On gay rights, young Africans share the intolerance of their elders

WHEN GAY Nigerians took to the streets to join massive protests against police brutality last year, it was not just the police who attacked them. Fellow protesters also hurled insults at them, ripped up their rainbow flags and tore placards from their hands. “I felt like a lot of people just wanted me dead,” says Matthew Blaise, a 21-year-old student.

In many parts of the world the young are far more tolerant than their elders of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. But with a few exceptions, such as in Botswana, which decriminalised homosexuality in 2019, young Africans seem to be almost as homophobic as their grandparents.

A survey released last year by Afrobarometer, a pollster, found that only 21% of Africans aged 18-25 would not mind having a gay neighbour, compared with 17% of those aged 66 or older. That makes Africa different from places like Japan, where 92% of those aged 18-29 think homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared with just 56% of those above the age of 50. The homophobia of young Africans is especially worrying, given how numerous they are: half the continent’s population is under the age of 20. And it contrasts starkly with their tolerance in other areas.