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African GLBT activists meet to plot strategy

by Rex Wockner

African GLBT activists and gay rights lawyers met in Cape Town, South Africa, for four days in early February to discuss legal strategies in the push for gay rights on the continent.
The meeting was organized by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Global Rights, Interights and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists.
It marked "the first-ever dialogue between lawyers who have worked on litigation related to LGBT rights and African LGBT leaders," IGLHRC said.
Forty-five activists attended from Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
"Lawyers, activist leaders and donors attending the meeting acknowledged the importance of impact litigation for repealing sodomy laws and challenging other discriminatory statutes and policies," IGLHRC said. "Such litigation, however, needs to be situated within the context of local, national and regional LGBT organizing."
The participants discussed the need for security for lawyers defending GLBT clients and causes. Many of the lawyers at the meeting said they have faced attacks on their reputations, attempts at disbarment and physical violence.
The group called for creation of a GLBT African legal fund and a training and support network for African lawyers working on sexual rights cases.

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