In a book titled The Ovimbundu of Angola, Wilfrid D. Hambly wrote that the Ovimbundu people homosexuality was viewed as being “very bad”. In both examples, those who engaged in homosexuality were not violently punished, but the two examples clearly indicate a negative view towards homosexuality which existed independently of any colonial influence.
As I stated, I understand that homosexuals in African societies are subjected to violent repression. I do not agree with this, but I also do not think it is helpful to misrepresent Africa’s history and culture. Of course, I think the other side of the debate tends to misrepresent history as well by creating the image of an Africa where homosexuality was an alien behavior which was imported by colonizers. I think this view is inaccurate as well. A more honest depiction of Africa’s views on sexuality would acknowledge that many African societies did have a binary view of gender and that African societies tended to have a negative view of homosexuality, but this negative view existed in response to homosexual practices which existed in Africa independent of any prevailing colonial influence. It is also important to stress that this negative view of homosexuality did not result in the violent repression of homosexuals either.
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For a more detailed treatment of this topic, see my ebook Homosexuality in Africa: A Cultural Debate.
