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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived
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Africa: Human Rights, Gay Rights
Any links to other sites in this file from 1996 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Africa: Human Rights, Gay Rights
Date Distributed (ymd): 960522
The controversy ignited last year when the Zimbabwean
government forced the closure of a stand by Gays and Lesbians
of Zimbabwe (GALZ) at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair
(ZIBF) continues to echo. At issue are fundamental questions of
the scope of human rights protections in Zimbabwe and other African
countries, issues which have confronted and are confronting
governments and organizations in the United States and elsewhere.
An extensive review of the issue (Marc Epprecht, "Culture,
History and Homophobia") was published in the March 1996 issue
of the Harare-based Southern Africa Political and Economic
Monthly (SAPEM), as the essay of the month. SAPEM is
available from the Southern Africa Political Economic Series
(SAPES) Trust, P.O. Box MP 111, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
(Tel: 727875; fax: 732735; e-mail sapes@mango.apc.org).
Another comment on the issue, from a U.S.-based church
organization with long involvement in Zimbabwe, is reproduced
below, with permission.
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April 3, 1996
The Joint Ministry in Africa
Board For World Ministries
United Church of Christ
in the United States
475 Riverside Dr., 16th Floor
New York, NY 10115-0109
Tel: (212) 870-2834; fax: (212) 932-1236
Division of Overseas Ministries
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
n the United States and Canada
P.O. Box 1986
Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986
Tel: (317) 635-3100, fax: (317) 635-4323
In Zimbabwe Gay Issues are Mission Issues
The Situation
During the past eight months anti-gay frenzy and hysteria has
figured prominently in the formerly tolerant and progressive
Zimbabwe, historically one of Africa's more viable and
forward-looking nations.
It all began in July 1995 when President Robert Mugabe shut
down a book exhibit organized by the Gays and Lesbians of
Zimbabwe (GALZ) at the prestigious Harare International Book
Fair. Explaining this action, he declared that homosexuals had
"no rights at all" and that they were "worse than dogs and
pigs" and that they should be cast out of society. He inferred
that homosexuality is not a part of African culture and that
it has been perniciously imported into Zimbabwe by the
decadent West.
Newspaper coverage of the president's remarks was very broad
throughout Africa as well as in Europe and North America. Many
analysts drew attention to Zimbabwe's historically tolerant
attitude to homosexuals. Some pundits thought that Mugabe was
using gays as a convenient scapegoat to mobilize Zimbabwe's
conservative church constituents to vote for him in the March
1996 elections. Zimbabwe's economy is in bad shape and the
vilification of gays could draw attention away from this
reality as well as from the existence of pervasive official
corruption in government circles.
Other commentators noted the difference between Zimbabwe and
neighboring South Africa where homosexual behavior is not
illegal (it is illegal in Zimbabwe) and where gays and
lesbians are accorded constitutional protection and civil
rights.
Zimbabwean church leaders did not take long to start weighing
in on the matter. Hardly any of them spoke an public word of
condemnation of the president's hateful and bigoted speeches.
In fact, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the main ecumenical
body of Zimbabwean churches, in what appeared to be a hastily
drafted communique, stated agreement with the president on
behalf of the mainline Protestant religious community. The
communique predictably cited Leviticus as proof that
homosexuals are beyond the pale of Christian morality.
Complicating the council's response is the fact that Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital, is the projected venue for the assembly of
the World Council of Churches in 1998. While making a public
show of support for Mugabe, the council moved quietly behind
the scenes to assure the World Council of Churches, on behalf
of the Mugabe government, that gay and lesbian delegates to
the Assembly would not be harassed or barred entry to the
country.
In spite of the president's injudicious remarks, the
Zimbabwean public appeared more worried about basic survival
issues such as food, housing, education, health care and
employment than with lynching gays and lesbians and turning
them into the police. And by late October it seemed that the
media had forgotten the whole affair. In the meantime,
President Mugabe laced other speeches with sexist references
and with anti-Semitic comments.
However, on the eve of the March presidential elections (which
Mugabe won), Mugabe raised the specter of vast numbers of gays
and lesbians subverting Zimbabwean culture and morality at an
international conference of evangelicals organized by the
Zimbabwe Assemblies of God. He said that Christians should
join his government in the battle to restore moral values and
fight "the cankering worm of debauchery and the affliction of
homosexuality."
Mugabe was quickly joined in his homophobic rantings by other
leading Zimbabwean politicians. Member of Parliament Border
Gezi demanded that the police "put them (homosexuals)
somewhere where they can never be seen because we cannot mix
with such people." His colleague in parliament, Anias
Chigwedere, stated: "The homosexuals are the festering finger
endangering the body and we chop them off...to prevent
national contamination." Zimbabwe's Department of Customs and
Excise immediately banned London's respected Gay Times
newsmagazine as "pornographic."
Even though Zimbabwe remains a popular venue for international
conferences and even though there is no indication that the
World Council of Churches is considering changing the venue of
the 1998 Assembly, some international bodies are already
discussing shifting their various conferences to other places.
They cite official homophobia as one of the reasons. One of
these groups is CITES (the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species). This organization refused to hold its
1994 meeting in Denver because of Colorado's anti-gay
legislation.
Disciples-UCC Africa Office Response
For more than one hundred years, the United Church of Christ
and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has maintained
relations with people in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia).
Represented by the Africa office of the Global Ministries of
the two denominations, partnerships in Zimbabwe are with: the
United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Synod of the
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, and Christian Care. More than US$100,000
in grants and staff support (there are currently four joint
Disciples/UCC missionaries in Zimbabwe) is allotted to the
country annually.
The Africa office of Global Ministries is guided by five
guiding principles including the following: "Recognizing the
freedom of God's Spirit to act in diverse ways we commit
ourselves to engage in dialogue, witness and common cause with
people of other faiths and movements with whom we share a
vision of peace, justice and the integrity of creation."
State sponsored homophobia constituted a human rights crisis
in Zimbabwe. Alarmed by the possibility that President
Mugabe's inflammatory rhetoric would provoke or set the stage
for vigilante style lynchings and harm to Zimbabwean gays,
lesbians, bisexuals, outraged by the comparison of GALZ
members to animals, pigs and dogs (meaning they are not even
worthy of respect as humans) the Africa office has taken four
steps:
1. In September 1995 a letter was sent to the heads of each
of the four partner organizations expressing profound concern
over the events surrounding closure of the GALZ exhibit at the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair and sharing relevant
information on United Church of Christ and Disciples formal
church actions concerning homosexuality. The letter invited
dialogue on the matter with the churches but indicated that
some day it might be necessary for the Africa office to take
a public stand on homophobic actions and statements coming
from the Zimbabwean government and churches.
2. In October 1995 the executive of the Africa office engaged
in dialogue with each of the partner organizations while on an
annual visit to Zimbabwe. The United Church of Christ in
Zimbabwe indicated only that it had no particular thoughts on
the matter and it was not on its list of priorities to address
one way or the other. The United Congregational Church of
Southern Africa, including the Zimbabwe Synod, is engaging in
a denomination-wide study on sexuality where the topic of
homosexuality will be addressed. The Zimbabwe Council of
Churches expressed surprise that North American churches,
whose missionaries taught Zimbabweans that homosexuality is
evil, are now shifting their views. Christian Care expressed
that the letter from the Africa office had provoked a good
deal of internal staff discussion.
3. Direct contacts between the Africa office and GALZ were
established in November 1995.
4. In identifying the key advocacy issues to be addressed by
the Africa office in 1996, gay civil rights in Zimbabwe was
listed. Several articles for limited distribution church
periodicals have been published.
Recommended Action
Even though it is possible that Mugabe only used the gay
bashing card as a short term electoral device to attract votes
of conservative church members, his public rhetoric may put
into motion hate motivated dynamics (such as gay lynching or
withdrawal of civil rights from gays and lesbians) that may
not be easily contained in the future.
The Africa office recommends that concerned church members
make known at once their outrage at Zimbabwe's officially
condoned homophobia to the office of President Mugabe himself.
They may wish to challenge the Zimbabwe Council of Churches on
its statements that simply clone theologically the views of
the Zimbabwe government. They may consider writing to the
World Council of Churches requesting that it change the venue
of its 1998 assembly from Zimbabwe. They may consider sending
a message of solidarity directly to GALZ.
Following are addresses for correspondence. The Africa office
is interested in receiving copies of replies coming from
Zimbabwe or others on this vital African advocacy and mission
issue:
Office of the President
Pvt Bag 7700
Causeway
Harare
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Council of Churches
PO Box 3566
Harare
Zimbabwe
The General Secretary
World Council of Churches
PO Box 2100
CH - 1211
Geneva 2
Switzerland
GALZ
PVT Bag A 6131
Harare
Zimbabwe
Africa Office
Global Ministries (UCC & Disciples)
PO Box 1986
Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986
USA
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This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals. APIC is affiliated with the Washington Office on
Africa (WOA), a not-for-profit church, trade union and civil
rights group supported organization that works with Congress
on Africa-related legislation.
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