NAMIBIA - OUTRIGHT Namibia to amplify voices of Namibian LGBTI people (2011). - Documenting LGBT Discrimination in Namibia (2011). - Namibia city hosts first gay rights march (2010): About 40 people are expected to march in Keetmanshoop’s first-ever march for gay and lesbian rights on Saturday. Keetmanshoop, in the southern part of Namibia, near the gay-friendly South Africa, is marking the inauguration of Ada Ma/Hao (We stand together), a new project advocating for equal rights for gender minorities in southern Namibia.- Response To 'Gay Excess' Criticism (2010). - Transgender Inclusion in the Namibian and South African LGBT Movements (2007): I examine the implications for few activists claiming transgender as a personal identity and the Namibian and South African movement’s embrace of transgender as an inclusive political strategy as activists participate in creating an African LGBT movement.

Gay week set to attract 'straight' community (2007): The Namibian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisation – trp – endevours to raise awareness and educate the public about diversity. “We want to increase tolerance and acceptance of all people who are different in society”, Carol Millward, the project coordinator of the LGBTI Week celebrations said. - Namibia Law Banning Male-to-Male Sex Is Hindering Condom Distribution, HIV Prevention in Prisons, Advocates Say (Alternate Link) (2006). - Jail condoms draw fire in U.S., Namibia (2006). - Namibia's prisons sit on AIDS 'time bomb' (2006, Alternate Link). - Dispelling “heterosexual African AIDS” in Namibia: Same‐sex sexuality in the township of Katutura (2006). - Constructing Namibian queer selfhood in the era of HIV/AIDS (2003, Word Download).

Homosexuality Not An Import (2006): The question at hand is, did white people teach innocent black Namibians how to practise homosexuality as has been alleged before? The answer to this myth might be difficult to obtain, but the following might give an overview of the situation at hand and whether this should be blamed on the small number of whites of homosexual orientation.Take the Wernhil Park public toilet in the Windhoek's city centre for example.It is mainly frequented by blacks, with a few whites who make use of it.Go to the Windhoek city centre on a Saturday morning or any day of the week during lunch hour and you will see them, young black male Namibians, most of them professionals, who appear to be macho.They will show no outward sign of having anything to do with homosexual activities, and most of them have girlfriends, perhaps as way of covering up or just to fit in with others, but come night time they will find excuses to get to their same-sex partners.Among adults there are those who have taken advantage of their positions, enticing young boys for sex in exchange for job offers..

Being Gay In Namibia (2005): But in Namibia, a growing national debate about homosexuality has followed a period of harsh condemnation, and gay rights groups now operate openly in the capital, Windhoek. One of them is the Rainbow Project, where Gurirab works as a suicide prevention counselor. The organization has interviewed gay Africans from across the continent, and its leaders say they believe the time is right to challenge prejudices and start a wider discussion on what being gay really means. "The only answer is education," said Linda Baumann, 21, who grew up in a tribal community and was expelled from it when she revealed she was a lesbian. She now lives in Windhoek and hosts a radio program about gay issues. "We have to have courage and stick up for ourselves."" ... In Namibia, gays said there was a relatively relaxed climate in large cities in the years before and after independence from South Africa in 1990, and gay couples in Windhoek could hold hands in the street. But in the mid-'90s, they said, a chilling change occurred. "The first five years after independence it was like a utopia," Swartz said. "People were proud to be gay. But when Namibian leaders' promises fell through and poverty did not improve, the government became increasingly unpopular. . . . The leaders were looking for a smokescreen and someone to blame."In 1996, the public campaign against homosexuals began...

Namibia Chips Away at African Taboos on Homosexuality (2005): (Alternate Link) "She also apparently gossiped with colleagues. Other teachers started teasing Gurirab, asking him why he didn't play soccer and why he spent so much time around his mother. Then one morning, he said, the gym teacher invited him into his office, locked the door and forced him onto the desk for sex. Let's see how good you are at it," the teacher said, according to Gurirab, now 25, who recounted the story through tears. The ordeal left his legs and arms with red bruises. The next day, distraught and confused, he had sex with a female classmate. "I wanted to change so badly and not be gay . . . but I couldn't," he said. "I knew I liked men. I decided I would kill myself. . . . I was so desperate I called a lifeline in London. They saved my life... From Uganda, where homosexuality is punishable by life imprisonment, to Sierra Leone, where a lesbian activist was raped and stabbed to death at her desk last year, homophobia has long trapped gays in a dangerous, closeted life. With no places to meet openly, no groups to join, it seems sometimes that gay men and lesbians in Africa don't exist at all. But in Namibia, a growing national debate about homosexuality has followed a period of harsh condemnation, and gay rights groups now operate openly in the capital, Windhoek. One of them is the Rainbow Project, where Gurirab works as a suicide prevention counselor..." (Related Blog) - Namibia's Rainbow Project votes for change (2003). - The Rainbow Project: a lesson in pride (2006). - African AIDS Awareness Campaign: The Rainbow Project (To 2007).

Currier, Ashley McAllister (2007). The Visibility of Sexual Minority Movement Organizations in Namibia and South Africa. PhD Dissertation, Sociology, University of Pittsburgh. PDF Download. Download Page. Abstract: The South African state has responded favorably to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social movement organizations’ (SMOs) efforts to protect and extend sexual and gender minority rights, whereas Namibian state leaders have verbally attacked LGBT organizing and threatened to arrest sexual and gender minorities... I engaged in intensive, continuous ethnographic observation of four Namibian and South African LGBT social movement organizations for approximately 800 hours and analyzed my ethnographic fieldnotes. I also analyzed more than 2,100 newspaper articles and LGBT SMO documents and conducted 56 in-depth interviews with staff, members, and leaders of LGBT SMOs. In this dissertation, I explore the varied strategic dilemmas of visibility and invisibility that Namibian and South African LGBT SMOs faced...

Namibian leader in new attack on queers (2005): “Gay and lesbian Namibians are being scapegoated for the country’s problems and demonised as the enemies of the state,” according to Peter Tatchell of the UK-based LGBT human rights group OutRage! ”The homophobic slurs by Namibia’s Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Ms Theopolina Mushelenga, are the latest in a long series of attacks on Namibian lesbians and gay men by senior government officials. “We echo the condemnation of this vilification made by Gays & Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ). See their statement below. “The Namibian President, Sam Nujoma, has for years echoed the anti-gay hate speech of neighbouring leader, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He has denounced and threatened queers, encouraging a climate of prejudice, discrimination and violence.

A Crisis Corps Assignment in Namibia (2003):  Gay Life in Namibia: Through the gaydar web site, I’d met a handful of gay men in Windhoek, all colors, and the unanimity of opinion was total: gay life in Namibia sucked. It’s not completely non-existent, even though there’s no gay bar; it’s just weak, fearful, and fragmented. Only a handful of gay men are “out” in any sense of the word. Namibia’s semi-hidden gay organization is called The Rainbow Project, known among gays as TRP. The name expresses the hopeless desire to unite Namibia’s races under the banner of gay pride. There’s precious little pride and even less racial tolerance. If the whites ever participated, they pulled out long ago, retreating to private parties and social cliques. The Rainbow Project is now a Black and Coloured organization. I’m told that there are tribal differences in the acceptance of homosexuality. Among the Ovambo and the Herero, it’s absolutely verboten; the Coloured and Damara communities are much more tolerant. One Saturday, The Rainbow Project sponsored an HIV/AIDS fundraising dance in Khomasdal, the formerly Coloured township where I lived. That I wasn’t going to miss! As it ended up, I was pretty invisible, but it was an interesting anthropological experience: a slice of pre-Stonewall gay life. About 40 young Black and Coloured men and women pitched up at a plain room that was sparingly decorated with red hearts and red balloons. There were a fair number of cross-dressers, tall young men in spiked heels and bare midriffs, and flapping wrists everywhere. Nobody was older than mid-30...

Nujoma attacks homosexuals (1998, Must Scroll). - A small Namibian gay group, the Rainbow Project, challenged Nujoma on the remarks. - Namibian Court Grants Partner Rights (1999). - Court rebukes government over gay rights (1999). - Court knocks down Namibia gay victory (1998). - Namibia: Prime Minister Blasts Plan for Gay Castrations (1998). - Namibia gay rights row (2000). - Nujoma's "gay purges" cause international outrage (2001). - Namibia, The Bermuda Triangle of African Homophobia (2001). - Homosexuality is all-african: (2000, Alternate Link) "September 1999: Thanks to the efforts of a group of Norwegian researchers homosexual behaviour amongst members of a tribe in the north of Namibia, a tribe that has not been influenced by Christianity, has been recorded."  

Namibian president announces purges against gays (2001). - Namibia: Gays and lesbians under attack (2001). - Namibia-homosexuals: Arrest, deport and imprison gays and lesbians: Namibia's Nujoma (2001). - Namibia’s homosexual detection teams (2001): "Following the banning not only of homosexuality but homosexual persons in Namibia, the government there have decided on a Deportation-on-entry policy at state borders. This has prompted the forming of a special task team to spot homosexuals from ‘normal’ people in the passport queue..." - ILGA's Open Letter to President Sam Nujoma (2001). - Statement by The Rainbow Project, April 2001. - Namibia and EU in dispute over gay rights (2002, Alternate Link) - Namibian President backs down on gay attacks (2002). - Politicians Accused Of Failing Gay Community (2003, Alternate Link). - Sexual Health and Rights in Namibia (2003).

Men, HIV & AIDS: (2003, Alternate Link) "The wall of silence is finally crumbling around the last taboo topics in Africa - male rape and male-to-male sex. Some political and religious leaders have denounced gay men and women as un-African although 19th century ethnographic research documents sex between men in Africa. Politically constructed homophobia has a negative impact on public health because it excludes homosexuals from prevention and awareness campaigns, making them vulnerable to HIV infection... Regional Conference 2003 Report: "With HIV prevalence of 27-30% in its crowded prisons, Namibia offers counselling to prisoners but not condoms because it could be seen as encouraging sodomy, which is a criminal offence. Male rape, possibly the last frontier in public debate, was brought into the conference by Men United, a South African group dedicated to breaking the silence about male rape, providing support and care for survivors and their families, and educating youth to speak out against all sexual abuse."

Nujoma's war on gays and lesbians is nothing new (2001): "The Republic of Namibia does not allow homosexuality or lesbianism here. Police are ordered to arrest you and deport you and imprison you," Nujoma told students during a speech at the University of Namibia on Monday, as reported by state television.  Nujoma's comments follow similar statements made by Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo last year, when he told new Police recruits at Ondangwa to "eliminate" gays and lesbians - whose conduct he equated to "unnatural acts" such as murder - "from the face of Namibia"." - Homosexuals 'To Be Barred From Entering Namibia (2001, Alternate Link). - Gays 'fearful' in Namibia (2001). - Threatening Homosexuals in Namibia (2001): Violence and oppression of the others/of those who are different - a comment on the newly risen harassment against gays and lesbians. - Gay-Bashers Run Riot in Parliament (2000. Alternate Link). - Nujoma afirma que los extranjeros extienden la homosexualidad por Namibia (2002, Translation). - International confidence in Namibia damaged by anti-gay attacks (2001). - Nujoma's "gay purges" cause international outrage (2001).

Gay al bando in Namibia: Secondo il presidente Nujoma, i comportamenti omosessuali sono vietati dalla Costituzione. Ecco perché ha ordinato di arrestare e deportare dal Paese gay e lesbiche (2001, Translation). - Homosexuality: dimensions of the issue in church and society in Namibia - Homosexuality: Some Elements for an Ecumenical Discussion (1998). - Namibia:  Gay rights (cont'd): II - Namibia (1997).

People in Namibia's slums: Lesbian love. - The lesbian men: "The ostracising of homosexuals leads to secret lives, but in the Namibian township of Katatura, a lesbian football team - the Rainbow Warriors - has been formed. Members wear men's clothes, openly try to pick up women and visit gay-friendly shebeens. They call themselves the "lesbian men", their partners are "the ladies". - Becoming visible in Namibia (1999). - Being a public lesbian in Namibia. (2001, Alternate Link)

Challenging heteronormativity in the post-colonial nation building of Namibia (2009): Abstract: Examined in this thesis is how heteronormativity is challenged in a country recently independent from colonial power. By making focus group studies with black LGBT-people in Namibia around effects of heteronormativity as well as activities of change, the study examines how social, legal and civil citizenship of LGBT people is affected. The results show that LGBT-people in Namibia are limited in their civil, political and social citizenship, as post colonial nation building has excluded LGBT from the identity of Africans and Namibians. However, using queer feminist and post colonial ideas, it is possible to see that LGBT-people do have agency and actively do perform resistance, which in one way give them a social citizenship. To participate in societal change and demanding acceptance from the community is a way of reaching social citizenship before a civil or political one is there. Further on, the thesis shows how high reflexivity in methodology has an impact of the results when using focus groups interviews.

Political Homophobia in Postcolonial Namibia (2010): The South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) delivered Namibia from South African apartheid rule in 1990. Namibia’s democratic future began with the promise of equality. In 1995, however, SWAPO initiated a campaign of political homophobia. In this article, I make a case for viewing SWAPO leaders’ deployment of political homophobia as a gendered political strategy. I draw on a qualitative analysis of 194 articles from Namibian newspapers published between 1995 and 2006. My analysis illustrates two features of political homophobia. First, I demonstrate how political homophobia stifled political dissent and enhanced SWAPO leaders’ masculinist position and legacy as liberators. Second, I show how SWAPO leaders used political homophobia to expel gender and sexual dissidents from official accounts of history..

Namibia's prisons sit on AIDS 'time bomb' (2006, Alternate Link).

Arnott J, Crago A-L (2009). Rights Not rescue: A Report on Female, Male, and Trans Sex Workers’ Human Rights in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa Sexual Health and Rights Project, Open Society Institute. PDF Download.

Resources: - Behind the Mask - A Web Site on Gay and Lesbian Affairs in Africa. - Africa by Country: Namibia Information. Namibia Archive. - African Veil: Countries Covered: Namibia. - Queer afrol. - Afrol News; Gay/Lesbian Archives. - theGully.com news & Articles: Africa. - Human Rights Watch: Use Search Function. - Amnesty International: Use Search Function. - Pink News: Europe's Largest Gay News Service: Africa. - AsylumLaw.Org: Sexual Minorities & HIV Status: Documents / Reports / Website Links / Organizations. Namibia Individual Documents Since 2000. - Links to News Sources for GLBT World.

Global Gayz: Africa: Namibia News Reports from 2000 to the Present. - ILGA: Africa: Namibia. - LGBT rights in Namibia. - Sodomy Laws. - Sister Namibia. - Sister Namibia: Fighting for all human rights for all women.

MSMGF News Articles & Documents Resources. By Region & Country:  - Sub-Saharan Africa: - Namibia.