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A street scene in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone
World

Two Sierra Leonean Activists Have Fled the Country After a Police Raid and a Manhunt

Pride Equality's executive director and his partner left Sierra Leone after arrest warrants, death threats and eviction. Their case shows what happens when a movement loses both its legal cover and its funding at once.

Sep 11, 2026 By TrueQueer
A view across the city of Dakar, Senegal, from the water
Rights

Senegal's police confirm anal examinations of female suspects, and call them consensual

For the first time a Senegalese public authority has acknowledged using anorectal examinations in a criminal investigation involving cisgender heterosexual women. Medical bodies have been clear for a decade that the procedure proves nothing.

Sep 10, 2026 By TrueQueer
Rainbow flag against a blue sky
Rights

A South African Court Just Set a Real Precedent Against Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Speech

The Johannesburg Equality Court permanently barred a media personality from targeting LGBTQIA+ people after he led a march to a traditional market and refused to apologize.

Sep 6, 2026 By TrueQueer
The Ugandan parliament building in Kampala under a clear sky
Rights

Uganda's President Pardons the Politician Who Championed Its Anti-Gay Law

Yoweri Museveni pardoned former Speaker Anita Among of corruption charges this week. LGBTQ+ advocates want an apology instead of gratitude — and aren't getting one.

Sep 5, 2026 By TrueQueer
A person holding a lit candle at a nighttime vigil
Rights

A Murder in Douala Reopens Fears for Cameroon's LGBTQ+ Community

The killing of a well-known young gay man in Cameroon's largest city has renewed alarm over the safety of LGBTQ+ people in a country where community leadership is already stretched thin.

Aug 26, 2026 By TrueQueer
A church interior with wooden pews and light streaming through tall windows
World

He Once Championed Ghana's Anti-Gay Bills. Now the Country's Top Anglican Says Don't Criminalize Us.

Archbishop Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, the Anglican Primate of West Africa, spent years backing Ghana's push to criminalize LGBTQ+ people. In a BBC interview last week, he said the church doesn't support it — a shift that won't undo the law, but complicates the religious cover it's relied on.

Aug 25, 2026 By TrueQueer
Exterior of a courthouse column and steps under bright daylight
Rights

Kenyan Court Awards Damages, Orders New Protection Law After Trans Woman's Ordeal in State Custody

A High Court judge found Kenya violated a transgender woman's dignity with a forced 'gender determination' procedure in custody, awarding damages and ordering the government to draft new protections.

Aug 18, 2026 By TrueQueer
Exterior view of Ghana's Parliament House building in Accra
Rights

Ghana's Push to Make Its Anti-LGBTQ Bill Even Harsher Stalls — For Now

Ghana's parliament adjourned for recess without voting on a plan to toughen sentencing in the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, leaving the already-passed version sitting on President Mahama's desk unchanged.

Aug 9, 2026 By TrueQueer
Aerial cityscape view of Dakar, Senegal
Rights

Senegal's Top Court Blocked Its Own Same-Sex Marriage Ban — But Not for the Reason You'd Think

Senegal's Constitutional Council struck down a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage that had passed the National Assembly unanimously — on a technicality that has nothing to do with LGBTQ+ rights.

Aug 7, 2026 By TrueQueer
A street scene in Windhoek, Namibia with jacaranda trees in bloom
Rights

"Not Yet Uhuru": A New Report Maps How Namibia's Courts and Parliament Are Pulling in Opposite Directions

A report launched in May finds that Namibia's LGBTQI+ community has won a remarkable run of court victories since 2021 — and that Parliament has responded by writing trans people out of two new laws.

Aug 4, 2026 By TrueQueer
A street scene in Accra, Ghana, with buildings and pedestrians
Rights

West Africa's New Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws Aren't Isolated Incidents — They're a Regional Pattern

Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal have each moved to criminalize or further punish LGBTQ+ people in 2026. Rights groups say the timing and language are too similar to be coincidence.

Aug 3, 2026 By TrueQueer
A modern office building exterior in a South African city
Rights

South Africa's New Workplace Equality Index Finds a Gap Between Policy and Reality

The 2026 SAWEI report scored South African employers on 110 measures of LGBTQ+ inclusion. Only a handful finished the process — and even top performers still leave queer staff closeted.

Jul 31, 2026 By TrueQueer
An aerial view of a city skyline in Uganda
Rights

Uganda Drops Charges Against Two Women Arrested for Kissing in Public

Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise faced up to life in prison under Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act after their February arrest. Prosecutors have now permanently dropped the case.

Jul 27, 2026 By TrueQueer
A rainbow Pride flag, representing the fight for marriage equality in Botswana.
World

Botswana's Marriage Equality Case Clears Its First Hurdle — Full Hearing Set for October

The High Court has begun sorting who gets to argue in the case that could make Botswana only the second African country with marriage equality. The constitutional showdown is now scheduled for late October.

Jul 19, 2026 By TrueQueer
The flag of Niger, orange, white and green, against an open sky
Rights

Niger Criminalises Same-Sex Intimacy for the First Time — and the Arrests Have Already Begun

A new penal code from Niger's military junta makes same-sex relations punishable by up to ten years in prison, with no room for judicial mercy. Rights monitors say around 40 people have already been detained.

Jul 14, 2026 By TrueQueer
The intersex pride flag — yellow with a purple circle — against a bright sky.
Rights

Zimbabwe's Intersex Community Is Suing the Government — and It Could Change the Law for the First Time

Seven applicants have taken Zimbabwe to court over decades of exclusion and nonconsensual surgery on intersex children. It's a landmark case in a part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum that rarely makes headlines.

Jul 11, 2026 By TrueQueer
The flag of Senegal waving against a clear blue sky
Rights

Senegal Writes a Same-Sex Marriage Ban Into Its Constitution — 129 Votes to Zero

On June 29, Senegal's National Assembly amended the constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It passed unanimously, and it caps a brutal year for the country's LGBTQ+ people.

Jul 7, 2026 By TrueQueer
The Milimani law courts building in Nairobi, Kenya, where the High Court ruling was issued
Rights

Kenya's 60-Day Clock on Trans Rights Is About to Run Out

A landmark May ruling gave Kenyan officials 60 days to start considering gender-marker changes. As that deadline nears in mid-July, advocates are watching to see whether the state complies.

Jul 4, 2026 By TrueQueer
The Milimani Law Courts building in Nairobi, home to Kenya's High Court
Rights

Kenya's High Court Just Cracked Open the Door to Gender-Marker Changes

A landmark ruling orders the Kenyan government to start considering applications to change sex markers on official documents — a rare trans-rights win in a country that still criminalises gay sex.

Jun 17, 2026 By TrueQueer
Aerial view of Accra, Ghana, showing the city skyline and coastline under daylight
Rights

Ghana's Parliament Has Passed the Anti-LGBTQ Bill. Now It Sits on Mahama's Desk.

On May 29 Ghana's parliament approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill — the legislation that makes it a crime to be LGBTQ+. President Mahama, who has said publicly he will sign it, now holds the only remaining check.

May 31, 2026 By TrueQueer
Aerial view of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana
Rights

Botswana Just Erased Its Sodomy Law. Now a Couple Is Asking the Court for the Right to Marry

Weeks after Botswana formally deleted colonial-era anti-gay provisions from its Penal Code, a same-sex couple's challenge to the Marriage Act heads to a full bench of the High Court in July.

May 22, 2026 By TrueQueer
Ghanaian flag waving against a cloudy sky above Accra
Rights

Ghana's Anti-LGBTQ Bill Is Back in Parliament This Week — Here's What's Actually Happening

Ghana's parliamentary committee held two days of public hearings on April 23 and 24 on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill — the legislation that would criminalize LGBTQ+ identity itself. Here's the state of play, with President Mahama now publicly ambivalent.

Apr 24, 2026 By TrueQueer
A courtroom building in Dakar, Senegal
Rights

Senegal Hands Down Its First Conviction Under Toughened Anti-Gay Law: Six Years for a 24-Year-Old Laborer

A court in a Dakar suburb sentenced a young man to six years in prison for 'acts against nature' — the first ruling since Senegal doubled the maximum penalty for same-sex relations in January.

Apr 15, 2026 By TrueQueer
Aerial view of a colorful African city at dusk
World

How American Evangelicals Are Fueling Africa's Anti-LGBTQ+ Crackdown

From Senegal's doubled penalties to Ghana's revived criminalization bill, a worsening climate for LGBTQ+ Africans has deep roots in US evangelical influence — now turbocharged by the Trump administration.

Apr 14, 2026 By TrueQueer
Two hands clasped together in solidarity against a warm sunset
Rights

Two Ugandan Women Granted Bail After Being Jailed for a Valentine's Day Kiss

Wendy and Diana spent nearly two months in detention after neighbors reported them for sharing a kiss. They're free on bail — but still face life in prison under Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act.

Apr 11, 2026 By TrueQueer
The Senegalese flag waving against a cloudy sky
Rights

Senegal Signs Law Doubling Prison Terms for Same-Sex Relations

President Faye signs sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that doubles maximum sentences to 10 years and criminalizes advocacy, drawing international condemnation.

Apr 8, 2026 By TrueQueer
Street scene in Accra Ghana
Rights

Ghana Is Moving to Criminalize LGBTQ+ Identity. Here's What the Bill Would Actually Do.

Ghana's parliament is advancing the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, which would make it a crime to identify as LGBTQ+, to advocate for equal rights, or to attend a same-sex wedding. President Mahama has said he'll sign it.

Apr 5, 2026 By TrueQueer
Text overlay reading Kenyan LGBTQ Groups Launch Voter Drive Ahead of 2027 Elections on a green-blue gradient background
World

Kenyan LGBTQ Groups Launch Voter Mobilization Drive Ahead of 2027 Elections

Led by INEND and GALCK+, Kenyan queer rights organizations are registering voters and building political power ahead of the August 2027 general elections, insisting their rights are 'fundamentally Kenyan issues.'

Apr 4, 2026 By TrueQueer
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TrueQueer is produced by Jeff & Zachary, a married gay couple traveling the world full-time since January 2022.

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