CHATTING WITH DESTABILISERS: ACCOUNTABILITY TO LGBTIQ AND GNC AFRICANS WE ASKED: WHAT DOES ACCOUNTABILITY TOWARDS LGBTIQ AND GNC AFRICANS LOOK LIKE? THEY ANSWERED… 22 ANONYMOUS INTERVIEWS WITH LEADING LGBTIQGNC ACTIVISTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND THEIR ALLIES. WWW.ACCOUNTABILITY.INTERNATIONAL Accountability International / Chatting with Destabilisers For this reason, we conducted interviews with 22 LGBTI/ GNC African activists and allies, and without changing what they said, we offer you their words here. We hope that their analysis of the situation, their thoughts and advice on what should be done to improve access to equality, as well as their warnings, are heeded by us all as we push forward for equality. To be clear, we did not intend to capture personal experiences of human rights abuses; but some stories did emerge and in the interest of keeping the work as honest to the actual responses of the activists, we have kept the content almost untouched and unchanged (except for removing identifiers and structuring phrasing for comprehension purposes, but only where vital). We promised interviewees that all identifiers would be removed to allow the interviewees to be as frank as they desired, without fear of repercussion. Not many were worried anyway, given that they are a fearless bunch, but we kept our word anyway. We call this - the Community of Practice research - at Accountability International because our overall goal is to ensure that we share and leverage each other’s Introduction knowledge, analyses, skills and know-how to arrive at equality as quickly as possible.. In 2018, Accountability International began documenting the tacit knowledge that sits in the This research forms part of the Destabilising minds of our African lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Heteronormativity Project; a project which aims to intersex, queer and gender non-conforming destigmatise LGBTI/GNC identities and increase activist friends and colleagues. accountability on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) on the African continent. This knowledge is not yet being actively documented, nor analysed, nor disseminated for use in decision- The 22 interviews were conducted in mid-to-late 2018, making of those working to advance the human with activists from across sub-Saharan Africa. The aim rights of LGBTI/GNC Africans. of the Community of Practice research was to document the rich and diverse knowledge and expertise from We at Accountability International, believe that LGBTI/GNC activists and their allies and as a learning the knowledge, opinions, and experience of these and sharing platform. people is vital to informed decision-making by anyone working in the field of human rights in The Community of Practice research aims to use this as Africa, especially allies, funding partners, and the an accountability and sustainability tool to hold leaders United Nations bodies. www.accountability.international 3 accountable and to amplify the voices and experiences Through reading and understanding the opinions of African LGBTI/GNC people. Through the research, we of these key experts, we hope you have greater address the following topics, amongst others: insight into what your role might be to advance LGBTI/GNC rights in Africa. • What are the major challenges faced by African LGBTI/GNC today? With thanks and appreciation to our 22 activists • What progress has not been made through LGBTI/ who shared their time, expertise and advice. GNC activism over the last 5-10 years? • What is our understanding of intersectionality and The Accountability Team intersecting movements to make an even greater impact? • What does accountability look like for African LGBTI/ GNC? • What role should allies and funding partners play in supporting the African LGBTI/GNC movement? Through these interviews we hear from African LGBTI/ GNC people themselves as well as the views of allies who have been working alongside LGBTI/GNC over the years. WE HOPE THAT THEIR ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION, THEIR THOUGHTS AND ADVICE ON WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO IMPROVE THE MOVEMENT, AND ACCESS TO EQUALITY AND THEIR WARNINGS AND CAUTIONS ARE ALL HEEDED BY US ALL AS WE PUSH FORWARD FOR EQUALITY. Accountability International / Chatting with Destabilisers Contents Introduction ................................................... 3 An Academic Perspective ............................. 6 A Message to Funding Partners ................... 7 Visibility .......................................................... 8 Tactics for Inclusion ...................................... 9 The Long Term Goal ...................................... 10 Accountability and Religion .......................... 12 On Holding Governments Accountable and HIV ........................................................... 14 Accountability and the Trans Movement ... 16 On Human Rights .......................................... 18 Roles and Responsibilities ............................ 21 Where Does Change Happen? ...................... 22 The Opposition’s Tactics ............................... 23 Accountability as LGBT Organisations ........ 24 Accountability to LGBTIQGNC Diverse Africans? ......................................................... 25 To Do List ........................................................ 26 About Us ......................................................... 27 What does it mean to be accountable? ...... 28 Creative Commons ........................................ 28 Notes ............................................................... 29 Contact Details ............................................... 30 www.accountability.international 5 don’t challenge that as academics, because why do people say that it’s a Western thing, is because they see mostly the people that talk about it is Western people or from America, etc. So that means when we don’t talk about it here, we are doing an injustice to our LGBTIQ communities. So if people start seeing and hearing us talking about it, they think then oh, okay. So instead of my mother always seeing a white person on TV talking about gay rights, lesbian rights, now she’s starting to hear… she can’t be like hey, my child is for that, no I’m not, because she knows, so she will be like ah, maybe not, she’s onto something, okay, let me hear her out. And she will start telling her neighbours you know what, my child was saying. They can’t say now I’m a Western what-what. Because I’m here and I talk to that. So within that spectrum, I think we are accountable to speak and talk about it, whether you are LGBTIQ identifying or not as an ally also, because you see, you know the truth, therefore why aren’t you seeing anything? An Academic Perspective So if we keep silent, then we are doing an injustice. So we are very much accountable to our own I think there’s a lot of accountability that needs ❝ people. Ja, future generations. to be there, particularly from our side as academics ❞ because we are challenged with the task of bringing about change within society. So we identify the problems and we are supposed to bring about the solutions and present that to the policy makers, the government and channel it all the way forward. I always say we kind of play the role of, we are the middle man between society and government. We take what civil society says and then we present it to government. Government engage that channelling, but also in terms of knowledge production, if we don’t, particularly from an African perspective, from an African voice it occurs, and we keep hearing our own people saying the LGBTIQ is not African, it’s a Western thing, it’s Western names, it’s Western concepts, etc, if we Accountability International / Chatting with Destabilisers know our President likes saying we can’t live without donor money which I believe which I know is not true we live on donor money whether NGOs that do LGBTI work or NGOs that do work on their own we all live on donor money. And I believe donors have a demand to talk about these issues to the government. ❞ ❝ Funding partners need to realise that many activists will not be able to stand up to them in a frank and honest way. They need to realise that they have privilege, they have power. No matter how approachable you think you are as a funder, somebody who needs your money will probably not tell you their whole truth. You think you are an activist, but if you work for a funder, you are ow a funder first and activist second. If you think activists are telling you their entire truth, you are fooling yourself. So how can you get past this? Use active phrases such as “Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me what you really think”; “I can’t help the movement from my privileged position, if I don’t get the brutally honest truth from the activists about what they need us to fund/do/not do”. Be humble, ask a lot of questions, and don’t put your A Message to Funding personal passion onto the work of others, distorting what Partners the LGBT activists really need to do. And take criticism well, so that you can get the truth and change for the better. And ❝ And in terms of the donor [unclear 0:42:47] look for those who work differently. Don’t just fund what I believe accountability would also be so many of everybody else is funding. Look for those who are trying to our donors give funds to us LGBTI persons, but reach into new areas and expand the scope of the LGBT also fund the government and the sectors within movement and its impact. the government. Accountability is following that and understanding or