today I would like to talk to you about
homophobia homophobes activists and
homosexuality in an African context if I
were doing a talk like this in Africa I
would be very scared because one of
these three things could happen to me
before the end of the talk
number one I could be booed or he could
off the stage
and that would be the mildest of the
three things that can happen to me
secondly I could be physically or
verbally attacked by those in the
audience who would feel very affronted
by the courage to speak about the
subject matter like this in public and
thirdly I could even be getting arrested
especially in those countries like
Nigeria we are talking about the subject
matter like this could be misconstrued
as promoting homosexuality or corruption
public decency and in certain
circumstances that could fetch you as
much as 10 years imprisonment as
punishment so you see if these are the
outcomes that are reserved for people
who simply speak about homosexuality
you cannot imagine for the life of me
what homosexuals have to go through in a
typical African country but you see in
the midst of the horrors and abuses of
rights violations that LGBTI people have
to suffer on a daily basis certain
beautiful acts of courage that connects
humanity in positive ways can take place
I have witnessed one of such when I
served as a legal assistant at the
African Commission on Human and people’s
rights I’m here to tell you that story
because my involvement in this story was
simply because i justed a decision that
granted observer status to a lesbian
organization and that was the first time
that sort had taken place in Africa but
before I tell you my story I’d like to
draw three ironies that
story exemplifies and this contrast are
necessary unimportant because I want to
be able to show you that we don’t always
need the right factors in place before
we can make changes I also want to be
able to show you that fear and lack of
sufficient knowledge should not
incapacitate anyone from doing the right
thing and from connecting humanity in
positive ways so my first irony is what
I call it topical irony it’s in the
topic of my talk and the tropics is how
courageous OMA phobes and fearful
activists fighting or combating
homophobia in Africa and then you all
know that homophobes should promote them
phobia not combat it and of course
activists should be flawless because
that’s the story we are told the story
of activism is always woven around
fearlessness but then my argument is
this the twin factors of fear and
ignorance are always with us but in
spite of them we can push ahead and do
the right thing my second irony is what
I call it geographical irony these
events are about to describe took place
in a very small West African country
called the Gambia you see the Gambia is
so small that you wouldn’t think that
something tangible something that would
reverberate through the continent of
Africa would happen there in fact the
population of the Gambia is about 2
million that’s the population of an
extended family in my country nigeria so
you see the lesson here is this you
don’t always need big species to make
big changes the third irony is in the
political landscape of the Gambia at
that time in question The Gambia had one
of the worst human rights record on the
continent but it was from the same space
that Redemption took place so the irony
is this sometimes Redemption will often
in the exact same space of the worst
abuses let me tell you my story now the
date was the 25th of April 2015 and the
venue was the caribou hotel in The
Gambia something was about to happen and
we were sure that what was going to
happen not many people were going to be
happy with it
list of all the heads of state in Africa
and the reason why the heads of state in
Africa we’re not going to be happy as
these the event that I’m describing was
going to happen in bangu the Gambia at
that time the Gambia was being headed by
Express Denis hire Jamie who was
Africa’s most despotic and perhaps most
emphatic leader
yeha Jami was the president would
describe gays as women’s and at some
point he said that they’re like
mosquitoes we must fight them the way we
fight mosquitoes perhaps more
aggressively this same president had a
reaction to this events I’m about to
describe and his reaction was as
reported by the guide and as he could
see he said he was going to slit the
throats of gays and lesbians in this
country and then he concluded by saying
that no white person can do anything
about it
and that was indeed ridiculous but let
me quickly say to you that you had Yami
was not alone he was expressing the
views of many African leaders and we
know that African leaders for a very
long time I’ve always said this gabion
is not our thing we have to push it away
it cannot be and like I said many
African leaders we’re attitude by this
events I’m describing
we know they were attitude because some
of them expressed you know Angad what
are taking place and we also know that
by their previous actions and previous
or trances they were not at all pleased
with what was going on so for instance
we had them the president of Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe who said that gays were
worse than pigs and dogs we had the
president of Nigeria at that time was
signed into law a bill
that criminalizes almost sexual or sim
sex marriage and you know everything
connected to that but you know the
interesting thing about these examples
are giving you none of these guys is a
president now and I think that tells me
one thing injustice negativity and in
this context amo phobia
none of these vices can be the last man
standing never let’s delve into our
story again it was the 25th of April
2015 about three years exactly three
years from this data I’m speaking and
the venue was carob a hall in bangu the
commissioners of the African Commission
or in a language you would understand
the judges of the African Commission had
convened to take a decision on an
application that are dependent before
them this application was from a
non-governmental organization in South
Africa called the coalition of African
lesbians what this organization wanted
was a right to appear before the African
Commission to report violation of rights
of their members or anyone at all on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity the Commission sat down and had
to take a decision but the way the
Commission works is that before that
public session members of the
Secretariat would have prepared a
decision that would be decided upon by
the commissioners and in that
circumstance that was what was can
happen and of course you can imagine
that there would be a lot of arguments
it was very controversial nobody wanted
gay rights on the continent but the
Commission was way sure that we are the
African Commission created with the duty
to protect rights on the African
continent and we have to live up to
expectation there were nine committee
actually retain commissioners actually
and if vote was to be taken but in a
five to four vote with one abstention
the vote passed and for the very first
time the African Union agreed with what
what right activists have always been
saying that LGBTI people
humans too and their rights ought to be
protected the way other rights are
protected this was a watershed moment it
has never happened before and of course
there was jubilation from the camp of
the people should to be lit and they
were others were energy Billiton but
what had happened was very significant
and it was significant for two major
reasons number one the first time this
organization approached the African
Union was in 2008
remember this was 2015 seven clear years
after 2008 and at that time the African
Union said that the activities of that
organization do not promote any of the
rights enshrined in the African Charter
on Human and people’s right so that
application was rejected the import of
this is that for the first time the
African Union was backtracking or on
doing what it had done that was very
significant because the African Union
and most international organizations
would almost never vaalu themselves the
second reason why this was so important
was because this was happening in Africa
Africa of all places Africa is the last
frontier of LGBTI rights in our world
now Africa is a place where 9 out of
every 10 person cannot even imagine that
the enables a gives lesbians Africa more
than any other continent has the highest
number of countries with laws in place
that criminalizes or that criminalize
LGBT activities and lifestyle so this
was happening in Africa and it was very
very significant and you see my friends
have asked me that what do you think
changed between 2008 when the African
Union first
rejected this application and 2015 when
it approved this application I have
tried to answer that question and I
think I have two explanations the first
would be that Africa was simply
embracing the change that was sweeping
across the globe there is no stopping an
idea whose time has come
it was just that time for Africa to
begin to embrace that idea I mean time
there was when
epified was very fashionable and
everyone supported it at least everyone
in this side of the world and time there
was when slavery was very fashionable
and people supported it but a time came
when those were just not acceptable
again and I think Africa is beginning to
get to that point in history where we
either embrace or we collapse so that
would be my first explanation the second
explanation would be that perhaps the
African Commission on Human and people’s
rights between 2008 and 2015
recruited not just courageous men and
women into its Secretariat it is also
that the commissioners of the African
permission have become fairly
progressive due to trainings and
constant capacitation
from civil society organizations in
Africa for most of which is the Center
for Human Rights in the University of
Pretoria it was from this Center for
Human Rights that I’d graduated a year
earlier and this same centre seconded me
to work at the African Commission at the
African Commission I knew my time was
short and I knew that if we are going to
make a difference it has to be now but
you see my friends sometimes you have
the zeal you have the knowledge you have
the technical know-how but you may not
have the opportunity I have the
opportunity I had the Zeeland technical
know-how and I was at the right place at
the right time for you it may not be
like that so the question then is if it
happens that you have the technical
knowledge and the zoo but you don’t have
the opportunity what do you do can you
still make a difference my answer would
be yes because not everyone will have
opportunities thrust on them the way I
had mine some of you will have to create
an opportunity to make changes to
connect humans in positive ways and you
either do that or you have done it so
this story I’ve told you exemplifies
three categories of people
the first category we have people in my
shoes members of the Secretariat who
were very intelligent had all the
knowledge and knew our
two right decisions that would say that
yes LGBTI people should have rights
because they included in the definition
of human I mean of humans according to
the African Charter the second category
where the judges of the African
Commission or the commissioners of the
African Commission many of them didn’t
even understand the whole idea behind
LGBT agenda they kept saying we don’t
even understand this thing but as long
as LGBTI people were humans they should
have rights and we should protect those
rights they are the ones have called the
colleges homophobes and pod category at
the activists in africa who work on a
daily basis to ensure that rights of
LGBTI people and indeed every
marginalized person are protected these
are the fearful activists because on a
daily basis they live in fear but they
keep walking so I invite you to think
for once what will the world without
discrimination on the basis of race
gender sexual orientation what would the
world like that look like one of my
friends came here not long ago and spoke
about the danger of compartmentalizing
humans in two identities and I fully
agree with that but then I’m ashamed to
tell you that that world will never come
to pass it will never experience that
world not when you keep thinking that
you need certain super powers or super
abilities to make you’re like that
coming to reality my thesis is that
everyone can change the world from the
corners of the room from where you are
no matter how small your species you
just need to understand that the only
thing you must not treat is your
conscience and sometimes when you do
this it will come at great cost but I
charges to to do what you have to do
because once you do that the only thing
we can lose is the darkness that
envelopes our award now because of
discrimination on all of these basis of
sexual orientation gender and
nationality
the ball is in your court whatever you
do you must remember that you can make a
change the motor out difficult it is and
you don’t have to have superpowers to do
that right where you are you can make
these changes and once you have made
your change you might be left with no
choice than to walk away and I’m
confident that I’ve done the right thing
here today
and I simply will walk away I thank you for this mean
homophobia homophobes activists and
homosexuality in an African context if I
were doing a talk like this in Africa I
would be very scared because one of
these three things could happen to me
before the end of the talk
number one I could be booed or he could
off the stage
and that would be the mildest of the
three things that can happen to me
secondly I could be physically or
verbally attacked by those in the
audience who would feel very affronted
by the courage to speak about the
subject matter like this in public and
thirdly I could even be getting arrested
especially in those countries like
Nigeria we are talking about the subject
matter like this could be misconstrued
as promoting homosexuality or corruption
public decency and in certain
circumstances that could fetch you as
much as 10 years imprisonment as
punishment so you see if these are the
outcomes that are reserved for people
who simply speak about homosexuality
you cannot imagine for the life of me
what homosexuals have to go through in a
typical African country but you see in
the midst of the horrors and abuses of
rights violations that LGBTI people have
to suffer on a daily basis certain
beautiful acts of courage that connects
humanity in positive ways can take place
I have witnessed one of such when I
served as a legal assistant at the
African Commission on Human and people’s
rights I’m here to tell you that story
because my involvement in this story was
simply because i justed a decision that
granted observer status to a lesbian
organization and that was the first time
that sort had taken place in Africa but
before I tell you my story I’d like to
draw three ironies that
story exemplifies and this contrast are
necessary unimportant because I want to
be able to show you that we don’t always
need the right factors in place before
we can make changes I also want to be
able to show you that fear and lack of
sufficient knowledge should not
incapacitate anyone from doing the right
thing and from connecting humanity in
positive ways so my first irony is what
I call it topical irony it’s in the
topic of my talk and the tropics is how
courageous OMA phobes and fearful
activists fighting or combating
homophobia in Africa and then you all
know that homophobes should promote them
phobia not combat it and of course
activists should be flawless because
that’s the story we are told the story
of activism is always woven around
fearlessness but then my argument is
this the twin factors of fear and
ignorance are always with us but in
spite of them we can push ahead and do
the right thing my second irony is what
I call it geographical irony these
events are about to describe took place
in a very small West African country
called the Gambia you see the Gambia is
so small that you wouldn’t think that
something tangible something that would
reverberate through the continent of
Africa would happen there in fact the
population of the Gambia is about 2
million that’s the population of an
extended family in my country nigeria so
you see the lesson here is this you
don’t always need big species to make
big changes the third irony is in the
political landscape of the Gambia at
that time in question The Gambia had one
of the worst human rights record on the
continent but it was from the same space
that Redemption took place so the irony
is this sometimes Redemption will often
in the exact same space of the worst
abuses let me tell you my story now the
date was the 25th of April 2015 and the
venue was the caribou hotel in The
Gambia something was about to happen and
we were sure that what was going to
happen not many people were going to be
happy with it
list of all the heads of state in Africa
and the reason why the heads of state in
Africa we’re not going to be happy as
these the event that I’m describing was
going to happen in bangu the Gambia at
that time the Gambia was being headed by
Express Denis hire Jamie who was
Africa’s most despotic and perhaps most
emphatic leader
yeha Jami was the president would
describe gays as women’s and at some
point he said that they’re like
mosquitoes we must fight them the way we
fight mosquitoes perhaps more
aggressively this same president had a
reaction to this events I’m about to
describe and his reaction was as
reported by the guide and as he could
see he said he was going to slit the
throats of gays and lesbians in this
country and then he concluded by saying
that no white person can do anything
about it
and that was indeed ridiculous but let
me quickly say to you that you had Yami
was not alone he was expressing the
views of many African leaders and we
know that African leaders for a very
long time I’ve always said this gabion
is not our thing we have to push it away
it cannot be and like I said many
African leaders we’re attitude by this
events I’m describing
we know they were attitude because some
of them expressed you know Angad what
are taking place and we also know that
by their previous actions and previous
or trances they were not at all pleased
with what was going on so for instance
we had them the president of Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe who said that gays were
worse than pigs and dogs we had the
president of Nigeria at that time was
signed into law a bill
that criminalizes almost sexual or sim
sex marriage and you know everything
connected to that but you know the
interesting thing about these examples
are giving you none of these guys is a
president now and I think that tells me
one thing injustice negativity and in
this context amo phobia
none of these vices can be the last man
standing never let’s delve into our
story again it was the 25th of April
2015 about three years exactly three
years from this data I’m speaking and
the venue was carob a hall in bangu the
commissioners of the African Commission
or in a language you would understand
the judges of the African Commission had
convened to take a decision on an
application that are dependent before
them this application was from a
non-governmental organization in South
Africa called the coalition of African
lesbians what this organization wanted
was a right to appear before the African
Commission to report violation of rights
of their members or anyone at all on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity the Commission sat down and had
to take a decision but the way the
Commission works is that before that
public session members of the
Secretariat would have prepared a
decision that would be decided upon by
the commissioners and in that
circumstance that was what was can
happen and of course you can imagine
that there would be a lot of arguments
it was very controversial nobody wanted
gay rights on the continent but the
Commission was way sure that we are the
African Commission created with the duty
to protect rights on the African
continent and we have to live up to
expectation there were nine committee
actually retain commissioners actually
and if vote was to be taken but in a
five to four vote with one abstention
the vote passed and for the very first
time the African Union agreed with what
what right activists have always been
saying that LGBTI people
humans too and their rights ought to be
protected the way other rights are
protected this was a watershed moment it
has never happened before and of course
there was jubilation from the camp of
the people should to be lit and they
were others were energy Billiton but
what had happened was very significant
and it was significant for two major
reasons number one the first time this
organization approached the African
Union was in 2008
remember this was 2015 seven clear years
after 2008 and at that time the African
Union said that the activities of that
organization do not promote any of the
rights enshrined in the African Charter
on Human and people’s right so that
application was rejected the import of
this is that for the first time the
African Union was backtracking or on
doing what it had done that was very
significant because the African Union
and most international organizations
would almost never vaalu themselves the
second reason why this was so important
was because this was happening in Africa
Africa of all places Africa is the last
frontier of LGBTI rights in our world
now Africa is a place where 9 out of
every 10 person cannot even imagine that
the enables a gives lesbians Africa more
than any other continent has the highest
number of countries with laws in place
that criminalizes or that criminalize
LGBT activities and lifestyle so this
was happening in Africa and it was very
very significant and you see my friends
have asked me that what do you think
changed between 2008 when the African
Union first
rejected this application and 2015 when
it approved this application I have
tried to answer that question and I
think I have two explanations the first
would be that Africa was simply
embracing the change that was sweeping
across the globe there is no stopping an
idea whose time has come
it was just that time for Africa to
begin to embrace that idea I mean time
there was when
epified was very fashionable and
everyone supported it at least everyone
in this side of the world and time there
was when slavery was very fashionable
and people supported it but a time came
when those were just not acceptable
again and I think Africa is beginning to
get to that point in history where we
either embrace or we collapse so that
would be my first explanation the second
explanation would be that perhaps the
African Commission on Human and people’s
rights between 2008 and 2015
recruited not just courageous men and
women into its Secretariat it is also
that the commissioners of the African
permission have become fairly
progressive due to trainings and
constant capacitation
from civil society organizations in
Africa for most of which is the Center
for Human Rights in the University of
Pretoria it was from this Center for
Human Rights that I’d graduated a year
earlier and this same centre seconded me
to work at the African Commission at the
African Commission I knew my time was
short and I knew that if we are going to
make a difference it has to be now but
you see my friends sometimes you have
the zeal you have the knowledge you have
the technical know-how but you may not
have the opportunity I have the
opportunity I had the Zeeland technical
know-how and I was at the right place at
the right time for you it may not be
like that so the question then is if it
happens that you have the technical
knowledge and the zoo but you don’t have
the opportunity what do you do can you
still make a difference my answer would
be yes because not everyone will have
opportunities thrust on them the way I
had mine some of you will have to create
an opportunity to make changes to
connect humans in positive ways and you
either do that or you have done it so
this story I’ve told you exemplifies
three categories of people
the first category we have people in my
shoes members of the Secretariat who
were very intelligent had all the
knowledge and knew our
two right decisions that would say that
yes LGBTI people should have rights
because they included in the definition
of human I mean of humans according to
the African Charter the second category
where the judges of the African
Commission or the commissioners of the
African Commission many of them didn’t
even understand the whole idea behind
LGBT agenda they kept saying we don’t
even understand this thing but as long
as LGBTI people were humans they should
have rights and we should protect those
rights they are the ones have called the
colleges homophobes and pod category at
the activists in africa who work on a
daily basis to ensure that rights of
LGBTI people and indeed every
marginalized person are protected these
are the fearful activists because on a
daily basis they live in fear but they
keep walking so I invite you to think
for once what will the world without
discrimination on the basis of race
gender sexual orientation what would the
world like that look like one of my
friends came here not long ago and spoke
about the danger of compartmentalizing
humans in two identities and I fully
agree with that but then I’m ashamed to
tell you that that world will never come
to pass it will never experience that
world not when you keep thinking that
you need certain super powers or super
abilities to make you’re like that
coming to reality my thesis is that
everyone can change the world from the
corners of the room from where you are
no matter how small your species you
just need to understand that the only
thing you must not treat is your
conscience and sometimes when you do
this it will come at great cost but I
charges to to do what you have to do
because once you do that the only thing
we can lose is the darkness that
envelopes our award now because of
discrimination on all of these basis of
sexual orientation gender and
nationality
the ball is in your court whatever you
do you must remember that you can make a
change the motor out difficult it is and
you don’t have to have superpowers to do
that right where you are you can make
these changes and once you have made
your change you might be left with no
choice than to walk away and I’m
confident that I’ve done the right thing
here today
and I simply will walk away I thank you for this mean
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