US support of gay rights in Africa may have done more harm than good

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This was published 8 years ago

US support of gay rights in Africa may have done more harm than good

By Norimitsu Onishi
Updated

Lagos: Suspicious neighbours and landlords pry into their private lives. Blackmailers hunt for victims on the social media sites they use to meet other men. Police officers routinely stop them to search for incriminating images and chats on their phones.

After an anti-gay law went into effect last year, many gay Nigerians say they have been subjected to new levels of harassment, even violence.

They blame the law, authorities and broad social intolerance for their troubles. But they also blame an unwavering supporter whose commitment to their cause has been unquestioned and overt across Africa: the US government.

"The US support is making matters worse," said Mike, 24, a university student studying biology in Minna, a town in central Nigeria who asked that his full name not be used for safety reasons. "There's more resistance now. It's triggered people's defence mechanism."

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Initiative for Equal Rights, a gay rights group in Lagos, Nigeria, in October.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Initiative for Equal Rights, a gay rights group in Lagos, Nigeria, in October. Credit: New York Times

Four years ago, the US government embarked on an ambitious campaign to expand civil rights for gay people overseas by marshalling its diplomats, directing its foreign aid and deploying US President Barack Obama to speak before hostile audiences.

Since 2012, the US government has put more than $US700 million (more than $970 million) into supporting gay rights groups and causes globally. More than half of that money has focused on sub-Saharan Africa - just one indication of this continent's importance to the new policy.

America's money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible - and more vulnerable to harassment and violence, people on both sides of the gay rights issue contend.

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The US campaign has stirred misgivings among many African activists, who say they must rely on the West's support despite often disagreeing with its strategies.

Akudo Oguaghamba, executive director of the Women's Health and Equal Rights Initiative, a not-for-profit in Nigeria, in October.

Akudo Oguaghamba, executive director of the Women's Health and Equal Rights Initiative, a not-for-profit in Nigeria, in October. Credit: New York Times

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, the final passage of the 2014 law against homosexuality - which made same-sex relationships punishable by 14 years in prison and made it a crime to organise or participate in any type of gay meeting - is widely regarded by both supporters and opponents of gay rights as a reaction to US pressure on Nigeria and other African nations to embrace gay rights.

"The Nigerian law was blowback", said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission and the senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which supports gay rights on the continent. "You now have situations of gay men being molested on the streets or taunted. That was all avoidable."

A gay man who said he hides his identity from his friends and family, in Bariga, a neighbourhood in Lagos, in October.

A gay man who said he hides his identity from his friends and family, in Bariga, a neighbourhood in Lagos, in October. Credit: New York Times

"I've said to US diplomats privately as well - the risk is causing more harm than good," he added. "You don't want an infusion of goodwill to actually do harm to the community that you think you're protecting."

Anti-gay sentiments are widespread across Africa. Same-sex relations remain illegal in most nations, the legacy of colonial laws that had been largely forgotten until the West's push to repeal them in recent years.

Fierce opposition has come from African governments and private organisations, which accuse the US of cultural imperialism. Pressing gay rights on an unwilling continent, they say, is the latest attempt by Western nations to impose their values on Africa.

"In the same way that we don't try to impose our culture on anyone, we also expect that people should respect our culture in return," said Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian active in lobbying against gay rights.

US officials defend their efforts, saying they are mindful of the many risks gay Africans face.

"If it's important to advance the human rights and development of these folks by being discreet, that's a position we're perfectly comfortable taking," said Todd Larson, the senior lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender coordinator for the US Agency for International Development. "Our goal is to support them in their efforts and not necessarily take front and centre, particularly when highlighting US support might endanger our partners."

Shortly after Nigeria's law went into effect, Animashaun Azeez, 24, a university student here, arranged to meet somebody he had chatted with on Manjam, a social network for gay people. The person showed up, along with three plain-clothes officers. Azeez said he spent three days in jail and was released only after his father, fearing publicity, paid off the police with about $US900.

"Many LGBT people are getting into trouble day by day," said Azeez, who after the episode became a volunteer for the Initiative for Equal Rights, a gay rights group in Lagos.

Violence against gay Nigerians has increased significantly, according to the country's National Human Rights Commission. Most are attacked in the open by groups of men, some of whom call themselves "cleansers", rights groups say.

But victims often do not report attacks for fear of being outed. Even men infected with HIV are often reluctant to seek treatment at hospitals, fearing that authorities will be called, said Stella Iwuagwu, executive director of the Centre for the Right to Health, an HIV patient and rights group based in Lagos.

"Before, these people were leading their lives quietly, and nobody was paying any attention to them," Iwuagwu said. "Before, a lot of people didn't even have a clue there were something called gay people. But now they know and now they are outraged. Now they hear that America is bringing all these foreign lifestyles. They are emboldened by the law. The genie has already left the bottle."

The US role comes as long-standing foes in its culture wars continue to move their fight to Africa. Many private supporters of equal rights for gay people in the US, after landmark successes at home, are increasing their funding of gay causes abroad, especially in Africa.

US conservative and Christian groups have also turned to Africa, where the vast majority of people still share their opposition to same-sex relations and marriage.

"There is an intentional effort to coordinate with Africa specifically because we don't want them to make the mistakes we've made here in America," said Larry Jacobs, managing director of the World Congress of Families, an umbrella organisation of social conservative and religious groups. It is based in Rockford, Illinois, and is active with Okafor in Nigeria.

Gay Africans are becoming increasingly caught in the US culture battles being waged in Africa, said the Reverend Kapya Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia who is a researcher at the Massachusetts-based Political Research Associates.

"When two elephants fight, the grass will suffer," said Kaoma, who has documented the ties between US evangelicals and the anti-gay movement in Africa. "This is what's happening in Africa. African LGBT persons are just collateral damage to US politics on both ends."

US moves to tie developmental assistance to gay rights have fuelled anger across the continent. After Uganda's president signed a tough anti-gay law last year, for example, the Obama administration announced that some aid money for the Ugandan police and health agencies would be cut off or redirected.

"This is an abuse of power, and that's why many are turning around and saying, 'Keep your money'," said the Reverend George Ehusani, former secretary-general of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, adding that Nigerian Catholic charities had stopped applying for US government grants that promote gay rights.

Nigerian fashion blogger Aboyani Shoyinka, 27, said that pushing "too fast" and "too hard" for gay rights can only make things "bad or worse".

"As time goes on, we will get there," Shoyinka said. "The patient dog eats the fattest bone."

New York Times

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