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lgbti rights enter the African human rights discourse for the first time |
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Last Updated: May 12, 2006 |
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By Wendy Landau, Behind The Mask
May 12, 2006: The claims of lesbian and gay people to non-discrimination and equal protection were mentioned for the first time on Thursday, 11 May 2006 at the 39th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights sitting in Banjul in The Gambia.
This historic moment occurred when a statement was read by a Cameroonian lesbian, Sybille Ngo Nyeck, on behalf of the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (an NGO with observer status) from Nigeria. The statement was made in collaboration with a new Cameroon LGBTI organization, Alternatives Cameroon, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the All Africa Rights Initiative and the Coalition of African Lesbians.
The statement drew the Commission’s attention to the situation of gays and lesbians in Cameroon where a number of arrests, detentions and prosecutions have been reported in the last year; the fact that homosexuality is illegal in that country; and that the government commissioned anal examinations.
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Sharon Stone on the lesbian scene in Basic Instinct 2
