Rwandan Parliament and Homosexuality

Subject:	Rwandan Parliament and Homosexuality
Date:	Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:32:07 -0600

Rwanda paves the way for universal respect
of human rights in Africa by refusing
to criminalise homosexuality

In December 2009, the lower House of the Rwandan Parliament was set to
vote upon a revised Penal Code, Article 217 of which would have made
homosexuality a criminal offence for the first time in the East African
nation.
Following a strong mobilisation from diplomats and human rights
activists in the region, Tharcisse Karugarama, Minister of Justice,
declared that the Rwandan government "cannot and will not in any way
criminalize homosexuality" , reaffirming that sexual orientation was "a
private matter and each individual has his or her own orientation – this
is not a State matter at all".

Michael Cashman MEP, Co-president of the European Parliament's
Intergroup on LGBT Rights, enthusiastically congratulated Rwandan
authorities on their decision: "In a context increasingly repressive of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in African countries,
Rwanda did the right thing by refusing to criminalise homosexuality.
This is yet another example of Rwanda being a role-model for African
nations."

Mr Cashman further added: "With this courageous decision, Rwanda is
paving the way for everyone's human rights to be respected in the
region. The European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights calls on
other African nations to follow the lead of Rwanda, and abide by Article
2 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights."

Homosexuality is currently a criminal offence in several African
countries, and punished by death in Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and
Sudan, and potentially Uganda.

ENDS

With help from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
(IGLHRC)

The European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights:
Co -Presidents: Michael Cashman MEP (UK-S&D) and Ulrike Lunacek MEP
(AT-Greens)
Vice-President: Sophie In't Veld MEP (NL-ALDE)
Vice-President: Raül Romeva i Rueda MEP (ES-Greens)
Vice-President: Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP (FI-EPP)
Vice-president: Rui Tavares MEP (PT-GUE)
Press contact: Bruno Selun, Secretary · bruno.selun@ europarl.
europa.eu · +32 (0) 228 37 759 +32 (0) 228 37 759 .
Web: www.lgbt-ep. eu · http://twitter. com/LGBTintergro
up

GlobalGayz interviews a young gay Rwandan, Alan Malege, about
the strong anti-gay laws and religious and social attitudes in his
country. As well, he reports candidly about same-sexual practices.
Despite seemingly unchangeable and overwhelming circumstances he and his
gay friends display remarkable resourcefulness in finding each other and
finding profitable contacts with African and European businessmen and
NGO personnel. Some relief is found in neighboring countries such as
Ghana and Kenya where attitudes are less intolerant (although not
pro-gay).

Also see:
Gay Rwanda Stories

Introduction

Rwanda is a land locked country in east central Africa. It's located
between Uganda,Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo. It's
a small country originally colonized by the Belgians then the French.
During the 1990s it was the scene of massive carnage as tribal rivalries
took hundreds of thousands of lives.

The current government of Rwanda is not willing to listen to any views
on homosexuality. Not surprisingly the Rwandan Catholic church prelate
has been unsympathetic and critical of homosexuality. Alan Malege
guesses about 10% of Rwanda's population fall in the categories of gays
and lesbians, but they can't express themselves in any way. "You will
find the atmosphere for gays and lesbians is not open."

Alan Malege is a student at Kigali Institute of Science Technology and
Management (KIST). He first contacted GlobalGayz asking if we had any
information about gay Rwanda. Over the course of several e-mails he
generously answered questions about gay life in Rwanda today. Despite
daunting oppression, he comes across as positive-minded and pragmatic in
his approach to daily life in his country.

(1) How easy or difficult is it to meet other gays in Rwanda?

It's not easy being a gay in Rwanda, because there's no freedom of
expression. So it takes more than courage to look around for either
Rwandies or non-Rwandies to have sex or a relationship. I did try to
make contact with someone but there were some difficulties when the guy
blackmailed me. That's when I was in my second year at KIST in 2004.I
was not harmed but tortured mentally, and I had to work out a bribe in
that matter. He also had some friends in civilian clothes claiming to be
security personal from the CID, but I could not tell whether they were
really from the CID. That has been my most serious problem so far.

(2) Does anyone in your family know you are gay?

Nobody in my family knows that I'm gay. I call this my skeleton in the
cupboard (top secret)

(3) Do you have gay or lesbian friends?

Yes I've gay friends here but mostly from the D.R.Congo and Uganda. In
Rwanda most boys intend not to be known they are gay and have a lot of
pretense. Also, I have a boyfriend for two years now. He is Canadian but
only can come to Africa a few times a year. So I try to go where he is
in Africa. We will not live together because of the laws here and
because he only comes for short times. So I must like what may come.

(4) Are there any places where you can gather socially with other gay
people?

Absolutely no gay community in Rwanda. Gathering socially does not
happen. Any activity is underground. Most gays meet at hotels late at
night and target foreigners. And here you can find out that so-and-so is
gay or lesbian. We don’t meet to be with other gays but to contact
strangers for sex and money. Most of these boys and girls do this to
sustain their needs-–education, clothes, etc. For some of the gays they
enjoy it and it becomes a good game. This is where you come across
Rwandies and maybe you can come into a relationship with one of them.

(5) What is the age of consent?

Homosexuality has no age of consent But on the other side of the coin
(opposite sex) it’s a bit tricky whereby if a girl is 20 and still at
school and you 'go into love' with her and if you're known by her
parents you can be booked by the police. But if she’s 18 years and not
going to school then it’s OK. So it depends on the situation.

A lot of young people have sex below the age of 16 in the main
densely-populated areas. But in small villages you find different kinds
of communities. It’s tight thinking due to culture laws and these young
boys and girls are always with their elders.

(6) What is story-telling and how does it hurt gays?

The educational aspects of traditional story-telling are proving to be a
powerful tool to fight against the expression of homosexual activities
in Rwanda. Homosexuals has no positive aspect in stories. Story-telling
is at the very heart of all our culture. 'Grieving families', as I call
them, tend to preach against homosexuality through story-telling. Here
you find it's a challenging situation. We have an oral tradition that is
rich with many-sided familiar literature that could suggest new
structure. All kinds of meanings are told through this story-telling
about our culture.

Africa has many ethnic groups (tribes) and many different ways of
living. These ethnics have created a lot of problems in most Africans
countries. In Rwanda are two types of ethnics--the Hutus, the majority,
and the Tutsies. You will find that any child at the age of 8 already
knows Hutus are bad or Tutsies are bad, depending on were he /she is
born.

And all this conflict comes from the story-telling by the elders. At one
time they mobilize all the young ones and tell all this kind of negative
stuff and in due course wars continue. So this applies to the stories
that are told in this manner and you find it's a challenge because here
you find a lot of things in the tales that say where homosexuality is a
failure.

Storytelling is against most of the unwanted cultural things, such as
don't marry when you're under the age of 16yrs; never talk to any boy if
he talks love-love or about people for same sex; it's the worst thing on
earth.
So story-telling is our culture's way of grooming the young ones. This
has disadvantages and advantages. The disadvantages is that when it
comes to ethnics it's so dangerous whereby division comes in and that's
why there was a genocide war in Rwanda. Advantages are that some were
boys and girls grow up in a well mannered way to fit into the African
kind of culture which sometimes is not bad.

(7) Is there any violence against gays?

Anything in Rwanda concerning violence is against the law. So nobody
will hit or try any mob justice. But you can be verbally abused for
being a gay or lesbian anywhere if somebody knows you are that kind. The
main religion here is Catholic so the priests also tell bad thing about
us and people follow their words.

(8) Have gay people been arrested for being gay?

Although not stated in the constitution, homosexuality is illegal and
carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction. You never
have any kind of discussion about gays.You have to face the law without
legal recourse or help. So for that matter many boys and girls have to
cross to neighboring countries where the is law not so harsh. As far as
I know, there have been no arrest incidents of the kind being punished.
But always the government preaches against us. This leads to
discrimination on grounds of ethic origin, religion, gender, place of
residence etc. As a result a study on knowledge, attitudes and behavior
practices to establish some baseline information on HIV/AIDS cannot be
completed.

(9) I have heard there are 'gay spies' in your country?

It's very difficult for a friend to express him/herself due to the
presence of some spies who pretend to be homosexual and in due course
trap gays and lesbians. These are people who are given money to
distribute as some boys here in Rwanda are willing to do it to sustain
their needs.

(10) Please say more about the spies.

With the spies it's funny, and I will tell you that some of these people
(spies) enjoy the sex action they do, because he or she needs evidence
to show really that someone slept with a gay. But they sometimes reveal
that they are spies so this is how we came to know all about them. And
that’s why you find nobody has ever been trapped that way. They are
given money to trap us (to pay us for sex), but as you know in Africa
most people live below the poverty line so they use the spy money for
their own use instead. I've never been trapped and I've never came
across one.

(11) How did the war effect gay people?

The culture in Rwanda is 100% against gay activity now. During the war
gay ideas got bombed. Rwanda before the war didn't have outside ideas.
But after many refugees came back from other parts of the world they
were modernized and saw and knew the way things were moving (including
gay awareness). For a while this kind of mixture was good in all aspects
and the gay thing also fit in.

What I mean is that after the war all these returning people came from
different countries like Uganda and were aware and 'polished' to most of
the newer ideas of living life. These new ideas were introduced in
different situations here. Gays were doing well at last. Things like
learning English came in; Rwanda was a French-Belgian colony and you
could hardly find anybody speaking English. But things changed in due
course as the government introduced new laws which are very strict and
were against homosexuals. So now if an intention comes to create a
community of gays the government shows a hard core and all gay efforts
fail.

(12) Tell us about yourself.

Alan is my Christian name. My family name is Malege so it’s Malege Alan
my names. By origin I’m a Ugandan born 1978 to the late Malege Tom and
wife Catharine. I was late in a family of six but not of my origin. What
I mean here is that before I was born my mother had already six children
from a different man. My father was a Ugandan of whom I didn’t have a
glance. What I know is he served as a combatant in the early Idi Amin’s
army. My mother was a Rwandies tribe member and a business woman. She
passed away three years after the Rwanda Genocide war in the mid 1990's.

I sprouted under my mum’s wings and she was always there when I needed
her. So on her returning from Uganda to Rwanda after the Rwanda Genocide
war ended, I had to cross with her to her motherland-- Rwanda. So I grew
up not knowing a single person of my late father’s family in Uganda.
I studied in Uganda till my O-level and then A-level in Rwanda and now
I'm at Kigali Institute of Science Technology and Management (KIST)
finalizing a Diploma in welding, fabrication, erection (workshop
technology).
By tribe I’m a Muganda the biggest tribe in Uganda but I had to fall
into my mum’s origin family the Rwandies when we returned. So I have no
brother or sister of my Muganda origin.

(13) You said it's not easy to find a partner because it is not safe to
show your sexual desire, so you do not have much sex with other men?

It's true one may take some days not having sex with another. The reason
it's not an easy thing to find a partner; mostly the system here runs on
contacts so you will find your self finishing a week or two without sex.
And because most boys do it for money if I tell him we do something for
no money he won't accept me. So the average I guess is around four times
a month.

Rwanda men are not circumcised at all and they don't like that. I'm not
circumcised but I'm planning to do so. Most cases all partners I meet
are circumcised. Only two I’ve found were not cut. I think circumcision
increases sweetness and is good for penetration and is better for
hygiene.

(14) I understand that some men find each other at the hotels.
Businessmen arrive and make contact, both white and black.( Is there
much race discrimination in Rwanda?) However, most Rwanda gays cannot
afford to meet at hotels and do not have European/American boyfriends, I
think. Where else do you and your friends pick-up guys to meet? Through
the circle of friends or a network? Through the Internet?. Public
cruising areas? Do most Rwandan gays prefer other Rwandans or white
guys?

There’s no race discrimination here and that’s so far the best thing in
Rwanda I may say however most boys like Europeans because this is where
money is--or black businessmen. In most causes I prefer whites.

As for meeting places, most cases for me I've been having sex in homes
of those whom I meet However, I've had sex as well in hotels but
sometimes it's risky; you never know--unless it’s an inexpensive hotel
and it's a quiet place. Most of my partners are white for sure but I've
had sex with blacks as well and these most from Ghana. I don't mind
either much so long as it’s fun. I've had sex with partners of my age. A
recent one was a Congolese. I'm 28yrs now.
With money, it may come afterwards but I don't bargain or discuss money.
Since I've been a gay I've never demanded any money and I don't take it
as a commodity. Whatever I'm given I just take. I think that's why I'm
doing better than my friends. Several times I've been having sex free,
other than a little for my transport to where I've come from. But
sometimes these partners of mine stay in contact with me wherever they
are and I find that they play a roll to my fees (already understood) and
this has helped me a lot. But generally it's fun.

I know that some of my friends charge not more than US$30, and sometimes
it depends on how they agree on that. Most of their partners are older
of course. Many of these boys are students so you would not expect him
to take you in a house of his own. Some guys find new friends from the
Internet and things like that. Everybody finds his own way of living
because you will never have a social organization or meetings for gays
here.

In most cases it's so rare to find a boy doing it with non-businessmen
or expatriates This is because for most boys it's their way for earning.
I've done several times without getting any money and there’s nothing
wrong with that. In fact if I meet one my age I'll have to give him
something to encourage him to go with me.

Regarding Ghana men: Ghanaians have influence and consultant jobs in
Rwanda so they are the majority in many organizations mostly like the
UN. This is how I came so much in touch with them. And Ghana has a wide
range of gays. I don't know whether you know this but in Ghana boys play
sex in turn for appreciation.

(15) This information you are telling me leads to the idea that many
adult gay Rwandan men do not know long-term intimacy in their lives?
Only short term sex affairs? This can be sad--or not. Maybe gay men do
not expect happiness with a boyfriend. What do you think?

It's correct must gays here don't know long term intimacy just because
there’s no way to access them regularly. People (partners) come and go
here. If we had our human rights then that would be fine because we
would set up things like associations whereby we would be open, even on
air. Here you would make many contacts and so on.

For example, in Kenya they have gay meetings, holiday outings, etc., and
these things are well organized; buses carry gay boys and girls from
town to town by this means when something is organized. The transport is
organized by some kind of gay committee and people are picked up from
the towns where they live and pay some reasonable amount of money for
the transport.

I attended one event and it was fantastic in Malindi. Malindi city is on
the coast of northwest Kenya. It was here for the first time that I met
boys and girls in different lifestyles. Gays and boy friends are found
and lesbians and their girlfriends so it's really nice. I slept with two
different Kenyans on different days and it was very sexy! They were in
my same age group.
Kenya is organized better for gays and they have a gay community, though
it's not officially tolerated. But there is some freedom on that issue.
By the way, Kenya gays have a web site under construction for gays
there.

But Rwanda is very sad and there’s nothing we can do. But we still like
each other however and do what we can. No gays in Rwanda that I know
have been couples for long. And as Rwanda is not a favorable state. I
don't think such can happen. But in Uganda I know several couples, even
though homosexuality is illegal but not written in the constitution.
Even Europeans can't risk this here even though they want it. That is
they can't risk a long time relationship due to Rwanda’s laws that
everybody fears.

(16) What is the AIDS situation in Rwanda?

With HIV/AIDS in Rwanda it's terrible, However, NGOs are coming to
preaching prevention of AIDS. If you can remember I mentioned before
that it's difficult to say a word on AIDS to these boys because the
baseline for the information is not open. On the other hand, in Uganda I
read the government newspaper, The NewVision, which is daily. Someone
came out and said homosexuals should be involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in
Uganda. And this is a Major in the UPDF Ugandan army. He has been with
HIV for 20years now. So you can see the the difference between the two
countries. In Rwanda nobody would ever say such things in public or in
any newspaper. Let me tell you even if you go to any newspaper in Rwanda
and make an article concerning that, they will not allow you.

(17) You have not mentioned anything about lesbians in Rwanda. Is it
easier or more difficult for them?

Lesbians in Rwanda I may say they are 150% under ground.You will never
know these girls, but the small information I have is that most of them
deal with European women. I knew only one girl but she's out of Rwanda
now; I think she might be around SouthAfrica. Not sure.

Alan, thank you very much for your patience, honesty and self-disclosure
during the past couple of months as we put this interview together. Your
personal experiences and your ideas about being lesbigay in modern
Rwanda are a rare look into the fierce anti-gay repression that you face
daily. I also admire the courage you have in being true to yourself as
you take risks to continue your relationship and also to find new
adventures in and out of Rwanda. Against such daunting circumstances I
much admire your apparent positive attitude. Thank you again.

P.S. A few days after posting this story, Alan wrote again:

I just read the weekly newspaper of Rwanda this morning called UMUSESO.
It's an independent paper and is written in Kinyarwanda. Today there is
a report about the statement published in the Ugandan newspaper the New
Vision about homosexuals. It says they should be involved in the fight
against AIDS.

But some minister of Rwanda has come out saying, “No Room for Homos!” He
says he's very disappointed by the army Major in Uganda who 's trying to
involve gays to fight AIDS. Our minister says homosexuals are perverts
and cannot even be brave enough and publicly declare their sexual
behavior because what they are doing is wrong. He also says that Rwanda
has a rich value of culture which is highly valued and desires to keep
that way. We should never agree with the Ugandan Major and he promised
to fight any gay or lesbian who comes to Rwanda or shows in public. So
you can see the reaction we have on these issues. Even with the AIDS
education to save lives gays are not welcome.