* The LGBTQI+ community is still being sidelined, judged as wrong-doers as well as being attacked physically and psychologically
* The environment is generally very volatile for LGBTQI+, as well as their advocates
* Because there is a lot of negativity that is coming from members of the society
By Arnold Namanja, MANA
Nyasa Rainbow Alliance (NRA) has asked people in the country to respect rights of members of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) community, saying they are also entitled to rights like any rational human beings.
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NRA stressed that their members are still being subjected to various forms of abuses despite putting in place measures to eradicate stigma and discrimination action among the group.
NRA programmes & operations manager Ousmane Kennedy said, among others, the LGBTQI+ community is still being sidelined, judged as wrong-doers as well as being attacked physically and psychologically.
Kennedy was speaking in Blantyre during a media training on LGBTQI+ rights that the Alliance organised, which focused on developing best approaches to reporting issues these people face in their day to day life.
“The environment is generally very volatile for LGBTQI+, as well as their advocates, because there is a lot of negativity that is coming from members of the society. This negativity, to some extent, is promoted by cultural norms and religions.
“We now have taken this step of engaging media because of its role of informing and educating the masses. We want people to understand that members of this community also have rights like any other person,” Kennedy said.
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One of the participants, Josephine Chinele of Platform for Investigative Journalism, described the training as insightful, noting that journalists need such engagement for effective presentation of issues to the public.
“This training has been very important to the media. People assume that we know everything, yet there are some issues we need to be oriented on,” Chinese said.
Recently, the country has had debates on the legality of homosexuality acts as it was against Section 153 of the Penal Code, which also violates some human rights provisions in the Constitution.
Dutch National, Jan Wim Akster and a Mangochi-based transgender, Jana Gonani, dragged government to court over the criminal element in homosexuality as provided by the Penal Code arguing that, minus being contrary to constitutional rights, it also fuels abuses that the LGBTQI+ community face.
A panel of three judges namely; Justice Joseph Chigona, Justice Chimbizgani Kacheche and Justice Vikochi Chima heard the case at a Constitutional Court sitting in Blantyre and they are supposed to deliver a ruling.
The claimants’ application was highly contested by faith leaders who held a series of demonstrations as one way of expressing displeasure on the basis that homosexuality is a ‘sin’ before God.
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