刑罰と差別に耐えるアフリカの同性愛者

刑罰と差別に耐えるアフリカの同性愛者 2006/07/01

【ナイロビIPS＝ジョイス・ムラマ、６月２３日】

　「私たちはここアフリカにいます。私たちは、社会の只中で生きていて、皆と同じように社会の只中で税金を払い、社会の只中で人々と関係を持っています。私たちは、宇宙の中で自然に起こった現象なのです」。そう語るのは、同性愛者の活動家、ドナ・スミスさんだ。

　彼女は、南アフリカの黒人レズビアン組織「女性エンパワーメントフォーラム」の代表として、ケニアのナイロビで６月１９日から２１日まで開かれた「第２回・性的健康と権利に関するアフリカ会議」に出席している。

　アフリカの多くの国において、同性愛者であることは違法である。会議開催国のケニアでは、最大１４年の禁固刑を科しうる。もちろん、社会内部での差別も厳しい。

　ケニア人のデイビッド・クリアさんは、「私がゲイだと知ると、友達は私をまるで感染病者のように取り扱って私から離れていった」と語る。そのため、彼は務めていた高等教育機関にいづらくなって離職せざるをえなかったという。

　「アフリカレズビアン連合」のフィキル・ヴィラカジさんは、１９才のレズビアン、ゾリスワ・エンコニャーナの例を紹介した。彼女は、同性愛者だという理由で、南アフリカのケープタウンで暴徒によって殺害されてしまったのである。

　こうした差別のおかげで、同性愛者はさまざまな社会サービスを受けられない傾向にある。とりわけ、HIV/AIDSに感染する危険性の高い男性同性愛者の状況は深刻だ。

　同性愛者が差別される一つの理由は、同性愛は西洋発の考えであって、アフリカの文化とは無関係だとみなす傾向にある。２００４年、米国の監督教会派が、ゲイの男性であるジーン・ロビンソンをニューハンプシャー州の司教に任命したとき、これに抗議したアフリカの英国国教会系の大司教たちが、監督教会派との関係を絶つ決断をした、という例がある。

　アフリカの同性愛者をめぐる問題について報告する。

翻訳/サマリー＝山口響／IPS Japan浅霧勝浩

(ＩＰＳJapan)

AFRICA:
test
Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Jun 23 (IPS) - "We are here in Africa: we live in the mainstream, we pay taxes like everybody else in the mainstream, we relate with people in the mainstream. We are a naturally-occurring phenomenon in the universe," said activist Donna Smith of gay persons in Africa.

The representative of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women -- a black lesbian organisation based in the South African financial centre of Johannesburg -- was speaking at the second Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights that took place in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, this week (Jun. 19-21).

About 400 delegates gathered for the meeting which sought, in part, to improve policies and programmes on sexuality in Africa. The first such meeting was held in Johannesburg in 2004.

A session on gay sexuality proved one of the draw cards of the conference, with participants scrambling for space in the small room allocated to the proceedings. Many countries in Africa still outlaw homosexuality, including Kenya -- where it is punishable with jail terms of up to 14 years.

In addition to repressive legislation, gays face stigmatisation and discrimination.

"I worked in an institution of higher learning. When my friends learnt that I was gay, they all of a sudden left, as if I was a contagious disease," David Kuria, a Kenyan delegate, told IPS.

"I was forced to leave (my) employment because I was not comfortable with the way I was being treated," he added. Kuria discovered that he was gay while in high school, in the early 1990s.

At worst, the discrimination manifests itself in violence.

Fikile Vilakazi of the Coalition of African Lesbians cited the example of Zoliswa Nkonyana, a 19-year-old lesbian who was killed by a mob in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this year because of her sexual orientation. (The coalition, headquartered in the Namibian capital of Windhoek, is a network of organisations supporting lesbian rights.)

Matters are aggravated, said Vilakazi, by the attitude of officials towards gays: "A number of rape and assault cases have been reported to police stations. The police take long to deal with them. When one reports, the police in turn respond by asking why one is a lesbian."

Discrimination against gays may discourage them from taking advantage of services that are critical for their health and well-being.

"The hostile and discriminatory attitudes from health care staff have made many MSM -- men having sex with men -- reluctant to access services. This has put MSM at a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS," noted Angus Parkinson of Liverpool VCT and Care Kenya, a Nairobi-based group for HIV/AIDS care and research. (VCT stands for "voluntary counseling and testing". Liverpool VCT and Care Kenya is associated with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Britain.)

"Many MSM have poor knowledge of HIV/STIs (sexually-transmitted infections) and perceive that they are at low risk, using condoms infrequently with inappropriate lubricants."

For Cary Alan Johnson, a senior coordinator at the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the abolition of laws criminalising same-sex activities lies at the heart of addressing these ills.

"The gay community across the world is growing and we cannot continue to ignore its rights through the old colonial laws. If governments respect human rights, then the rights of gay persons and lesbians must be incorporated in the wider human rights framework," Johnson said.

For the moment, however, homosexuality and lesbianism are still viewed by many as products of Western society, and alien to African culture.

Followers of certain faiths also see gay rights as being at odds with their religious beliefs. This was demonstrated when African Anglican archbishops severed ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States over its 2004 decision to consecrate Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire -- an eastern U.S. state.

But, says Smith, while a gay person may live a heterosexual life "for the purposes of the law, (they) cannot find peace and fulfilment in a heterosexual relationship."

She told IPS that from the age of eight, she had fantasised about women, and knew she was different from other girls: "My first sexual experience was with a girl, and I straight away knew what my sexuality would evolve into."

The session on gay sexuality also saw the launch in Kenya of a book titled 'Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men and Ancestral Wives: Female Same Sex Practices in Africa', an account of lesbian sexuality in Eastern and Southern Africa.

This publication was co-authored by activists from six countries: South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Amongst other things, it documents how African lesbians find ways to express their sexuality, the opposition from their communities notwithstanding. (END/2006)