Conservatives across Africa applauded U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders Monday regarding gender and diversity, while gay rights activists and the LGBTQ community on the continent are expressing deep concern.
On his first day as the 47th U.S. president, Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including some that reversed policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
These included orders revoking some protections for transgender people and defining the sexes strictly as male and female.
Trump’s actions sparked a mix of reactions throughout Africa.
Some, like Bishop John Praise Daniel, vice president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, welcomed Trump’s moves.
“I’m very excited,” he said “I think Donald Trump has just done what is right, because how can some young persons wake up and say, ‘I don’t feel like being a girl, I want to be a boy,’ and their sexes will be changed. We don’t need that confusion. Bringing back righteousness, order and sanity to society.”
But while many in Africa’s conservative societies are in support, LGBTQ activists strongly opposed the decision, calling it a setback after years of progress and advocacy.
Frank Ejiogu, founder of Creme de la Creme, a Nigerian LGBTQ advocacy group, warned of serious consequences.
“We know this will have ripple effects that might catalyze violence against LGBTQ community members in the Global South, which will boil down to discrimination, assault, and a lot of [restrictive] policies that governments will start enacting,” he said.
Ejiogu said LGBTQ activists already are planning how to resist such measures.
“We’re strategizing on how to stand firm on what we believe in and for the community,” he said. “[Trump] can only be there for four years. The only thing we promise ourselves all over the globe and in the Global South is to making sure that we fight back against the policies against LGBTQ communities all around the world.”
Members of the LGBTQ community already face harsh penalties in many African countries.
In Nigeria, same-sex relationships are punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Uganda’s constitutional court upheld a life sentence for homosexuality offenders last year, while Mali’s junta criminalized homosexuality with imprisonment in December.
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