Interview: “We are not criminals, but we continue to be treated as such”

Last updated on: 05 March 2024

Laws are supposed to protect people. But they can also do much harm. This is particularly true for LGBTIQ+ people, people living with HIV, sex workers, and people who use drugs, who are all too often criminalised. Beyond that, stigma and discrimination puts them through much verbal, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. We interviewed Tinashe Rufurwadzo of Y+ Global about his lived experiences, what needs to happen for positive change, and about the importance of the “Not A Criminal” campaign that we joined as a part of 2022’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

 

There is a bigger stigma on topics like LGBTIQ+ identity in Zimbabwe than in the Netherlands. Why is the stigma so big in Zimbabwe?

In my country, they say, if you are part of the LGBTIQ+ community, according to the culture and the traditional values, it’s something that is not acceptable. The constitution itself also restricts same-sex marriages. The stigma stemmed from the previous regime where our former president publicly claimed same-sex relations are unnatural and un-African, he even compared us with pigs and dogs. Being that Zimbabwe is an African country and is mostly Christian, the stigma is also fuelled by religion, and the LGBTIQ+ community is blamed for the pandemics that continue to befall human nature such as COVID-19, equated to Sodom and Gomorrah.

The dynamics are different in the Netherlands where same-sex partners can walk in the street holding hands. You can go to the courthouse to wed, you can kiss each other in public, and you can live a normal life just like any other person. In Zimbabwe, people are persecuted because of whom they love.

 

In Zimbabwe, people are persecuted because of whom they love.

 

What are you doing to change these stigmas?

As a young black LGBTIQ+ person from Africa, l want to change the narrative of my community. That’s why I came out, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to give me an opportunity to change the attitudes surrounding same-sex relations and to support those young people like me who had no one to speak to.

My intention is to bring out the positive side of how gay people can be portrayed. I realised that there wasn’t enough space for people to speak about the issues of young people who identify as LGBTIQ+, issues around sexual reproductive health, and HIV.

The community must also look at how we are contributing positively and greatly to society. I want people to look at me and look beyond my sexual orientation. I joined and worked with organisations that support the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community and we fought the stigma together.

It’s shame that I want to take away from people. For them to say: “I can identify as LGBTIQ+, I’m not evil. I’m not a criminal. But I’m someone who can make an equal and meaningful contribution to society and the world at large.”

In addition, we are leaders, advocates, researchers, and peer supporters, among other developmental roles at local, national, regional, and global levels.

 

As a young black LGBTIQ+ person from Africa, l want to change the narrative of my community.

 

You grew up in a society where you were criminalised for being yourself, being gay. Do you remember what that felt like?

I can never forget how being criminalised and unwanted in my own country feels like. Because I live through the traumas every day.

I was born and raised during the Mugabe era, I saw my kind being compared to dogs and pigs. I saw the definition of marriage change to only be between a man and a woman.

I saw my [former] president on global platforms deny us and deny our rights.

‘We reject attempts to prescribe “new rights” that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs. We are not gays!’ Former president Robert Mugabe at the UN general assembly 2015.

I lived in fear that someday I might be prosecuted for being myself.

 

I can never forget how being criminalised and unwanted in my own country feels like. Because I live through the traumas every day.

 

What have your experiences with stigma and discrimination been like?

Stigma is inevitable for the LGBTIQ+ community. During one school year, at my advanced secondary school level, I was afraid to attend classes like everyone else because I could be harassed and bullied, and I had to skip classes. In the same vein, I didn’t want the people at home to notice that I was missing school. I ended up spending the whole day at the community library.

I wasn’t at peace even when doing my exams. Whenever we had exams, I would make sure that I’d walk into the exam room when people had started writing already. And I would finish my exams very early and I’d leave before other people were done. It was my survival tactic, which was not good at all. I was just trying to protect myself from hearing things or from being asked many questions by people.

In the education setting, l experienced a lot of stigma and discrimination from both my classmates and the teachers. I felt that I could not identify myself with people at school or elsewhere. Society has its own ways of looking at someone, depending on the sex that they were assigned at birth. Even if you have not declared it publicly, it is hard to hide who you are. I was a Television Presenter with the national broadcaster, a Junior Member of Parliament at the Children’s Parliament and a public speaker at different spaces. The way people perceived my feminine side made me feel uncomfortable, because I didn’t want people to assume or say bad things about me and how I identify as a person.

As a teen, I started dating mainly older people, people who were mature. At least they knew who they were and didn’t stigmatise me. Only later I realised, I was also involved in transactional sex. This person you have sex with can also give you something in return. And maybe it’s a gift or money or it’s something else.

I experienced several types of violence not only limited to intimate partner violence and emotional and sexual abuse. I never reported it to the police because l didn’t know what to say, even if l would have gone to the police. So, l kept quiet. This affected me.

At one point, l was blackmailed by a guy l turned down a proposal on. Many thanks to the Association of LGBTIQ+ in Zimbabwe, GALZ for their support.

 

What can you tell us about the Not a Criminal campaign and why is it important?

The “Not A Criminal” Campaign is a partnership between GNP+, HIV Justice Network, Y+ Global, the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), INPUD, SANPUD, Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE) and Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights (MPact).

As part of the “Not A Criminal” Campaign, organisations are demanding countries replace bad laws with evidence-based legislation to protect our communities from criminalisation, discrimination, and gender-based violence. Additionally, the campaign calls on United Nations agencies and donors to develop strong, coordinated, and high-profile mechanisms to monitor progress on these member states’ commitments.

The recently launched UNAIDS ‘In Danger’ report shows that 134 countries criminalise HIV transmission, non-disclosure of, or exposure to HIV — at least two dozen other countries allow for prosecutions under other laws. Meanwhile, a 2021 international review found that almost 90% of nations globally criminalise drug use in full, while about three-quarters similarly police sex work.  In nearly 40% of countries, being in a same-sex relationship is either partially (24) or completely (39) illegal.

Despite the criminalising laws, we are not criminals, but we continue to be treated as such in our own countries.

The more LGBTIQ+ people, people living with HIV, sex workers, and people who use drugs are criminalised, the more it limits us from accessing sexual reproductive health and HIV services. With the Not A Criminal campaign we want to tell the world that we are not criminals, we are who we are and the world should conform.

The campaign is very important as we are looking to challenge harmful laws and we are going to ensure that people in power make policies, laws, and decisions that help people instead of harming them.

It must be clear that we, young people identifying as LGBTIQ+ are not criminals. However, many countries have not conformed, instead, they have decided to be disturbed by our existence, and it does not stop there. They do not keep their opinions to themselves and instead create laws and policies against us. These laws, policies, and practices restrict us from accessing health services.

 

Despite the criminalising laws, we are not criminals, but we continue to be treated as such in our own countries.

 

For the coming years, what are the changes you envision?

I hope to be in a world free of criminalisation in the coming years. A world that accepts me as I am and doesn’t try to change me or force me to be who I am not. I hope policymakers will listen and replace bad laws with evidence-based legislation to protect our communities from criminalisation, discrimination, and gender-based violence and support the creation of independent human rights institutions.

I want to see my fellow young people identifying as LGBTIQ+, having the skills and knowledge and feeling accepted, not being discriminated against, and not being criminalised because of who they are. And I’m hoping that all the harmful laws and other policies will be eliminated. Policymakers should look at and prioritise young people in all our diversity.

I hope that as key populations we are not in this strife alone and that we can count on the United Nations agencies and donors to develop strong, coordinated, and high-profile mechanisms to monitor progress on these member states’ commitments.

 

Tinashe Rufurwadzo is the Director of Programmes, Management & Governance at the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV, a global advocacy partner in the Love Alliance project. Tinashe works closely on the “Not A Criminal campaign” by the Global Network of People Living with HIV and other key population networks. Tinashe’s lived experience makes them a big advocate for the health, rights, and well-being of young people in all their diversity.