No Refuge from Hate: Homophobia in Africa & Xenophobia in the US Creates Perilous Conditions for Black LGBTQI Migrants
We are delighted to share that BAJI is featured in the latest issue of Human Rights Magazine, Volume 50, Issue 5 – a publication of the American Bar Association! The article was authored by BAJI’s Legal Director, Tsion Gurmu and Communications Director, Nekessa Opoti.
Our contribution appears in the 2025 March edition, themed “Marginalized within Marginalized Communities”. This powerful issue amplifies the voices and struggles of those living at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression.
In our article, BAJI explores the dangerous landscape that LGBTQI migrants must navigate – fleeing from state-sanctioned homophobia and interpersonal violence in parts of Africa, only to encounter xenophobia, racism, and criminalization here in the United States.
As an organization deeply rooted in Black liberation and migrant justice, we know that borders don’t just mark nations – they mark who is considered worthy of safety, dignity, and belonging.
Below is an excerpt from our piece, which you can read in full here. We invite you to dig in, share widely, and join us in building a world where no one has to choose between identity and survival.
“Respect African societies and their values. If you don’t agree, let us just manage our society as we see fit. [Homosexuals] are disgusting. What sort of people are they?”
—Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country. . . . [Immigrants are] coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.”
—U.S. President Donald Trump
Laws affecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals in Africa are disparate.
- Globally, South Africa was the first to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, and then in 2006, became the fifth nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
- In other African nations, homophobic laws vary from one-year imprisonment in Liberia to the death penalty in Mauritania, Somalia, and parts of Nigeria. Anti-LGBTI rhetoric is weaponized by African politicians to legislate hate through the creation and expansion of anti-homosexuality laws.
- Uganda, which has one of the harshest anti-LGBTI laws, penalizes consensual same-sex sexual activity with life imprisonment and penalizes “aggravated homosexuality” with the death penalty.
- In Kenya, where consensual same-sex activity is already illegal, the proposed 2023 Family Protection Bill seeks to penalize consensual same-sex sexual activity as well as gay rights activism with a minimum of 10 years in prison and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
- Ghana’s parliament approved an anti-LGBTI bill that increased the maximum sentence for being gay and makes gay rights activism and advocacy punishable with up to five years imprisonment. Ghana’s bill has prompted a sharp rise in violence.
These laws continue to serve as models for copycat legislation, driving LGBTI Africans to seek protection as refugees and asylum seekers in Western nations. No Refuge from Hate: Homophobia in Africa and Xenophobia in the United States Creates Perilous Conditions for Black LGBTI Migrants can be found here.