Fearing persecution after being outed as gay, Aniz Mitha left behind his well-off Muslim family and fled Malawi. Image: AFP/Gianluigi Guercia
Fearing persecution after being outed as gay, Aniz Mitha fled Malawi.
Leaving behind his well-off Muslim family and four-year-old son, he headed for South Africa, where he became a sex worker to survive.
鈥淭he laws that we have in Malawi are incriminating. I wanted to get away from here. I had to take my chances,鈥� the 29-year-old told AFP.
For two years Mitha labored as a male sex worker in the tough streets of downtown Johannesburg, eventually returning home.
Mitha鈥檚 case highlights the problems in Malawi, a holdout in southern Africa, where legal liberalization for gays is otherwise gaining speed.
Botswana this week joined Angola, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa on the path towards decriminalizing homosexuality, with a verdict by its High Court to scrap decades-old anti-gay laws.
These landmark cases 鈥渟et an important framework鈥� which will hopefully be emulated elsewhere in Africa,鈥� Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) told AFP.
But 鈥渉opefully鈥� is the key word. Elsewhere on the continent, the picture is quite different.
Last month, Kenya鈥檚 High Court upheld laws punishing 鈥渃arnal knowledge鈥� against the order of nature鈥� by up to 14 years in jail. Chad and Uganda have also introduced or toughened legislation.
鈥楿nnatural offense鈥�
In Malawi, a conservative religious country, the situation seems particularly entrenched, say campaigners.
Its penal code expressly criminalizes same-sex relations as an 鈥渦nnatural offense,鈥� punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) last October said Malawi鈥檚 laws fuelled a climate of fear, arbitrary arrest, violence and discrimination against gays. Many young people, like Mitha, are cast out of their families because of their sexual orientation.
Gay rights burst into the news in 2010 when a couple was jailed for gross indecency after holding the country鈥檚 first same-sex public 鈥渨edding.鈥�
Then president Bingu wa Mutharika said the pair had committed a crime against Malawi鈥檚 culture, religion and laws. He later pardoned them on 鈥渉umanitarian grounds鈥� after a meeting with the UN secretary general.
When Joyce Banda succeeded him as president in 2012, she promised widespread reforms to the colonial-era legislation and even announced a moratorium on arrests for those breaking laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct.
鈥业驳苍辞谤别诲鈥�
But after Banda lost a bid for the presidency, these gains were reversed, say campaigners.
Under Bingu wa鈥檚 brother Peter Mutharika, who recently won his second presidential term in office, 鈥渢his group of people have just tended to be ignored,鈥� gender activist Beatrice Mateyo said.
Activists have been waiting since 2013 for the courts to set a date for a hearing to repeal the anti-gay laws.
鈥淢alawi has several court cases that are lying in the courts and we hope the case scenario of Botswana is also going to inform the legal processes here in Malawi,鈥� Gift Trapence, head of Malawian rights group Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) told AFP.
Mateyo believes religious conservatism has played a core part in perpetuating stereotypes and anti-gay hostility.
Most of the 18 million people in Malawi are Christian or Muslim, whose religious education often describes homosexuality as taboo or a sin.
In 2016, about 3,000 Christians marched through Blantyre and Lilongwe, carrying signs saying 鈥淗omosexuality is abomination.鈥�
鈥淲e are seen as a God-fearing nation, so society tends to skew towards religion where you are seen as a sinner鈥� And if you are of a different sexuality then you are perceived as a sinner,鈥� Mateyo said.
People who are not heterosexual, 鈥渨ill rather remain in the closet 鈥� hidden,鈥� Mateyo said.
鈥淔or the very few people that are open, life is very difficult because people tend to label them.鈥�
鈥楯ust want to be safe鈥�
Sammy McJessie, 28, a lesbian who is also intersex, meaning there is no self-assignment to gender, said everyday tasks in Malawi were like walking on eggshells.
鈥淚鈥檓 scared of being attacked, even in public spaces,鈥� McJessie said. 鈥淵ou go to the bank, they look at your ID鈥� you have to prove that you鈥檙e this particular sex that was assigned to you at birth.鈥�
McJessie has a three-month-old relationship with a local woman but said, 鈥淚 cannot take her to the local market to buy vegetables because that鈥檚 going to start another issue.鈥�
CEDP, working with activists, set up four drop-in centers in Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and Mangochi in 2016.
Equipped with a recreation room, gym, large kitchen, medical center and 24-hour security, the centers support around 2,000 people.
鈥淲hen we are here, we know each other,鈥� a 27 year-old carpenter who declined to be named told AFP at the center, his partner seated next to him.
Once a week, he walks 30 kilometers (20 miles) to the Lilongwe drop-in house to collect condoms, thus escaping condemnation by people in his neighborhood.
Mitha returned to Malawi after contracting HIV in South Africa. He was unable to stay there because as an illegal, he had no access to treatment.
The center has been a haven of hope in Malawi, he said.
鈥淚n this space you can wear whatever you want, you can feel any way you want because this is the only safe space that you have.鈥�
鈥淏ut out there it is hard.鈥� CC
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