ARLANA SHIKONGO
Namibian political and public voices have echoed decades-old claims that homosexuality is ‘un-African’ and a supposed ‘Western import’ inconsistent with local religious values.
Last year, after a Supreme Court judgment that immigration law must recognize same-sex marriages conducted abroad, a surge in anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric was observed. The ruling catalyzed intensified debates on LGBTQI+ rights.
Equality
While the judgment affirmed our constitutional commitment to equality, it also revealed an underbelly of prejudices, triggering a wave of political and religious resistance – despite ours being a secular state that “prohibits religious discrimination, and provides for freedom of thought, conscience, and belief, as well as the right to enjoy, practice, profess, maintain, and promote any religion” (Namibia 2020 International Religious Freedom Report)
Religion
Although more than 90% of Namibians identify as religious, according to the Pew Research Centre, the irony lies in the fact that Christianity itself is a Western import to Africa, brought to the continent through colonial missionary efforts. The contradiction reveals a selective interpretation of foreign influences in order to reject LGBTQI+ rights.
“Un-African”
Far from queerness being ‘un-African,’ indigenous languages prove otherwise through pre-colonial expressions of same-sex relations.
In her 2014 Al Jazeera op-ed ‘Homosexuality is not un-African’, Sylvia Tamale, a Ugandan law professor, writes: “The vocabulary used to describe same-sex relations in traditional languages, predating colonialism, is further proof of the existence of such relations in precolonial Africa.” In their 1998 book, ‘Boy Wives and Female Husbands’, Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe identify specific references to same-sex relations across the continent, including Namibia, that indicate that indigenous groups had names for these relationships. Anthropologist Kurt Falk, details the fairly common occurrence of same-sex relationships among Khoisan speakers, and the natives of what was then called Southwest Africa in the 1920s based on stories shared by indigenous groups at the time. Many examples exist, from etymology scholars across the globe of expressions of same-sex relations in indigenous languages.
How then did the belief arise that homosexuality is ‘un-Namibian’?
Colonialism
Thuli Mjwara, process coordinator at Inclusive and Affirming Ministries working with churches to recognise diverse people – said the colonial era significantly shaped attitudes toward sexuality: “Africa is in the process of ridding itself of colonialism. So, we see a lot of the African leaders using the narrative around decolonisation […] and yet, in that process of decolonisation, they’re still holding on to certain laws that were introduced through that system”.
Mjwara points out that we inherited laws criminalising same-sex relationships from colonial rulers. These laws reflect efforts to diminish diversity.
An example is British anti-sodomy laws from the 1800s, designed to “correct and Christianise ‘native’ custom” and ‘protect’ British soldiers and colonial administrators from acquiring “special Oriental vices,” as detailed in research conducted by Taboom Media.
American Evangelicals
Contemporarily, American Evangelical influence fuels new waves of anti-LGBTQI+ sentiments to infiltrate African religious perspectives.
At the core of it all is religious fundamentalism and biblical literalism and how these religious sects interpret the Bible, says Laurie Gaum – an Anglican Church minister and coordinator at Gender Works.
Wrong interpretation
“It’s based on an irresponsible Bible interpretation when things are read black-and-white as if it would be as clear as that, and as if one is not interpreting an ancient text of thousands of years,” Gaum said.
He added that the tragic effect is the violence inflicted upon diverse individuals because people propagate harmful ideas without considering the subsequent harm. “The assumption that interpretation doesn’t need to take place […] is the first thing that needs to be challenged quite significantly.” he said.
Follow the money
Beyond inaccurate interpretations, Gaum identified financial contributions and proximity to power as additional factors driving American Evangelism in Africa. While not a novel theory, it remains one that requires ongoing exploration and thorough investigation.
“American Evangelicals arrive and then almost immediately they’ve got an audience with the president. So they’ve got access through their money to the top enchilada of political leaders and immediately they’ve got the influence to export their own issues and culture wars,” he said.
Neocolonialism
In a 2012 report titled ‘Colonising African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right Is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa’ by Kapya Kaoma, highlights three reasons why American homophobia is so influential.
Firstly, Western influence in Africa still reflects historical colonial relationships, driven by unequal power relations that are often exploitative; secondly, it includes the promotion of right-wing, charismatic, conservative theologies that resonate with many African Christians; and finally they portray African LGBTQI+ advocates as neocolonial despite the opposite being true.
The influence of American Evangelical groups in removing LGBTQI+ rights in African countries like Namibia, is a complex interaction between finances, misinformation, and political motives.
Debra Mason, a leading scholar on religion in the media, said it is a challenge to directly link these groups to anti-LGBTQI+ propaganda in Africa, but noted that Pentecostal and Evangelical ministries are currently pouring the most money into Africa.
Corruption
“Anti-LGBTQI+ activism by religious groups is done quietly, in large part secretly. It’s very hard to find funding data for U.S.-based religious groups because they do not have to submit any tax forms. As a result, where a congregation gives its money, for example, to a mission church in Namibia or Uganda, the purpose of the funds is not clear,” she explained. What she does know is that anti-LGBTQI+ groups receive significantly higher funding than pro-LGBTQI+ movements, with some governments even allocating health funds to these agendas.
Covert Strategies
Financial influence is also hidden by distributing Bibles that include the term “homosexual”. This term was only coined in 1869 and added to the Bible for the first time in 1946. Ministries have insisted that it is inaccurate to use a concept that did not exist at the time the Bible was written.
“On paper, that money would just look like Bibles sent to Africa. But when clergy use the word “homosexuality” as a sin, it’s very damaging. That money is hard to track and prove that it contributes to anti-LGBT views but it has a huge responsibility,” she said.
Inclusive and Affirming Ministries’ Mjwara shared similar views on these covert strategies: “Open Democracy has published a number of articles in tracking the money because that is one of the biggest things you see when Evangelical Western ministers come into our countries […] they offer monies,” she said.
Nevertheless, some research, notably in the case of Uganda – a country currently grappling with severe anti-homosexuality laws – has exposed these links.
Funding misallocation
A recent report from the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy reveals how taxpayers across Europe and North America have, unknowingly, been linked to anti-LGBTQI+ religious groups in Uganda. This has happened at a large scale, despite the donors, who are members of the global Equal Rights Coalition, committing to protect and promote LGBTQI+ rights.
These include Global Affairs Canada, The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the foreign ministries of Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Finland.
Although some have reduced their direct support to Uganda’s government in response to the anti-homosexuality bill, the scale of the connections between donors and anti-LGBTQI+ groups remains significant.
“The picture that emerges is not about an isolated mistake or rare oversight – but about what appear to be systematic failures to make top-line rights commitments meaningful, to align funding decisions and ensure they don’t undermine those promises,” the report concluded.
Uncovering these connections has involved decades of investigations but is challenging in Namibia, where organisations maintain a low profile about their anti-LGBTQI+ stances. Ugandan case studies offer a valuable template for gaining a clearer understanding.
In the 2009 report titled ‘Globalising the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches and Homophobia’, Kapya Kaoma already began tracing the relationship between American ‘renewal movements’ and homophobia on the continent.
Proxy war
Kaoma writes: “U.S. conservatives mobilised African clergy in their domestic culture wars at a time when the demographic center of Christianity is shifting from the global North to the global South, increasing Africa’s influence on Christianity worldwide. American conservatives who are in the minority within mainline churches depend on African religious leaders to legitimise their positions.”
The report reveals that American right-wing groups enticed African religious leaders to reject funding that requires documentation of how the money is spent—and instead to accept funds that goes to individual bishops without accountability for how it is used.
The Institute on Religion and Democracy mobilised African delegates to block the United Methodist Church from rescinding its prohibition on the ordination of LGBT clergy during the global General Conference in 2008.
In Namibia, establishing these relationships proves challenging due to the reluctance of religious councils to disclose donor information.
Upon inquiry, Ludwig Beukes, secretary general for the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), would not reveal the council’s donors. However, he acknowledged instances of American Evangelical or Western funding linked to anti-LGBTQI+ initiatives.
“Yes, in our own experience, where we had to send the funds back to one of our donors,” he said.
CCN is an umbrella of all major churches in Namibia, including the Dutch Reformed Church, the Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and Methodist Churches.
Ambiguity
Their statement on LGBTQI+ matters in 2017 was that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, but all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve equal treatment by churches as well as pastoral sensitivity and understanding. It expanded: “LGBTI as an orientation cannot be described unconditionally as sinful. […] In rejecting a sinful act, God does not reject the sinner.”
When asked to elaborate on this, Beukes said it is important to differentiate on the two matters: “Being against homosexuality and same-sex marriages are two different issues”.
Beyond financial influence, American Evangelical groups employ misinformation as a potent weapon, said Inclusive and Affirming Ministries’s Mjwara.
Disinformation
“They know a lot of people in our African countries have low literacy rates; therefore, you find there’s a high use of fake news” during pivotal moments, such as the introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in schools.
Their disinformation campaigns deny the facts. The publication “Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education” in the 2021 Journal of Adolescent Health found that when young people are well-informed on sex, they tend to delay the initiation of sexual activity. Moreover, when they do engage in sexual relations, they are more likely to practice safer sex.
The assault on LGBTQI+ rights detailed at the beginning of this article, is not isolated; it’s a reflection of a Western culture war. The repercussions extend to Africa as a proxy battleground.
Those who benefit from Western funding manipulate decolonial narratives by framing LGBTQI+ rights as a Western import to hide their dependence on Western Evangelical money and uphold oppressive colonial-era laws.
As Namibia fends off orchestrated attacks on its constitutionally enshrined rights to equality for all, the findings of this investigation underscore the importance of fostering open dialogue, challenging historical inaccuracies, and promoting inclusive interpretations of cultural and religious values.
