"U.S. Support of Gay Rights in Africa May Have Done More Harm Than Good"

New York Times: “The U.S. support is making matters worse,” said Mike, 24, a university student studying biology in Minna, a town in central Nigeria who asked that his full name not be used for his safety. “There’s more resistance now. It’s triggered people’s defense mechanism.”

America’s money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible — and more vulnerable to harassment and violence, people on both sides of the gay rights issue contend. The American campaign has stirred misgivings among many African activists, who say they must rely on the West’s support despite often disagreeing with its strategies.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, the final passage of the 2014 law against homosexuality — which makes same-sex relationships punishable by 14 years in prison and makes it a crime to organize or participate in any type of gay meeting — is widely regarded by both supporters and opponents of gay rights as a reaction to American pressure on Nigeria and other African nations to embrace gay rights.

“The Nigerian law was blowback,” said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission and the senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which supports gay rights on the continent. “You now have situations of gay men being molested on the streets or taunted. That was all avoidable.”

“I’ve said to U.S. diplomats privately as well — the risk is causing more harm than good,” Mr. Odinkalu added. “You don’t want an infusion of good will to actually do harm to the community that you think you’re protecting.”

“In the same way that we don’t try to impose our culture on anyone, we also expect that people should respect our culture in return,” said Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian active in lobbying against gay rights.

"Obama: Killing to Harvest Body Parts Is a ‘Foolish Tradition’- in Africa"

"At the Young African Leaders Initiative summit in Washington D.C., President Obama was asked about the killing of Albinos in Africa and the harvesting of their body parts for ritual purposes."

“Persons with Albinism in Africa are being killed and their body parts harvested for ritual purposes,” a woman in the audience said. “My request to you is to raise this issue with heads of state of African countries to bring these atrocities to an end.”

Obama condemned the practice as “foolish traditions.”

“When I was in Africa, I said, there are important traditions and folkways that need to be respected that’s part of who each culture is -- each country is -- but there’s also foolish traditions and old ways of doing business,” Obama said.

The president focused on the issue as one of discrimination.

“The notion that any African would discriminate against somebody because of the color of their skin, after what black people around the world have gone through - is crazy.”

Video at the link.

Africa

In Google Earth I was floating above the roads opposite the horn, where the bulge of the continent tucks in, where the desert meets the green part, checking out photographs all around that area, a little corner of countries, and I came across the most remarkable photograph of a man moving cattle through a red dusty village and the line of cattle looked precisely like antique Egyptian scene that, honestly, I do not know why I failed to take a screenshot right there, but I didn't and now I cannot find it. I looked all over that place again. I've seen all these photographs now about six times criss-crossing the area looking for the original. People actually go there, take photos of the place and peg them. I find that amazing. This area of Africa. The cattle look like this. ( 20 shots compressed to two)

Look at the cans on that one

Artist Julie Djikey protests pollution as a "human car," with oil filters on her breasts and motor oil mixed with burned-tire ash smeared on her body.

National Geographic