Fighting for LGBTQ+ Rights: Transnational Activism in Southern Africa

The paper examines the negotiation of fundamental human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons in southern Africa. The debates around the rights of LGBTQ+ persons are closely linked to issues of social change and show the intertwining of (conflicting) discourses on legal practices regarding the human rights of a specifically vulnerable group of persons. The paper utilizes the theoretical concepts of Afro-feminism and decolonial perspectives to unpack the debates around LGBTQ+ rights and to shed light on the (dis-)continuities of colonial-era laws and norms in discriminatory practices until today. In particular, the paper focuses on Botswana and South Africa as two countries which discharged anti-LGBTQ+ laws which were based on colonial legacies. In November 2021, the Botswana Court of Appeal reassured its 2019 ruling to legalize same-sex sexual acts between adults – moving away from a law dating back to the British colonial era. Both national and transnational activists’ collaborations were instructive in building advocacy campaigns around this case. The paper looks at the strategic litigation and advocacy strategies, which were supported by South African activists and regional networks and their potential wide-reaching implications for other countries on the continent, such as Kenya.