In reference to the World Day towards Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, on Could 17, two Africans testify about their lives, poles aside: one, a gay in Senegal, have to be hidden to keep away from imprisonment, whereas the opposite, a lesbian in South Africa , asserts itself in daylight.
Habibou, 25, is a younger Dakarois like everybody else – or virtually. This English scholar does every little thing to defend himself from the encompassing homophobia and tries to disguise his identification because the “goorjigeen” (“boy” in Wolof). “The undeniable fact that the phrase exists exhibits that homosexuality is an element of our tradition. We frequently neglect it, however it was tolerated in our conventional society earlier than imams considered this sort of fastened concept within the Nineteen Nineties by solely concentrating on gays and never lesbians. “
Habibou curses his time, which prevents him from placing on the garments he likes, from going out along with his head held excessive and having fun with life. “I keep away from brilliant colours and floral patterns, I wore denims and checkered shirts that match all over the place. I am on my guard on a regular basis to not appear outraged. ”
Imprisonment in Senegal
His mom guessed, he says, however the unstated prevails. “She has not informed anybody within the household about it, however I can really feel the contempt in her eyes.” The younger man is all of the extra pressured as a result of he’s the oldest of his siblings and subsequently ought to set a great instance. He discreetly visits his mates in the key locations the place they meet. “It is dangerous: aside from the scandal that it could trigger me to deworm, I danger imprisonment as a result of of easy dismissals.” Article 319 of the Senegalese Penal Code is unequivocal: ‘Anybody who commits an indecent or unnatural act with an particular person of his intercourse shall be punished by imprisonment for one to 5 years and a effective. “
Habibou was 17 when Barack Obama paid an official go to to Dakar. He remembers it as if it had been yesterday: questioned by an American journalist concerning the decriminalization of homosexuality, President Macky Sall declared that “Senegal is a tolerant nation that doesn’t discriminate by way of rights remedy. […]. However we will not be able to decriminalize homosexuality. That is Senegal’s different in the intervening time. This doesn’t imply that we’re homophobic. However society should take up, take the time to take care of these points with out strain. “
For Habibou, the message is obvious: “Issues won’t ever change. There is no such thing as a doubt that I’ll marry a girl, as some do. To adapt to the purpose of pretending to be straight is unlucky for everybody, I even have to go if I would like to reside in peace. Therefore his selection of English, given a potential departure to america, which he rejects yearly. The rationale? “My boyfriend isn’t able to go, and I am not prepared to depart him. “
Freedom at the center of the wrestle towards apartheid
At the opposite finish of the continent, in Cape City, Khetiwe, 32, lives a life that goes towards Habibou’s life. Brief hair coloured blonde, this inventive in an promoting company doesn’t disguise. Quite the opposite: she married her associate, a younger lady, additionally from Xhosa and initially from Cape City. They’ve their house within the bohemian space of Woodstock, not removed from the college, and are contemplating beginning a household. Khetiwe says she is “pleased” to reside within the solely nation in Africa the place same-sex marriage is acknowledged and LGBT rights are enshrined within the structure.
“Once I was 14, I informed my dad and mom, lecturers in Khayelitsha, that I used to be a lesbian. It went effectively with them. My father supported me, he defined that he had not fought towards apartheid all his life in order that his kids’s freedoms had been violated. However it was longer and tougher with my older brother, who was beneath strain from his group of mates, completed machos. It took years earlier than he accepted that “his honor didn’t query, however my happiness”.
Khetiwe evokes “corrective” rapes and murders of lesbians, extra particularly identified in townships than gays, who will not be subjected to the identical violence. “In fact all of us take into account the horrific homicideEudy Simelane 2008 on Kwa-Thema, a township in Johannesburg, she admits. A member of Banyana Banyana (“Ladies”, the identify of the feminine soccer staff), this lesbian sportswoman and activist was raped and stabbed within the face by 4 attackers, two of whom had been later sentenced to 32 and 35 years. Jail. .
“This horrible information has grow to be certainly one of the subjects that the press loves, however the newspapers fail to notice that our society additionally produces stars who Zanele Muholi, a lesbian photographer who reveals all around the world and offers with these subjects in his artwork. Mamela nyamza, dancer and choreographer, additionally do it in an open means. Earlier than her, Brenda Fassie, a particularly fashionable black singer, got here out of the closet with panache within the Nineteen Eighties. “
Khetiwe, “like no lady in South Africa”, isn’t proof against the scourge of rape. However in on a regular basis life, at work, on the gymnasium and out, she says she is “accepted and revered”.
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