Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: Putting Homophobia on Trial
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Description
Published as Chapter 48 in African Sexualities: A Reader, Sylvia Tamale, ed.
This chapter analyzes and critiques homophobia in Africa and argues that as a matter of general historical practice, Africans did not discriminate against, or socially stigmatize, gays and lesbians. The author contends that modern homophobia in Africa can be traced directly to mission Christianity and Islam whose doctrinal teachings have been used to promote homophobia. The writer takes the view that it is the normative obligation of human rights thinkers and advocates to deconstruct the intellectual bankruptcy of African homophobes and reconstruct a rights discourse that affirms the dignity of homosexuals. It is not un-African to be gay, as some have argued. Nor is there anything racial – or ethnic – about any form of sexual orientation. The author concludes by calling for a struggle based on anti-subordination to combat all forms of human powerlessness, including sexual orientation.
Publication Date
2011
Publisher
Pambazuka Press
City
Oxford
ISBN
9780857490162
First Page
452
Last Page
462
Keywords
gays, lesbians, homophobia, Africa, sexual orientation, anti-subordination, sexuality, human rights, liberalism, Christianity, Islam.
Disciplines
Gender and Sexuality | Human Rights Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Makau W. Mutua, Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: Putting Homophobia on Trial in African Sexualities: A Reader 452 (Sylvia Tamale, ed., Pambazuka Press 2011)
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