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Tanzania

movement

LGBT group opens office in Dar es Salaam

Community Peer Support Services(CPSS) is an LGBT movement started by a few queer activists three years ago to advocate for the rights of LGBT people in Tanzania. The main aim of the group is to mobilise LGBT people and advocate for the respect of their human rights.

CPSS since inception has been engaged in membership recruitment through our contact persons in different towns throughout Tanzania.


Capital Dar es Salaam President of Multi Party Democracy Benjamin Mkapa Independence from United Kingdom Population 35.3 million Currency Tanzanian Shilling Interesting Media Express Weekly http://www.theexpress.com IPP Media News http://www.ippmedia.com Status HOMOSEXUALITY illegal

Gay Muslim Marriage in Tanzania

Homosexuality is illegal in Tanzania, as indeed it is on most of the continent, bar the republic of South Africa where gay rights are enshrined in the constitution. This, however, was no bar to two gay Tanzanian Muslims, Mohammed Issa and Abdulrahman Juma who exchanged rings and were married in public ceremony, covered by the local media in March. MORE ...

Traditions

An old Tanzanian tradition in which women may marry women, alarms Aids workers - but not because the 'married' women have sex. Rayner Ngonji reported in the Johannesburg-based Mail and Guardian on November 3, 1997 MORE ...

Deported for being gay  

In 1998 Simon Barne was deported
from Tanzania for being gay. As a
teacher at a college in the small coastal
town of Bagamoyo he had expected to
be celibate, but met a younger
Tanzanian man with whom he started
an affair. Read his account on what
followed as well as an outsiders view
on homosexuality in Tanzania.  

http://www.ilga.org/Information/Africa/
tanzania__deported_for_being_gay.htm

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Other activities have been hindered due to lack of funds but with financial support we can develop a programme. CPSS currently has 334 members throughout Tanzania and we anticipate recruiting others. Tanzania has 25 religions but we have divided it into ten zones which nominates a key contact person as the leader of that zone. We have a management board consisting of a chair, vice chair, secretary, vice secretary, treasurer and ten executive members (key contact persons) all the above elected by the Annual General Meeting for a period of three years.

Activities since inception have been hindered by lack of funders. Recently we received funding from Hivos to open a co-orination office and to conduct ten zonal human rights workshops in order to sensitise members and acquire advocacy skills, share expertise and information, identify challenges, limits, opporunities. We are in the process of documenting human rights violations in our country. The outcomes so far have been:

  • 250 LGBT people mobilised and trained as gay activists.
  • The 250 LGBT people will contribute to human rights advocacy in Tanzania.
  • The capacity to lobby.
  • Education on human rights of LGBT people has been done.
  • Co-ordination of project activities have been ensured.
  • Linkages have been created both nationally and internationally.

(ILGA Africa Newsletter, November 2000)

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