Wed 31 Mar 2010 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
In a rare show of solidarity Zimbabwe’s President and Prime Minister have both refused to allow the inclusion of LGBT rights in the country’s new constitution. President Robert Mugabe President Robert Mugabe and PM and political rival Morgan Tsvangirai have slammed the idea of rights for gays and lesbians. Mugabe called the idea "madness" and "insanity." “Women make up 52 per cent of the population… there are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men?” Tsvangirai asked. Zimbabwe's politicians have a history of homophobia and of using gay slurs against political opponents. In 1995 Mugabe said that he found homosexuality “extremely outrageous and repugnant to [his] human conscience.” He later compared gays and lesbians to dogs and pigs. Exposed for being homosexual, the previous President of Zimbabwe was ousted by Mugabe and imprisoned. Mugabe's repressive regime has seen the introduction of ‘deviancy’ laws, which have expanded the definition of sodomy to include any contact between two men which a third party feels is indecent.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 31st March 2010 - 9:06pm