GALZ

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, GALZ, is a membership based organisation established in 1990 to serve the needs of the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex LGBTI community in Zimbabwe.

Background

GALZ’s vision is "a just society that promotes and protects human rights of LGBTI people as equal citizens in Zimbabwe". It exists to promote, represent and protect the rights and interests of LGBTI people, and to influence attitudes in society, through advocacy, education, and the provision of safe spaces, and to create a network for communication. It does its work against a background of repression in Zimbabwe. While Zimbabwe is "not the worst place in the world in which to be gay or lesbian" even though the President, government officials and church leaders have whipped up a climate of hysterical homophobia. The problems facing lesbian and gay people are, by and large, the same as those facing Zimbabweans as a whole: oppression, lack of freedom of expression, fear of the state, rampant inflation linked to increasing poverty, and a declining health service in a country with one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, and a general lack of tolerance of sexual differen. Nevertheless, there is growing tolerance of LGBTI in Zimbabwe especially in the younger urban population. GALZ runs a Resource Centre in Harare which provides professional counselling, entertainment and educational activities for members, and is involved in campaigning in broader human rights issues such as access to HIV treatment.

‘GALZ was formed in 1990 to provide gay men and lesbians in Zimbabwe with a network to facilitate communication within the gay community. Presently GALZ' aim is to network broadly with other human rights organisations, the womens' movement, AIDS initiatives and regional associates. The objective is to increase awareness of gay rights in as broad a forum as possible thereby integrating these rights with the other basic human rights for which civil society is currently battling.’

GALZ is an organization which strives for the attainment of full and equal human, social and economic rights in all aspects of life for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI) persons.It was founded in 1990 for purposes of serving the needs and interests of LGBTI people in Zimbabwe and pushing for social tolerance of sexual minorities and the repeal of homophobic legislation. GALZ was one of the first organisations in Zimbabwe to start HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and, today, it remains unique in that it is the only organisation in the country specifically working with people who engage in same-sex sexual activity. Originally a small social club of mostly middle-class professionals, the association has grown over the years and now truly represents the broader LGBTI community in ten centres throughout Zimbabwe. GALZ rose to prominence in the mid 1990s when it challenged illegal bans by government on its participation at the annual Zimbabwe International Book Fair. Since then, the association has been involved in a number of high-profile campaigns.Despite the numerous challenges facing Zimbabwean LGBTI people, which include all those facing Zimbabweans as a whole, GALZ has made great strides in pushing for the tolerance and appreciation of sexual differences in society. Today, the GALZ Resource Centre in Harare provides professional counselling, entertainment and educational activities for members. GALZ is also actively involved in broader human rights campaigning and in the fight for access to affordable treatment for all people living with HIV or AIDS.

History

After Zimbabwean independence on April 18th 1980, a vibrant gay and lesbian social scene started to flourish in the major cities. By the late 1980s, moves were afoot to create a formal organization, and GALZ was launched in September 1990. Initially, GALZ had around 70 members, which grew to around 500 in 2000. In recent years, however, numbers have fallen, with many members seeking asylum in less repressive countries. Membership was also initially largely male, and not black, but from around 19 many more member came from the black community, particularly from urban townships, and the membership is now racially representative of the population. Similarly, since 2002, women’s membership has increased substantially.

GALZ & the Zimbabwe Human Rights Scene Kubatana.net, website of The NGO Network Alliance Project When Mugabe lashed out at homosexuals in his opening address to the 1995 Zimbabwe International Book Fair, it was clear that gay and lesbian rights were indeed a human rights issue in Zimbabwe. "The President’s continued brutal verbal attacks on the lesbian and gay community, strongly supported by his government and church leaders, elicited some timid responses from local human rights groups, but many felt that GALZ was too confrontational in its approach and that a more cautious strategy of wooing government gently would yield more profitable results ...Time proved that the lesbian and gay issue was the real litmus test for the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe. Although government had sent its notorious Fifth Brigade into Matabeleland in the early 1980s to massacre thousands of Matabele who were accused of plotting to destabilise Zimbabwe, not until 1995 did it finally become accepted that the ruling party (ZANU-PF) was prepared to use whites, gays and any other stigmatised minority as political scapegoats and target all perceived enemies who posed a threat to its power base.” https://galz.org/local/

GALZ at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair

It was not until the raging controversy surrounding GALZ’s participation at the 1995 Zimbabwe International Book Fair that GALZ was able to attract the serious attention of international watchdogs such as Amnesty International. Amnesty began to keep a close watch over GALZ activists, issued statements condemning Zimbabwe’s state-led homophobia and instigated letter-writing campaigns in support of LGBTI rights in Zimbabwe.Again in 1996, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) actively began to support the LGBTI struggle in Zimbabwe, producing its own press releases and widely distributing GALZ statements.https://galz.org/international/

The upshot of this homophobic hate speech, however, was that international funders woke up to the fact that sexual minorities were under threat in Zimbabwe and in need of their support. In 1996 and 1997, GALZ attracted significant funding from HIVOS and Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) which enabled the association to establish offices and set up a secretariat.https://galz.org/local/

GALZ has been able to embed itself within the human rights movement in Zimbabwe mainly by showing its support for more mainstream campaigns. In 1998, it joined the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a coalition of civic groups and individuals pushing for a new national constitution. Also in 1998, GALZ joined other human rights groups on a human rights march through central Harare on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. Although the police refused to provide protection to the marchers if GALZ took part, the organisers of the march declined to turn GALZ away. The event proceeded without incident. Again in 1998, GALZ enlisted the support of the Ecumenical Support Services (ESS) in its preparations to participate in the cultural and human rights showcase surrounding the 8th Summit of the World Council of Churches which took place in Harare. During 1998, the association also established links with Padare/Enkundleni, a men’s gender forum supporting women in the struggle against gender violence. In 1999, GALZ became one of the founder members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, set up to assist victims of torture and report on gross human rights violations by the State. GALZ is also a member of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. https://galz.org/local/

Networks outside Harare

In Zimbabwe:

At first, GALZ was primarily Harare-based - in 2004, more than half of the emmebrs came from HArare or neighbouring Chitungwiza. The Affinity Group Programme was set up in 2002 to cater for members living outside Harare, who had previously not been able to take full advantage of GALZ services and resources. Since the introduction of the Affinity Group Programme in 2002, membership of GALZ has grown significantly in other urban areas, including Bulawayo, Chipinge, Chitungwiza, Marondera, Masvingo, Mutare, Penhalonga and Victoria Falls. In these rgional groups, the programme offers hands-on experience in proposal writing, financial management and report writing. Training in strategic planning and organisational development is provided through the annual Affinity Group Conference.https://galz.org/affinity-groups/

In Africa:

According to their website, "GALZ has played a significant role in the struggle for LGBTI emancipation in Africa by showing others on the continent that it is indeed possible for lesbian and gay people to organise openly in hostile, homophobic climates and flourish." In the late nineties, GALZ made contact with emergent groups in Botswana (Legabibo) and Zambia (Legatra) and soon after in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In 2000, GALZ facilitated a 10-day workshop on organisational development and LGBTI activism with groups from East Africa and Namibia. GALZ, along with 21 other groups from 17 African countries, was involved in the All Africa Rights Initiative (The AARI), launched in Johannesburg in 2004, at the first All Africa Symposium on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. GALZ has particularly strong links with groups in South Africa. GALZ was a founding member of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE), launched in 1994. GALZ also has strong ties with Behind the Mask, which collects information about LGBTI issues in Africa, and the Gay and Lesbian Archives (GALA). GALZ has since collaborated frequently with two Namibian groups, The Rainbow Project (TRP) and Sister Namibia. In the area of HIV/AIDS, GALZ has a longstanding relationship with The Triangle Project and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in South Africa, and is involved in the Pan African Treatment Action Campaign (PATAM).galz.org GALZ is also a partner in the Sex Rights African Network, which brings together organisations and individuals to work for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).

Globally:

GALZ is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), and has a relationship with Amnesty International: in 1996, GALZ activist Pollyanna Mangwiro became the first lesbian activist to be adopted as an Amnesty International Human Rights Defender. In 2001, she visited Europe and America on an Amnesty International speakers’ tour. In December 1998, IGLHRC and Amnesty International sent representatives to Harare to support GALZ in its participation in the 8th Summit of the World Council of Churches in Harare. In 2005, GALZ was awarded the IGLHRC Felipa Award for its activities. GALZ Programme Manager for Gender, Fadzai Muparutsa, flew to New York to receive the prize. (Read her speech)https://galz.org/international/

HIV / AIDS

GALZ began HIV awareness amongst its membership within months of the organisation starting operations and at a time when there was complete denial in official circles that HIV posed any threat to Zimbabwean society. But, as late as 2000, GALZ was not made welcome within the HIV/AIDS network, it being feared that, with government’s anti-gay stance, any links with a gay and lesbian organisation would threaten chances of government funding HIV/AIDS organisations and their activities. Homophobic elements also disagreed, on principle, with any involvement by GALZ in national HIV/AIDS intervention work. The efforts of GALZ activists such as Peter Joaneti, Romeo Tshuma and Lynde Francis (HIV positive themselves) helped rectify the situation and, today, GALZ is active within the HIV/AIDS movement in local and regional campaigns for access to treatment. Major partners of GALZ in the field of HIV/AIDS include: • Matabeleland AIDS Council • Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) • Southern African HIV/AIDS Informational Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS) • Southern-African AIDS Trust (SAT) • The Centre • Zimbabwe Activists against HIV and AIDS (ZAHA) • Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (ZNNP+) https://galz.org/hivaids/

Publications

The GALZ Information and Communications Department, which disseminates information to members and the broader public, plays an important role in countering repressive propaganda that excludeslesbian and gay voices in the government-controlled media.Even today, there are still only a very few examples of Zimbabwean gay fiction that have been published in this country, all of them short stories.

In 2003, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch produced More than a Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa - a report which which GALZ helped compile and featured in.

During the 1990s, GALZ produced a quarterly magazine; since 1995, the association has expanded its publications base to include a wide variety of titles. • Sahwira is a collection of coming-out stories in English, Shona and Ndebele by gay lesbian and bisexual people in Zimbabwe (GALZ, Harare 1995, second edition, 2000). • An Operational Manual for Gay and Lesbian Organising in Africa consists of PowerPoint slides with information on how to set up and manage an LGBTI organisation (GALZ, Harare, 2004). • GALZ contributed the forward and other sections to The All-Africa Symposium on HIV/AIDS & Human Rights Report (2004), the conference at which The All-Africa Rights Initiative (The AARI) was launched.https://galz.org/communications/ • Understanding Human Sexuality and Gender (GALZ, Harare, 2005) They have published the book Unspoken Facts, A History of Homosexualities in Africa. Based on Marc Epprecht's monograph Hungochani: the history of a dissident sexuality in southern Africa, with contributions from other scholars and several fictionalised accounts, it portrays "the lives of people who do not conform to society's dominant expectations in terms of love and marriage." The quarterly magazine, The ''Galzette'', contains articles of interest to LGBTI people living in Zimbabwe such as reports on workshops, HIV/AIDS-related information, academic articles relating to homosexuality and the law and short stories by members. The monthly Whazzup newsletter is lighter in content. GALZ regularly compiles small pamphlets and brochures which are specifically relevant to lesbian and gay people in Zimbabwe. The association’s annual report comes out in February of each year and details the activities of GALZ over the previous 12 months. There are also the occasional special reports on matters relating to sexuality, gender and the law, such as Sexual Orientation and Zimbabwe’s New Constitution: a Case for Inclusion, 1999. GALZ members often contribute to other publications such as: • The Human Rights Monthly published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum for which GALZ contributed to the edition on ‘Sexual Rights’ • ‘A Fair Representation: GALZ and the History of the Gay Movement in Zimbabwe’, (Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, Vol. 1 16 (1), The Haworth Press GALZ also assisted with the IGLHRC/Human Rights Watch co-publication More than a Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and its Consequences in Southern Africa (2003). https://galz.org/communications/

External links

[3] website index.htm