Mugabe is well known for his hatred for gay and lesbian people who he has described as worse than dogs and pigs, while the Zimbabwean leaders supporters and government agencies have fought to keep the country’s small homosexual community silent and away from the public view. Aids-Free World co-director Paula Donovan said government-sanctioned homophobia led to a police raid and arrests at the offices of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) last year.
Two members of the GALZ, the only representative body for homosexual people in Zimbabwe, were arrested during the raid at the organisations Harare offices last May and charged with possession of pornographic pictures in violation of the governments Censorship and Entertainment Control Act. The courts however found the GALZ workers not guilty of violating the Act that prohibits the possession or distribution of pornographic material including pictures videos or magazines.
Homosexuality remains an abomination in the eyes of many of Africas leaders and their communities with several cases of government action against gay and lesbian people reported in some parts of the continent last year. For example Malawis Parliament last May passed a bill to criminalise homosexuality while in the same month a judge threw a homosexual couple into jail for 14 years before they were pardoned by President Bingu Wa Mutharika.
And in Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga ordered police to arrest same-sex couples in a country where homosexuality can result in up to 14 years imprisonment. There were also moves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to tighten the screws on homosexual people.
Post published in: Politics