Article 347 bis of the Cameroon Penal Code punishes “sexual relations with a person of the same sex,” with sentences of prison terms as long as five years in addition to fines…. [G]ay and lesbian stereotypes alone are often enough to warrant charges…. Once an accusation of homosexuality is made, police make arrests based solely on how individuals present themselves. For example, if a man is found to be cross-dressing, that could be used as proof that he is gay in court. If somebody has a job that doesn’t fit their gender, like a male hairdresser, that too could be used against them. A judge convicted one of Togue’s clients for feminine mannerisms and for drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream, which he felt only a woman would drink.
Consider it for a moment: drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream means you’re guilty of having gay sex. At this very moment, there’s a bottle of Bailey’s in my freezer, so…
OHMIGOD!!! I had NO idea….
I get that much of Africa is extremely conservative and lives in mortal fear of things that most of us in the West think absurd. Cultural differences should for the most part be respected…unless they’re used to justify hating and mistreating other whose lifestyle, beliefs, and/or sexuality you find offensive. Many Cameroonians will use the old, careworn excuse that they’re trying to protect children. That may be convenient, and they may have even convinced themselves of it, but it’s a crap argument. They justify their hatred and homophobia by blaming the LGBT community for being different and not living by widely accepted societal norms.
Sometimes it can be just plain silly, as in convicting someone of the “crime” of homosexuality because they drink Bailey’s. It’s easy to laugh at the absurdity of that, but there’s a darker side as well. Uganda’s “death to gays” law, while currently in limbo, is something many Ugandans fervently support. Simply being gay is a capital offense in some parts of Africa. There are few legal protections afforded Africa’s LGBT community, and beatings or worse are distressingly common. Being different- being gay- may be looked down upon by some in this country. In Africa, it can be enough to get a person killed.
Think about that: a person can be killed merely for loving someone of the same gender. Making matters worse is that the American Taliban has discovered Africa to be a target-rich environment when it comes to sowing hatred and homophobia. It’s not about spreading the Gospel or God’s love. It’s about teaching Africans that homosexuality is a mortal sin worthy of death. Hate the sin, kill the sinner.
Ironically, catching two members of the same gender engaging in sexual acts is in itself a crime:
[I]n the cases where people might be caught actually having sex, it would be a violation of others’ privacy, which is also illegal. “To catch people having sex, to catch them in the act, you have to break the law. You have to violate their privacy, which is an offense,” [Attorney Michel Togue] explained. “But the police will not focus on the offense of breaking the privacy of someone, but they will focus on the fact that they saw two people of the same gender having sex.”
That’s right; homosexuality is considered so heinous, so egregious that breaking the law to catch people in flagrante delicto is conveniently overlooked.
Not surprisingly, one of the driving forces behind the persecution of the LGBT community in Cameroon (and in Africa in general) is the Catholic Church. Yep, the Church that sees itself as the arbiter of Jesus Christ’s love for humanity is itself guilty of spreading hatred and persecution. Whodathunkit??
The Catholic Church is one of the strongest forces reinforcing anti-gay stigma in Cameroon. Back in 2012, Simon-Victor Tonyé Bakot — then-Archbishop of Yaundé, Cameroon’s capital — said that homosexuality is “shameful, a disrespectful criticism of God who has chosen to create man and woman.” Before he was replaced in 2013, Bakot had also joined with Cameroon’s other Catholic bishops in issuing a statement condemning homosexuality, including the claim that “homosexuality opposes humanity and destroys it.”
When an organization that claims to follow and promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ is actually spreading hatred and teaching homophobia…well, I’m not sure I possess the words to adequately express my revulsion. If this is Christianity, I’m the Queen of Denmark.
Never mind that the LGBT community largely wants to be left alone to live and love as they choose. There’s no effort to “convert” children or enforce the “Homosexual Agenda.” Loving another person isn’t a crime; that it’s considered as such in Cameroon and much of the rest of Africa says more about the haters than anything else. Why so many are concerned with the private sexual proclivities of others is something that defies explanation.
Just be sure to stay away from the Bailey’s Irish Cream should you ever find yourself in Cameroon. You’ve been warned.
