In May 2004, the IHEU met in Kampala, Uganda for its first General Assembly in Africa, and for a regional conference to inaugurate the African Humanist Alliance. One of the issues discussed at the event was homosexuality. But in a total misrepresentation of this important event, a local newspaper, the Uganda Monitor, published a report under a sensational and disingenuous headline "Homos meet in Kampala", with a distasteful cartoon portraying the conference organisers taking advantage of a donor meeting taking place at the same time in the Ugandan capital. Apparently, the local newspaper could not distinguish a meeting of Humanists from a meeting of homosexuals.

But that should not surprise anyone. In Africa, homosexuality is a taboo. Gay sex is a very sensitive and controversial issue and presents the black continent with one of the greatest moral, social and legal challenges and dilemmas in the 21st century. This is evident in the many myths and misconceptions about homosexuality in Africa.

Challenging Myths and Misconceptions
The debate over homosexuality has been bogged down by far too many myths and misconceptions, which must be corrected and clarified if Africa is to make progress on this critical issue. Some of the misconceptions include claims that homosexuality is unAfrican, and that gay sex is unnatural and a form of sexual perversion imported to Africa from the West. These misconceptions have served the interests of homophobes and gay bashers on the continent and beyond. They have misrepresented African culture and conscience. If homosexuality is unAfrican, does it mean that heterosexuality is African? Are Africans the ones that exported opposite-sex relationships to other parts of the world? Should we blame Africa for the corruption, immorality and perversions that plague the world due to straight sex? How does one determine what is African or unAfrican? Who determines what natural or unnatural sex is? Who certifies what is sexually moral or normal? What makes a consensual same-sex relationship a taboo and consensual sex among heterosexuals a tradition?

Homosexuality in Africa
Homosexuals have always existed in Africa. In fact gay sex is as old as Africans in Africa, and predates the contact with Arab and western cultures. But as in other cultures, gays in Africa have until recently been in the closet, expressing their sexual emotions and orientation in private. Heterosexuality is the norm. Due to the high mortality rate, Africans place a normal and natural emphasis on procreation, child-bearing and reproductive sex but have been accommodative of people with other sexual preferences and proclivities. Homosexuals in Africa may also contract heterosexual relationship to bear children and to live 'normal lives'. That is why some say there no gays in Africa.

The Igbos in West Africa recognise and practise same-sex marriages among women for procreative purposes. Traditionally a homosexual relationship does not enjoy equal status and recognition with a heterosexual relationship, which is considered to have procreative (and reproductive) value. So, what is actually unAfrican is not homosexuality or same-sex marriages, but homophobia - the fear, hatred, persecution and liquidation of gays and lesbians. What is actually imported to Africa from other cultures is the idea that gay persons should be hunted down, incarcerated or killed.

Colonial Corruption
The persecution of homosexuals in contemporary Africa has some roots in the continent's colonial experience. For centuries, Arab and western imperialists scrambled, partitioned and colonised most parts of Africa. Western imperialists forced on these colonies their social, cultural and political ideologies. Unfortunately, at independence most African countries blindly adopted the laws and constitutions of their erstwhile colonisers. For instance, the former British Colonies, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, adopted the British common law which until the 1960s prohibited homosexuality, while the Islamic majority states adopted the Shari'a law - introduced to Africa by Arab jihadists - which sanctions death for gay sex. So homosexuality is a crime in most African countries due to colonial legislation that African governments have refused to review, revise or abandon.

Christian and Islamic Homophobia
What prevailed in Africa was not necessarily religion-based homophobia because, before the advent of Christianity and Islam, Africans had and practised their religion which was in agreement with their tolerant and secretive attitude to sex. What we have today in Africa is a Christian and Islamic-based homophobia fuelled and fostered by the primitive and anachronistic teachings in the Bible and the Koran. For centuries, foreign missionaries and jihadis invaded Africa and forced the people to abandon their religion, culture and tradition, and embrace the outdated doctrines and dogmas of these homophobic faiths - which now dominate the continent. So, today, Africa is a homophobic society thanks mainly to Christianity and Islam. In Nigeria, Uganda, Egypt and Algeria, Christian and Islamic groups oppose attempts to decriminalise homosexuality and legalise gay marriage, citing the provisions in the Bible and the Koran. Since 2005, the Anglican Communion has been mired in crisis and schism over homosexuality. The Anglican Church in Africa has severed its relationship with its Western counterpart following the ordination of a gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in the US and the solemnisation of gay marriages by Western churches. The Islamic communities in Africa have remained adamant and uncompromising. They continue to uphold the primitive Shari'a provision that sanctions death for anyone convicted of homosexuality.

Currently, Africa is in a moral quandary over homosexuality due to the intransigent, literalist, parochial, ignorant and retrogressive attitudes and mentalities of Christian and Islamic fanatics and theocrats.

Humanism to the Rescue
Humanism is a progressive outlook founded on liberal and civilising values. And one of them is that all human beings are equal in dignity and value. Humanist morality is based on concern for human dignity, happiness and fulfilment. It is not a set of absolutist edicts and commandments handed down as eternal moral truths by some deity, but comprises principles and values discovered and informed by human knowledge and experience. Humanism provides a viable moral framework for Africans to combat homophobia and establish the human rights of all gays and lesbians. Humanists need to champion the cause of challenging, exploding and dispelling the myths and misconceptions about homosexuality in Africa. Particularly, Humanists need to embark on public enlightenment to reason Africans out of their ignorance, prejudice, hatred, absolutism, dogmatism and religion fanaticism. Humanists must be at the forefront of the campaign to decriminalise gay sex, legalise gay marriage and abolish all forms of discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Leo Igwe is IHEU Director in West Africa