Discrimination against LGBT community persists in Mozambique

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Discrimination against LGBT community persists in Mozambique

12:36 CAT | 18 May 2022

Image: DW

On May 17th, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Mozambique’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) community denounced serious violations of their rights, including psychological aggression and intolerance.

Although Mozambique is on the list of African countries least hostile to the LGBTQI+ community, several constraints, they say, prevent the full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms.

A legal framework that still allows discrimination, the non-recognition of same-sex marriage and the denial of the right to adopt children by same-sex couples is one of the problems, according to the Mozambican Association for the Defence of Sexual Minorities (LAMBDA).

LGBTQI+ activist Micky Beúla tells DW Africa that she has already witnessed a false accusation of theft against a lesbian in a tourist establishment in Maputo, and she has experienced the pain of prejudice among health professionals herself.

“It happened to me in a health unit I went to to get tested for HIV. I was there with my partner, and the lady who attended to me said that I couldn’t take the test because I was a woman who had sex with another woman and there was no risk of infection,” she recounted.

“Of course, there is no such risk [it is extremely rare], but other risks can occur,” she stresses. “Here in Mozambique, there is no sex education for LGBTI people.”

“An environment of tolerance, but not of acceptance”

For LAMBDA’s Fau Mangore, the exercise of the right to freedom of association is another problem. His association has been unregistered since 2008, which “recently limits its actions”.

“It also puts us at risk, in the sense that we do not know what tomorrow will bring. LAMBDA works with several entities, but without registration. The government may decide to close LAMBDA tomorrow, because it is not institutionalised,” he alerts.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Mozambique in 2014. But discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to Fau Mangore, remains unpunished: “In short, LGBTI citizens in Mozambique live under an apparent climate of tolerance, but not one of acceptance,” he says.

Appeals to the government

Henny de Vries, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Mozambique, notes that homophobia is a universal problem, and calls for a better response to the needs of the LGBTI community on the part of the Mozambican government.

“On the one hand, Mozambique is accepting the LGBTI community. On the other hand, the country can do more, because we still don’t have, in the laws, the protection that the LGBTI community needs. We have challenges in many countries – in the Netherlands, too. We are here to ask for more rights,” he says.

The calls for respect for the human rights of the LGBTI community arise in connection with the celebrations on Tuesday (17-05) of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

In Mozambique, the date was preceded by the public exhibition in the Maputo Fortress of the “Rainbow Dress”, a worldwide symbol of appeal for respect for LGBTI rights. The display will now move to Beira and Nampula cities, in the centre and north of the country.

Today is International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

IOM reaffirms its commitment to stand with and support all LGBTIQ+ migrants.
#IDAHOBIT | #IDAHOBIT2022 pic.twitter.com/ltiLod5SyO

— IOM Southern Africa (@IOMROpretoria) May 17, 2022