With 37 countries where homosexuality is officially illegal, Africa could be considered as the anti-gay continent. Africans who oppose homosexuality say that it is un-African, and that it is not consistent with the African way of life.

But the Netherlands, known for its tolerance, is not necessarily the gay Utopia: “Coming to the Netherlands is the worst mistake I ever made.” When addressing the issue of homosexuality, one has to be aware of the generalisations. This was one of the outcomes of a dialogue between African homosexuals and the Ghanaian community in Amsterdam.

The dialogue was organised by the Dutch foundation ‘De Dialoog’ (The Dialogue) and ‘Het Humanistisch Verbond’ (Humanistic Alliance) in cooperation with Recogin, an organization for the Ghanaian diaspora in Amsterdam.

Exclusion

“There are two types of Africans Europe, those who come to Europe but still have one feet in their mother country,” says one of the bisexual participants, Alexander Tayo Afolabi from Nigeria. “They come to Europe, but remain conservative when it comes to gay rights. Apart from that”, he says, “the Africans who come to Europe but assimilate with the European culture so much that they denounce their fellow countrymen. So I am left empty handed.”

On top of this Alexander believes that Dutch society is not as open to homosexuals as many like to believe and has racist tendencies as well. “As a black gay man you have to fight twice as hard in this country to be accepted”, he confides.

Uganda In the dialogue concerning homosexuality, it was almost inevitable to mention the issue of gay rights in Uganda and the murder on gay rights activist David Kato. Even though the murder officially doesn’t have a link with his sexuality, the way homosexuality in Uganda is perceived is not similar to other African countries such as Ghana or Nigeria.

“In Nigeria homosexuality is not a problem anymore,” says one of the participants. “You can be gay, but just don’t flash around with it like in Europe where gay men and women openly celebrate their sexuality on the many annual Gay prides.” It is exactly this feature of the gay community that is a thorn in the eyes of many of the heterosexual Ghanaians present at the dialogue.

“When I came to the Netherlands some twenty years ago and saw two men holding hands I had to accept that here in the Netherlands this is accepted”, says an older Ghanaian.” Through the years I even made gay friends, but I do not want to see them on a boat dancing half naked in their pink thong!” Another man who has also been in the Netherlands for some years shouts: “It is the attitude of homosexuals that I don’t like!”

Back and forth

Allegations of the right and wrong attitude were thrown back and forth. But the night ended in the common agreement that homosexuality does exist in Africa and that gay people already have a place within society. “It is a community in Ghana that is becoming more and more prominent, but in its own terms,” is the conclusion of Mr. Toni Kofi, one of the participants. “But never have I heard that homosexuals in Ghana were killed or slandered in the newspaper like in Uganda”, he adds.

And this is also the conclusion of Alexander: “Dutch people feel sad for me that I am a homosexual from Africa”, he says. “I have been in the Netherlands for four months now and since I have been codenamed, spit at and cursed at. Coming to the Netherlands was the worst mistake I have ever made.”