From my dude Keguro (that might be presumptuous, but whatever). Talks about Gay Marriage legislation in Kenya.
Yeah, 'Africa' has a myriad of problems, but so do a lot of other places. There is also a lot of hot stuff going on in a lot of countries that too many people do not know about, and even more importantly, are not invested in (for the love of GOD invest in various telecoms firms, like, right now because that stuff is gonna grow for a while). Basically I think the Afropessimism that a lot of people feel towards the continent is unwarranted and even destructive.
Having said that, one of the most painful issues to deal with is gay/homosexual/queer rights in many of the countries (not that the United States has got its crap together in this regard either, mind you). Keguro and his peeps have far better explanations than I can offer on this stuff, so I urge you to check it out and hopefully figure out a way to extend citizenship to a really marginalized group (out of many to be sure).
Interesting. I was in Nairobi for a conference on black masculinities last May and came away with a huge number of things to think through. One thing that did strike me, though, was the number of out lesbians and gays I saw when I went out clubbing.
ReplyDeleteMight have been my own ignorance but it wasn't something I'd given much thought to prior to then.
Also, it's interesting that HBO's new show No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency has a gay male character which is the first time in my recollection I've seen a gay African man depicted on American television.
Jelani, what clubs did you hit up? If I can make a (VERY IMPERFECT) analogy, back in China (Chongqing specifically) I hit up a gay club with my peeps (which might reek of queer orientalism) and was surprised as well to see so many out gays (no lesbians though, which might point to unsurprising differences in power even amongst the subaltern or just that lesbians had their own clubs, I dunno). I found that China is pretty hostile to homosexuality as a whole, so the presence of this club in downtown Chengdu across the street from the Sheraton was something of a revelation (I expected it to be in a riverside slum). I mean, the government and the club obiously have some sort of tacit agreement, but the men who patronized it seemed to me to only be open in the club itself.
ReplyDeleteI will post my thoughts on No. 1 Ladies another time, but you are right that, on American television, I have never really come across any queer character from the continent.
Please ask Keguro about this stuff too, he knows wayyyy more about it than I do.