Black, Gay and Indisputably African

Today's Los Angeles Times has an interesting op-ed titled "Black, Gay and Indisputably African" by Northwestern journalism Professor Douglas Foster. The piece talks about a gay bar named Simply Blue in Johannesburg, South Africa whose very existence belies the oft-repeated claim that homosexuality is inherent un-African, with the corollary that people who are both Black and gay are actually neither.

The theme of homophobic African politicians is that gay identity is a perversion imposed on black people by white oppressors. The historical fact is the reverse, of course: Legal prohibitions on homosexuality were originally imposed by white colonial rulers. So it's no small twist in the plot that the new wave of threats to Ugandan gays should be reinforced by American religious extremists.

The proposed legislation places in stark relief the persistence of deadly prejudice. The roots of hatred can be traced to myriad traditions -- indigenous and foreign, white and black. What's more important than identifying the sources of the poison is to find the antidote. The first step is listening to the voices of African lesbians and gay men, and taking our cues from them about how to offer the most effective support.

[...]

Most of the gay refugees from all over the continent who gather at Simply Blue once felt the same way. They were migrants to South Africa not by choice but by necessity.

And now they're part of a burgeoning mass of women and men across the continent who reject the impossible, insulting, ahistorical, cruel and utterly false choice: Are you African, or are you gay?

The piece also references the excellent work of Box Turtle Bulletin and Gay Uganda in advocating against legislation to persecute homosexuality in Uganda with the possibility of the death penalty and generally drawing attention to homophobic agitation on the African continent.