LGBTQI+ People in Africa

This chapter addresses LGBTQI+ experiences in Africa as a contribution to Pan African Studies. African countries vary very considerably in the ways that gender and sexuality are constructed, with postcolonial and neo-colonial relations, anti-racist struggles, local subjectivities, traditionalist patriarchies, and nationalist homophobias intertwining with human rights frameworks and activist interventions. The chapter focuses on the African continent, whilst acknowledging the importance of scholarship about LGBTQI+ identities in the African diaspora. It then addresses the many ways in which LGBTQI+ Africans are subjected and persecuted, with a specific small section on intersex, as intersex people are often overlooked in discussions about LGBTQI+ in African contexts. Pan-African understandings of sexual and gender diversity can be enriched by attention to spirituality, in its wide range of manifestations across the continent and in the diaspora. Active hostility towards gender-diverse and non-heterosexual people in Africa is still pervasive, and deliberate, sustained stigmatising and prejudiced expressions are evident realities for the majority of African LGBTQI+ people.