Larissa Kojoue

Few older Africans participate openly in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement. But Francisca Ferraz, 53, known as “Yaa Sissi,” aims to change that.

Yaa Sissi, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is a pioneering voice in her community. Born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, to a Portuguese father and a Congolese mother, Yaa Sissi moved to Geneva in 2008, where she raised her two daughters, now 25 and 21.

There, early in 2023, she founded Afro LGBT, Geneva’s first LGBT rights association focused on those of African descent.

Today, Afro LGBT creates a safe space for people, many of whom experience fear and discrimination based on their race and their sexuality. Even though she’s seen people like herself come out and live openly in Europe, she notes that many older people, especially those of African descent, still struggle to embrace their identities fully. “People my age hide a lot, and yet there are so many of them,” she says. “But among ourselves we know very well, who is who.”

She speaks of the importance of coming out, of freeing oneself from the heavy burden of secrecy: “I had the courage to do it because I’d been through so much. It wasn’t easy to accept myself.”

Yaa Sissi told her story to Human Rights Watch for the International Day of Older Persons, October 1, sharing her journey through love, identity, and community that has spanned decades, continents, and challenges.

Discovering Love, Confronting Silence

Yaa Sissi discovered her sexuality as a teenager while living in Brazzaville. At age 17, she fell deeply in love with G., a girl four years her junior. Their relationship was intense but short-lived. After high school graduation, Yaa Sissi moved to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo for professional training, and they lost touch.

Fourteen years ago – more than 20 years after she was together with G. – a rumor that G. had died led Yaa Sissi to track her down. They rekindled their bond, though they still live in separate countries.

I met Yaa Sissi in her apartment, alongside G, who was visiting.

“There Are So Many People My Age Hiding”

Yaa Sissi speaks fondly of “Carine,” a cultural term from Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo that was used to describe intimate friendships between girls and women. “Our great-grandmothers had ‘Carines,’” she says. “G. was my ‘Carine.’” These relationships, forged in school and village life, were sources of deep companionship and affection. “With your ‘Carine,’ you could exchange gifts, kiss, and make little love gestures,” she says.

Over the years, Yaa Sissi’s relationships have included many women older than her??, including married women. “In my country, many of my lovers were married women,” she recalls. Some held high positions where they worked. She met them through her late husband, who was a prominent government official in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Creating Afro LGBT – “To Put an End to Fear and Isolation”

Though initially involved in other local LGBT organizations, Yaa Sissi felt unseen and unheard as an Afro-descendant. “We Afros were always a bit in our corner. Nobody came up to us to find out what brought us there, how we felt,” she says. “We wanted to be listened to. We’re all in very different situations, even though we’re all LGBT.”

Yaa Sissi became a trusted figure in her community, with many LGBT youth turning to her for support. “It hurt so much to see such injustice,” she says, recalling a child who came to her after being kicked out of their home for identifying as transgender. “Young Afro LGBT people need to be listened to and protected.”

“I’ve Stopped Crying”

Yaa Sissi’s journey has not been easy. In a country like Switzerland, opportunities to make one’s voice heard are more available, but the journey of self-acceptance can be lifelong. “I knew I’d been attracted to women for a very long time, but I fought it with all my might,” she says. The social norms of the Congo, coupled with the teachings of the church, kept her struggling against her own desires. “I sought deliverance in the churches. They prayed over me. I sincerely thought it was a demon.”

Her marriage was also a struggle; she tried to preserve it despite knowing her truth. Her late husband, who held her in high regard in the beginning of their marriage, when she started openly struggling with her sexuality. He went with her to churches and traditional healers to cast homosexuality out of her. But when that didn’t “work,” he became abusive, eventually abandoning her and their two children in Geneva. “It took me over 30 years to come out with myself,” she says tearfully. “Before I said stop, I don’t want to suffer anymore. I used to be Francisca. Reserved, shy in my corner. Today I’m international. The one talking to you now is Sissi. I’ve stopped crying.”

Facing Discrimination as an Older Afro Lesbian

The intersection of age, race, and sexuality poses unique challenges for Yaa Sissi. “When you’re an Afro lesbian, it’s hard enough. I got married because I didn’t want that life,” she explains, adding that she has known many women who felt compelled to marry men and have children to avoid the stigma of being openly lesbian. “I’ve seen people beaten up, insulted, raped, and sometimes forcibly married.”

Despite living openly in Switzerland, Sissi sometimes faces ageist insults. “People call me an ‘old lesbian.’ They say I want to warp their children away.” Yet, she has also experienced support from unexpected places. One day, a man tried to attack her in a bar because he learned she was a lesbian. Also, she was sitting at a table with a woman who said no to his advances several times. But customers stood up for her and demanded he calm down.

“Despite everything my late husband said about me, there’s respect in my family, too. I’m a generous, unifying person.”

A Message for International Day of Older Persons

On this day, Yaa Sissi wants to highlight the experiences of older African LGBT people. “We mustn’t forget Afro LGBT seniors. They’re out there. They also have a lot of problems,” she says. Many seek support but struggle with the idea of mixing with younger generations. “When we talk about Afro LGBT, we mustn’t just look at the people on social media. You also have to think about older people who are often very isolated and live in hiding.”

As I left Yaa Sissi’s apartment, the heart-shaped furniture in her living room caught my eye. “Love is the color of power,” she says with a smile.

Malawi’s Constitutional Court on June 28 rejected a legal challenge to the penal code that makes same-sex conduct a criminal offense. The decision contradicts fundamental rights, including the rights to equality and nondiscrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, protected under international human rights law.

The three-member judicial panel dismissed an application from Jan Willen Akster, a Dutch citizen, and Jana Gonani, a trans woman and sex worker, challenging the constitutionality of Penal Code sections 153, 154, and 156. These sections criminalize anyone who has “carnal knowledge” of any person “against the order of nature,” attempts to commit an “unnatural offence” or undertakes “indecent practices.” These provisions are vague and overly broad, facilitating anti-LGBT discrimination, and can result in sentences of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

Both applicants face criminal prosecutions before lower courts: Akster was accused of abusing children, and Gonani was charged with “false pretense” for presenting herself as a woman. Gonani received an eight-year sentence at a men’s prison in December 2021, while proceedings against Akster continue. They each filed appeals with the High Court in 2022 and 2023 to challenge the constitutionality of the prohibitions against same-sex sexual conduct, which the chief justice combined into one case.

Many faith-based groups filed legal briefs and organized demonstrations against LGBT rights during the hearings. The case also sparked a national debate on same-sex marriage. Religious leaders led protests contending that the court proceedings aimed to legalize same-sex marriage in Malawi.

The court dismissed all the arguments that were raised, maintaining that it was parliament’s responsibility to review and amend laws.

“It was a dark day for the whole community,” an LGBT rights activist told Human Rights Watch. “We are afraid more than ever.”

The court’s decision exacerbates risks of arbitrary arrests and prosecutions, physical violence, and discrimination against LGBT people in Malawi, as Human Rights Watch has long documented. There is further risk that LGBT people will be excluded from access to health care, justice, and security.

With the case’s dismissal, the power to guarantee LGBT rights now lies with parliament. Parliament should uphold Malawi’s international human rights obligations by urgently reviewing and amending the Penal Code to end anti-LGBT discrimination and protect everyone’s right to safety, privacy and dignity.

Events in recent months have raised fear among Ghana’s human rights activists, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and allies.  

In October, police stopped a 30-year-old who was carrying sex toys at a checkpoint, detained and threatened them with jailtime. The police demanded a bribe of 500 cedis (40 USD) for the person to be released, an unlawful and cruel expense, particularly in a context of severe economic hardship.

In September, school authorities dismissed a 17-year-old student over allegations that he was gay from a boys’ boarding school in Accra, activists told Human Rights Watch. According to one activist, their investigations revealed other forms of homophobic acts against the child, including a death threat, because he appeared effeminate. A petition organized by local activists was sent to the district and regional education offices, and the student was allowed to return to register for the senior school certificate examination.

A bill before parliament proposes heavier criminal penalties for same sex activities, increasing the maximum penalty from three years in prison to five and expanding criminalization for anyone who identifies as LGBT, or as queer, as pansexual, an ally, or any other non-conventional gender identity.  It would also punish anyone providing support or funding or publicly advocating for sexual and gender minorities rights. 

In my former capacity as a lecturer in political science, I used to cite Ghana as a stable country in West Africa where the rule of law prevailed. However, challenges such as the current discrimination against LGBT people, alongside other obstacles including the underrepresentation of women in politics and the shrinking of civic space, are compromising Ghana’s success story. Today, there is a deepened trepidation among human rights defenders and civil societyorganizations working on social justice and sexual and gender diversity.

Actually, LGBT people in Ghana have historically faced serious human rights abuses, including  physical and psychological violence, extortion, and discrimination in  their daily life. Many live in constant fear of being attacked just for who they are. Yet, since 2021, debate around The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 has heightened attacks against LGBT people.

In February 2021, police raided and closed down an LGBT resource center which, among other things, provided community-based interventions services and information about HIV/AIDS. It has since been increasingly difficult to provide health services to marginalized groups disproportionately affected by HIV and related infections. As Nasser, a community leader, told Human Rights Watch,“Even spaces that were opened before are now closing doors for us because of what is happening. It is extremely difficult to operate properly.”  

Since the bill was presented in June 2021, Rightify Ghana, an organization that advocates for sexual ad gender minorities in Ghana has documented multiple accounts of people who have been arbitrarily evicted from their homes. According to activists, landlords say that they are protecting themselves and their families or use the bill as a pretext to unfairly raise LGBT people’s rent. 

 Some parliament members have been actively provoking anti–LGBT sentiment and practices.  Sam George, who presents himself as a “charismatic Christian,” and eight other Members of Parliament from the National Democratic Congress party and the New Patriotic Party are pushing to get the anti-LGBT bill passed before the year’s end. Statements, by George and allies, claiming that sexual and gender equality are incompatible with African culture attract the support of religious and traditional leaders, and many Ghanaians.

But they conveniently ignore Ghana’s secular status and African principles such as ubuntu, dignity, equality, non-discrimination, empathy, protection from violence and care for each other. These African principles have shaped Ghana’s independence struggles and continue to contribute to the consolidation of a democratic state.

These same principles have led other African countries like Mozambique (2015), Botswana (2019), Angola (2021), Gabon and Mauritius (2022) to overturn colonial-era laws criminalizing same-sex relations. Some countries go further to imbed human rights standards and not only adopt anti-discrimination laws, but recognize same sex marriage, like South Africa in 2006.

Ghana’s parliament should consider the disastrous social, political, and economic consequences that the anti-LGBT bill will have on journalists, human rights defenders, women, families, and on other minorities in the country. If passed into law, the bill will not only imperil fundamental human rights enshrined in  Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, but also violate regional and international human rights obligations, such as the principles of nondiscrimination and equality enshrined in the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights.  

There are also serious economic risks. If the bill is passed, it could represent a risk to Ghana’s negotiating power in debt restructuring negotiations for example, lending ability from international investment institutions like the World Bank or IMF, and trade and circulation, a not insignificant concern given the country’s economic challenges. 

Parliament should immediately withdraw the bill. Not only is it inconsistent with the Ghana’s human rights obligations, including in the constitution, and incites fear, hatred, and violence against fellow Ghanaian citizens, but its passage would be an anti-democratic and authoritarian turn for Ghana.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Cameroon are all too aware of homophobic rhetoric and violent attacks against them. This has been highlighted once again in the outpouring of vitriol before a scheduled visit by Jean-Marc Berthon, the French ambassador for the Rights of LGBT+ Persons.

Berthon was due to visit Cameroon later last month for an event on gender and sexuality hosted by the French Institute in Yaoundé, the capital. Cameroon’s government officially registered its objection to the visit, and Foreign Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella said in the media that the visit would contravene Cameroonian law, which forbids consensual same-sex relations.

The visit was then cancelled.

Since the visit was announced, many people have called for mob justice and violence against LGBT persons on social media. Some government and political officials, as well as public figures, referred to LGBT people as “against nature,” “an anomaly,” “vampire citizens,” “destructive of the family,” “destructive of the state,” or as using “satanic and demonic practices.” In addition to this online hatred, people perceived as LGBT live with constant threats of harassment and physical violence every day.

Tamu (not their real name), an LGBT activist living in Yaoundé, told me, “The situation is very tense. People are scared. Everywhere you go you hear: ‘We have to burn them all.’ … There are young [LGBT] people calling me from everywhere. They don’t know what to do.”

The foreign minister claimed that there are no LGBT people in Cameroon, which is patently false. LGBT groups exist in Cameroon and several even manage to work with the government on initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS. But Cameroon has a dismal track record on upholding the rights of LGBT people. Security forces have failed to protect LGBT people from violence and in some instances have been responsible for acts of violence, or complicit in them. The Cameroonian government should unequivocally condemn violence and incitement to violence against LGBT people, investigate such crimes against LGBT persons, and bring those responsible to justice.