Letters & Opinions

Is homosexuality really "UnAfrican"? (2)

Cleo Manago

2006-04-13, Issue 250

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/33430

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When same gender loving (SGL) and ''bisexual'' Africans stop writing about ''African homosexual liberation'' in blatantly colonial-minded ways, and have more of an African liberatory/affirmation agenda parallel to their desire for safe acknowledgement in their country - they **might** have more effective results.

This article by Jacob Rukweza sounds like the voice of a colonized African homosexual who is using Europe - an abuser, disrupter and exploiter of ''Zimbabwe'' - as a frame of reference in terms of identity as he critiques his own people. I do not mean to imply that Rukweza's complaints are not justified, but he is confronting people, his people, who are still deep in the difficult throws of resurrecting themselves from being disrupted by White/European brutality. Just like in Black America, the group is still trying to reconstruct its manhood, its independence, its self-determination - which is still threatened by colonial/racist forces.

Also missing from Rukweza's story – as is typical among most gay identity advocates in Black American and African communities – is acknowledgement of the sexual exploitation of African males and boys by White Europeans taking place all over the Diaspora (This contributes to hatred for homosexuals throughout the Caribbean). How this also contributes to African discomfort (and humiliation) with ''gay'' is frequently left out.

An approach to homosexual rights in Africa that is framed in colonial constructs i.e. gay/lesbian identity/politics, that does not explicitly acknowledge African post colonial struggle, will never work. As it has not worked, similarly, in America's Black communities. The so-called Black gay movement was/is mired in anti-Black behavior and often headed up by gay identified Black men who exclusively had White partners. This was an assault even on many of the Black homosexuals who desperately relied on it for sexual empowerment. Anti-Black and bourgeoisie tendencies in this ''movement' today still compromises its credibility and effectiveness.

If we really are or were a part of African history, culture and experience, we need to act like we have respect for and honor that. We need to stop attempting to force feed homosexuality in European/colonial drag (politics) down the throats of our ambivalent communities who justifiably wonder if this ''gay stuff'' is just another symptom of or a weapon to compromise African people.

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