Fun Fast Facts
- According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 95 percent of Tanzanian residents believe that homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept
- sex acts between men are illegal and carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment
- There are no gay bars, although there are places where gay men meet.
- The traditional view of homosexuality assumes one man, the msenge, will play the role of a female (for money or because he is impotent, not because he wants to), while the basha, the dominant partner, is assumed to have relations with women as well as men. The msenge is more heavily stigmatized than the basha by Tanzanian tradition.
LGBT report: Treat Us Like Human Beings
- Full title: “Treat Us Like Human Beings: Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania”
- Released June 18, 2013 in Dar es Salaam by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition (WASO),
- Involved interviews with 254 people, 121 of whom are members of high-risk communities.
- Tanzanians who are mostly at risk of HIV infections face a widespread of police abuse and often can’t get help when they are victims of crimes.
W3JOY interviewed: Staford Paddy from Stay Awake Network Activities
The ones who are open, they are the ones that are denied services from any kind of hospital.
We cannnot go to the police, because the police say, “This it what you wanted and this is what you get.”
We don’t want to face any stigma or discrimination. You don’t have to be beaten to be discriminated against.
It’s hard to make them understand that we are also human and we are also needing those services.
That stigma of going there and being judged pushes the LGBT person, and they will go away immediately.
The media shows we don’t need anything but marriage and sex, and that becomes a problem within the community.
Published on: Aug 28, 2012 at 19:18
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:19 — 26.8MB)