Gay rights appear
to have become a new frontier in diplomatic relations between Western powers
and African governments, with the US and UK warning they would use foreign aid
to push for homosexuality to be decriminalised on the socially conservative
continent.
Addressing an
audience of diplomats in Geneva, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called
for the rights of gay people to be respected.
"Gay people
are born into and belong to every society in the world," Mrs Clinton said.
"Being gay is
not a Western invention. It is a human reality."
"If the Americans think they can tell us what to do, they
can go to hell”
John
Nagenda
Ugandan
presidential adviser
Mrs Clinton did not
outline sanctions for countries that fail to reform same-sex laws, but an
official memorandum directs US government agencies to consider gay rights when
making aid and asylum decisions.
Her comments follow
a warning by UK Prime Minister David Cameron last month that the UK would
reduce some aid to countries that refuse to recognise gay rights.
Homosexual acts are
illegal in most African countries, including key Western allies such as Uganda,
Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Botswana.
Reacting angrily to
Mrs Clinton's speech, Ugandan presidential adviser John Nagenda told the BBC:
"That fellow [Mr Cameron] said the same thing. Now this woman [Clinton] is
interfering.
"If the
Americans think they can tell us what to do, they can go to hell."
Uganda is a staunch
ally of the US, receiving military assistance to fight a local rebel group -
the Lord's Resistance Army - and has sent troops to Somalia to fight the
al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.
Evangelical
lobby
Mr Nagenda said
Uganda would continue to co-operate with the US on security and other issues,
but added: "If they are childish enough to take away aid, we'll see what
we do [in response]."
UK-based Justice
for Gay Africans campaign group co-ordinator, Godwyns Onwuchekwa, told the BBC
that with US Christian evangelical groups increasingly active in Africa,
hostility toward gay people has worsened on the continent.
"The evangelical
lobby is very powerful and we know that they lobbied Uganda's parliament in
2009 to introduce anti-gay legislation," he said, referring to a private
member's bill - which was shelved after a local and international outcry -
which called for the death penalty to be imposed for some homosexual acts.
"I won't be
surprised if they are also involved in Nigeria, where the Anglican Archbishop
[Peter Akinola] has the support of US churches opposed to the ordination of gay
bishops."
The Nigerian Senate
- dominated by conservative Christian and Muslim MPs - last week approved a
bill to further criminalise homosexuality, using Mr Cameron's threat to cut aid
to rally public support and to accuse the UK - the former colonial power - of interfering.
"It is usually
better if people fight for themselves”
Godwyns
Onwuchekwa
Gay
rights activist
The bill, which
still has to be passed by the lower house before becoming law, says same-sex
couples entering into either marriage or cohabitation would face jail terms of
up to 14 years, and those "witnessing" or "abetting" such
relationships would also face custodial sentences.
"The only
thing that unites Christians and Muslims in Nigeria [where thousands of people
have been killed in sectarian conflict] is the oppression of gay people,"
Mr Onwuchekwa said.
In Egypt, the BBC's
Ranyah Sabry says that UK and US calls for homosexuality to be decriminalised
will be rejected by all political parties in the North African state - one of
the first to be hit by a popular uprising for democratic reforms in the Arab
world.
"Their timing
couldn't be worse, with the Islamists on the rise [following their victory in
first stage of parliamentary elections], but gay rights are totally
unacceptable to all political forces - liberals, secularists and
Islamists," she says.
"They all
respect religion and in Islam it is a well-ingrained belief that homosexuality
is not allowed."
"Their timing
couldn't be worse, with the Islamists on the rise [following their victory in
first stage of parliamentary elections], but gay rights are totally
unacceptable to all political forces - liberals, secularists and
Islamists," she says.
"They all
respect religion and in Islam it is a well-ingrained belief that homosexuality
is not allowed."
A female blogger,
20-year-old Aliaa Elmahdy posted nude pictures of herself on her blog, a Rebel's
Diary, and Facebook page in October to argue for reforms that would respect
personal choices.
Islamists
are on the ascendancy in Egypt
"The Islamists
said she should be killed and when she tried to go to Tahrir Square [the focal
point of pro-democracy protests] last week, she was beaten and thrown
out."
Ms Sabry says she
does not expect Washington to jeopardise relations with Egypt - a key regional
ally and the biggest recipient of US aid after Israel - over gay rights.
"Nobody is
going to support the US on this issue - not even non-governmental
organisations. They'll just have to drop it."
Backlash concerns
Some analysts
believe that Mrs Clinton's emphasis on gay rights is directed at a liberal
domestic constituency ahead of elections next year, and is also intended to
counter the growing influence of right-wing evangelical groups in Africa - some
of whom have also opposed the use of condoms on a continent with high rates of
HIV/Aids.
It does not mean
that aid is going to be stripped... but it certainly means that the US
government is going to promote programmes and promote organisations that are
trying to improve the lives of LGBT people”
Michael
Cole-Schwartz
Human
Rights Campaign
But Mr Onwuchekwa
believes that President Barack Obama's government has little moral authority to
promote gay rights in Africa.
"In the US,
gay marriages are not recognised in some states. So how does it expect other
countries to listen to it?" he said.
Mr Nagenda
dismisses suggestions that the US evangelical movement has stiffened Ugandan
opposition to gay rights.
"We've had our
religions, customs and traditions since time immemorial. This [homosexuality]
is taboo."
Mr Onwuchekwa says
that while diplomatic pressure can be effective, Western governments would be
wrong to cut aid if there was no reform of same-sex laws.
"It will just
make it more difficult for gay people who will face a backlash. And poor people
will suffer if aid is cut," he says.
"Governments will
still be corrupt and politicians will still be rich."
Mr Onwuchekwa said
Western governments should instead focus on strengthening human rights groups
in Africa.
"It is usually
better if people fight for themselves," he says.
Michael
Cole-Schwartz from Human Rights Campaign - the largest organisation for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the US –
said he doubted
that the Obama administration intended to be "punitive" against
countries that refused to change same-sex laws.
"I believe
that this is sending a strong statement that pro-LGBT [lesbian, gay and
bisexual and transgender] policies are those that should be pursued," he
said.
"It does not
mean that aid is going to be stripped from countries, but it certainly means
that the US government is going to promote programmes and promote organisations
that are trying to improve the lives of LGBT people."
