Gay group receives death threats

As gays around the world are celebrating their pride, Zimbabwe’s only gay and lesbian organisation has received death threats and been told to quit the building that houses its office, SAPA reported on Wednesday.

The threats began at the weekend, when anti-gay slurs and death warnings were painted on the wall surrounding the offices of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), officials for the group said. During the week, the group received further threats and warnings to evacuate their offices, which prompted GALZ to remove its membership lists and other private information from its offices, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety.

“Within the growing culture of violence in Zimbabwe, clearly these threats form part of a wider pattern of lawlessness and assault against non-government organisations and other groups in civil society,” GALZ programme manager Keith Goddard said in a statement. The threats came as gays in Zimbabwe were preparing their own small celebrations to mark gay pride, which many cities celebrate in June to commemorate the start of the modern gay rights movement in June 1969, when clashes between homosexuals and police in New York’s Christopher Street erupted into riots.

But GALZ members said the timing appeared unrelated to pride celebrations. “They’re not clever enough to know that we are celebrating pride at this time,” said one GALZ member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.

Homosexuality is a particularly controversial subject in Zimbabwe because President Robert Mugabe has frequently attacked gays as “beasts”, “perverts” and “worse than dogs and pigs”. His comments received international publicity after the government blocked GALZ from participating in the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.