Tsvangirai still standing firm on gay rights

Zimbabwe MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has defended his stance on homosexuals saying their rights need to be respected and protected.

Addressing thousands of villagers at a rally at Pashu Growth Point in Binga yesterday, Tsvangirai said no-one should be persecuted for being a homosexual.

President Robert Mugabe has described homosexuals as worse than pigs and dogs.

ZANU PF has gone on overdrive, attacking the Prime Minister for his remarks during an interview with the BBC over the rights of gays.

“I am not gay,” Tsvangirai said.

“I am not going to prosecute anyone who is gay. I will protect their rights. I will not persecute them.

“It is shocking that ZANU PF want to pursue issues which are not useful which do not bring bread and butter to the table, “said Tsvangirai."

-zimbabwemetro

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• The death-knell for institutionalised homophobia in Zimbabwe? (zomgorlackthereof.blogspot.com)

LGBT Rights to be Embedded in Zimbabwe Constitution?

Could Zimbabwe really be the second African country to build LGBT protection into it's constitution? Zimbabwe, where the tyrant Robert Mugabe has earned the enmity of Peter Tatchell for his vehement  hostility to gay men and lesbians?

At first sight, it seems unlikely, but it may well be realistic. Since the last stolen and hotly disputed election, Zimbabwe has been governed by an uneasy national unity government, with Mugabe as executive president, and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, while the politicians, assisted by neighbouring South Africa, are involved in protracted negotiations over a new constitution.  Mugabe is known to be ailing, and fresh elections under a new constitution must be held within a year or two. Mugabe cannot continue in office too much longer: whether from human mortality or democratic process, he is clearly in the departure lounge. It is too soon to predict with confidence who will replace him as the next head honcho, but it could well be Tsvangirai. 

Twenty years ago, South Africans were engaged in similar negotiations between political foes over a new, democratic election. The document that emerged was the first in the world to build LGBT protections into a bill of rights. In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai has now reversed his own long-standing antipathy to homosexuals, and stated that he supports the principle of equality, and freedom from discrimination, for all.

Zimbabwe's PM Morgan Tsvangirai in gay rights U-turn

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reversed his position on gay rights, saying he now wants them enshrined in a new constitution.

He told the BBC that gay rights were a "human right" that conservative Zimbabweans should respect.

Last year, Mr Tsvangirai joined President Robert Mugabe in opposing homosexuality.

The fractious coalition formed by the two leaders has promised political reforms ahead of next year's elections.

Zimbabwe is in the process of drafting a new constitution, which will be put to a referendum ahead of the elections.

Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as in most African countries where many people view homosexuality as un-Christian and un-African."

-full report, and video interview, at BBC News

Related articles

• Botswana Leader Wants Homosexuality Decriminalized

• Zimbabwe's PM Morgan Tsvangirai Reverses, Supports Constitutional Protections of Gay Rights (towleroad.com)
• Change in Zimbabwe (paper-bird.net)

Out in Africa: Frank Malaba/ Dr Phumza

The popular image of homosexuality in Africa is of overtly hostile opposition, as in Sudan (where it is a capital offence) or in Uganda, where some local politicians egged on by Western evangelists, are hoping to make it so.

Zimbabwe is another African country where the President, Robert Mugabe, uses popular homophobia to camouflage his own manifest failings as national leader, claiming that  are “unAfrican”. The reality is that same sex relationships and transvestism were common and accepted right across Africa, until the colonial missionaries imported Western opposition. It is homophobia that is truly unAfrican. As the Ilga report on global LGBT equality shows, only eight countries have never criminalized homosexuality – all of them in Africa.

In the modern world, South Africa was the first country anywhere to include in its constitution protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Some South Africans, and Africans from elsewhere now resident in South Africa, offer important role models for the rest of the continent. the popular Zimbabwean / South African actor Frank Malaba is one good example.

From News Day:

Former Amakorokoza star Frank Malaba, well known as Dr Phumza by followers of the series might be a man President Robert Mugabe will never like to listen to talking.

Following a public revelation that he was gay, the South African actor-cum-radio personality opens up about marriage, his childhood as a gay student and his views on gay rights in an exclusive interview with NewsDay.

Malaba became the first Zimbabwean to declare that he loves other men.

Asked how his life has been after he opened up: “My life has been changed around for the better and I get inbox messages from young and old alike saying they respect my standing and who I am. I get young Zimbabweans, South Africans and on occasion Tanzanians and Kenyans asking for advice.

See Also:

Africa’s Female kings and husbands

http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2010-09-12-examakorokoza-star-plans-gay-marriage