NGOs advocate improved gay rights in Cameroon

 Stories about gay couples sound like fairy tales in Cameroon, a country where gay practices are not only outlawed and punishable by imprisonment and a fine but where homosexuals are humiliated, victimized, stigmatized and persecuted. Yet, Brian Nkenji Njotsa’s love story brings a new twist in the world of gay practices here.

                According to Humanity First, a Yaounde-based NGO seeking improved health care and recognition of the rights of LGBTs, Brian had found true love in the bosom of Elvis Matute, an officer in the Cameroon army and that barring the wrath of the community the two lovers paraded the streets of Yaounde and Limbe without fear.

                The Humanity First report titled: “The New Face of Hatred”, was done by a team of twelve volunteers. It provided a detailed study on human rights violations on some 91 homosexuals living in Cameroon. But it also noted that unlike other gay couples Brian and his partner could go about their activities unperturbed perhaps because Elvis, Brian’s partner, was a soldier who provided protection for his better half, Brian.

                The report however continued that things would later take a different twist for the couple, and that was when Elvis’ colleagues of the army and even his family members could no longer conceal their disgust for his “public disgrace”. And as one thing led to the other Elvis was later sent to the war front in the Far North region where the war on Boko Haram insurgents is ongoing. He was reportedly killed in battle.

                Things have since not been the same for Brian, who was now left alone and without protection. In his frustration Brian Njotsa decided to become a gay rights activist, the report said. He now took to the streets of Limbe where he went around sensitizing whoever cared to listen to him, on the rights of gays and lesbians.

                But his determination notwithstanding, Brian could not bear the insults, humiliation, stigmatization and persecution visited on his person; he thus had to leave and seek social sanctuary elsewhere. Today, the young Brian’s whereabouts are still to be known.

                It is worthy of note that in Cameroon gay rights are advocated by NGOs and lawyers like Douala-based lawyer, Alice Nkom and her Limbe-based colleague Walter M. Tchemi Atoh. 

                Barrister Tchemi for instance finds it “absolutely sickening and ridiculous that in the 21st century a simple homosexual act can cause a free citizen his/her life or merit him a punishment of between six months to five years imprisonment with a fine.”