Gendarmes in Cameroon won the dishonor of being selected as Homophobes of the Week by launching a gay-hunting expedition that raided a bar and a movie house, arresting 25 people, beating them with batons, and jailing them for nearly two days without charges.
A Cameroonian police officer belonging to the Gendarmerie Nationale Camerounaise.
Their leader, Police Commandant Parfait Nana, claimed hypocritically that he is not prejudiced about LGBT people:
“Personally, I do not judge anyone and do not condemn anyone on the basis of their sexual orientation. However, Cameroon has laws to enforce.“
The law prohibits same-sex intercourse, but Nana and many others act as if it prohibits same-sex attraction. He led a raid that targeted a gay cinema and a gay-friendly cabaret where no one was breaking the law; the people there were just being themselves.
For more information:
- An appeal for the men’s release is here: Campaign: Free the Yaoundé 23.
- The story about their release is here: Cameroon: The Yaoundé 23 have been set free
RUNNERS UP
Yaoundé police beat out the following nominees for Homophobe of the Week — each of whom deserves international disdain:
- Police in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, who have held a 26-year-old man in jail for nine months without trial because he refused to pay a $415 bribe.
- A Chechen mullah who conducted an exorcism in an attempt to turn a lesbian straight.
- The Kenya Film Classification Board, which banned the Kenyan film “Rafiki” about two women in love, although it earned a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.
COMMENTS