Coalition of African Lesbians defends rights of all women.

In June 2006, lesbian rights defenders from eight countries gathered in Johannesburg for the Second African Lesbian Leadership Institute conducted by the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) and hosted by the Forum for the Empowerment of Women. Members of the Coalition came from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa for an intensive week of activities. Visa problems prevented the participation by CAL members from Ghana and Zimbabwe.

Building the Coalition

During the week, participants reported on the situation of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in their countries and the work done by their organisations since the First Lesbian Leadership Institute held in April 2005 in Namibia; shared progress and challenges regarding the research they are conducting in their communities on the lived realities of lesbian lives; and learnt about the African Human Rights System including the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

They further shared what feminism means to them in their daily work, and reasserted that it provides an important frame of analysis for the work of CAL in understanding and dismantling patriarchal structures across Africa that oppress all women, including lesbian women. Another theme was the importance of developing relevant HIV-prevention messages for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, who are still ignored and thus rendered invisible by AIDS organisations and campaigns.

Following the brainstorming of a design for a logo and a website for the Coalition, the week culminated in the adoption of a constitution and the election of office bearers for CAL, which up to that point had been led by a steering committee. The first task of the new team will be to appoint a coordinator to implement the many activities planned by the organisation, including capacity building of member organisations at the country level, and lobbying for the recognition and protection of the dignity and equal human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women at the continental level.

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Speaking out as African lesbians

Following the Institute, six members of CAL travelled to Nairobi, Kenya for the Second African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, which brought together some 400 professionals, practitioners, scholars and activists from 20 countries in Africa under the theme Sexuality, Economics and Development. While the conference organisers had left out the issue of homosexuality in their call for conference papers, a panel on the rights of sexual minorities was put together at the last minute after much lobbying from activists, and CAL made sure that at least one African out and proud lesbian was included.

Fikile Vilakazi, advocacy officer with the OUT Project in Pretoria, South Africa, represented CAL on the panel, together with Ian Swartz of The Rainbow Project, Namibia, who represented the All Africa Rights Initiative, and Cary Alan Johnson of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. This session was well attended and received a lot of media coverage.

Africa is in denial 

Fikile informed Sister Namibia that the LGBT activists were shocked by much of the content and tone of other presentations at the conference. "It became clear that values of patriarchy, heterosexism and homophobia still dominate the African continent. There were presenters who affirmed the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) as an acceptable cultural practice, regardless of what this does to the sexual health and rights of girls and women," she exclaimed. The AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa explicitly bans FGM. The protocol came into force last year and has now been signed and ratified by 20 countries.

According to Fikile, "many delegates in turn expressed shock and amazement that there are lesbian and gay people in Africa. This denial was felt throughout the conference, and the panel on sexual minorities thus sparked much interest and debate." She said that many conference participants claimed to be unaware of gross violations of the human rights of LGBT people in African countries, regardless of the fact that most of Africa is still governed by sodomy laws and penal codes. "Clearly, Africa is in denial of its sexual practices."

Calling for a united feminist struggle

The position of CAL members throughout the conference was that the enormous violations of women's sexual rights in Africa must be challenged. Particularly at risk are those women who do not conform to traditional patriarchal gender norms and roles in society. In many contexts these women are perceived as a threat to the patriarchal order which puts women under the control of men. The situation of lesbian women in Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and other parts of Africa was highlighted as examples of hate crimes against lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in Africa.

During the panel discussion, Fikile emphasised that the struggle for gender equality in Africa is one with that of equality for diverse sexual orientations. Any victory for lesbian women in terms of sexual autonomy and choice is a victory for all women, as heterosexual women too are oppressed by patriarchal cultures that give men control over women's sexuality and bodies. She called on gender activists, the women's movement and other human rights defenders to draw on this commonality in the fight against patriarchy, heterosexism and homophobia.