Gay group in ouésso, republic of the congo

The struggle for the rights of sexual minorities is too frequently dominated by ideas, voices, and stories from the global North and West, says Congolese human rights activist and artist Jean-Claude Pongault Elongo. Erasing 76 Crimes: How does your organization deliver prevention and awareness in the African context? This gave rise to the idea of producing a social drama, a film called Michel. s , based on the true story of a young gay man from Brazzaville, Michel, whose father refused to finance his studies, while his brother, supported by his father, failed to pass the baccalauréat [a final high school exam].

The Republic of the Congo ROC is a presidential republic in West Africa. Current president, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, has been in power since when a civil war ousted the first democratically elected government. Many observers, including domestic NGOs, foreign governments, and international organizations, question the validity of both the constitutional referendum process and the presidential election, which was met with civil unrest. The Republic of the Congo is classified by the World Bank as a lower middle-income economy.

Jérémie Safari, coordinator of Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, a Congolese LGBTQ and intersex rights group, told the Washington Blade that residents of the Kibumba camp where displaced people have settled have refused to assist trans people and have accused them of being sorcerers. Safari said other displaced people who did not want trans women in the camp have attacked them. Safari said these trans women currently sleep in the street in Kibumba without food. Safari, in addition, said the government has done little to help these displaced trans people, even though consensual same-sex sexual relations are not criminalized in the country.

Though the Democratic Republic of the Congo technically has no law that makes homosexuality illegal, there is absolutely zero societal acceptance for it, which makes the idea of equal treatment a fantasy. Joseph Saidi, 29, is the former president and founder of Rainbow Sunrise, a non-governmental organization that supports the gay community in the city of Bukavu in eastern DRC. Saidi has endured police abuse in both his home country and in Uganda, where last year he was arrested and charged with sodomy , which can carry a life sentence, before a friend posted bail and he eventually fled the country. The previous year, in May , local police in Bukavu arrested, detained and abused Saidi as a strike at his activism.