X-ray | A coming out that challenges the presidency in Cameroon

The daughter of Cameroon’s president is speaking out in a country where homosexuality is considered a crime.

Why are we talking about it

Brenda Biya hoped to become popular as a rapper. But she just made headlines for a completely different reason: an Instagram photo of her kissing her girlfriend (Brazilian model Layyons Valença) on the mouth with the message: “I’m crazy about you and I want the world to know it.” In itself, nothing so scandalous, except that Brenda Biya is the daughter of Paul Biya, president of Cameroon, a country where homosexuality is considered… a crime.

Political consequences

Paul Biya, 91, in power since 1982, must have swallowed his coffee the wrong way when he saw the post of his daughter. It is likely that this coming out will not help the father’s cause, knowing that his authority is increasingly contested. According to Larissa Kojoue, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, who is particularly interested in LGBTQ+ rights, Brenda Biya’s gesture was quickly politically exploited by the president’s opponents. “The opposition says that all this is the result of Paul Biya’s incompetence for 42 years. For them, it is proof of the decadence and decline of the current regime. They say that we have reached the point where even the president’s daughter is uncontrollable. All this contributes to the atmosphere surrounding the end of the regime.”

Five years in prison

In Cameroon, the Penal Code provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 CFA francs (about $450 CAD) for sexual relations between people of the same sex. Even if these penalties are rarely applied, they are a pretext for many abuses, underlines Larissa Kojoue. “It allows for blackmail, police violence, arbitrary arrests. People are harassed, arrested, tortured. They can give a lot of money to get out of it. The people who avoid the court are the ones who can pay.”

An impact on the rights of LGBTQ+ people…

M^me Biya, a wealthy heiress residing in Switzerland, clearly does not face the same risks. But as Cameroonian media outlet AfricaPresse pointed out, her coming out “highlights the contradictions of the system,” says Marc Epprecht, a professor at Queen’s University in Kingston and author of the book Heterosexual Africa?this bombshell could even advance the cause of minorities in Africa, especially if the person concerned agrees to carry the militant torch, which seems to be the case if we judge by her latest intervention in the newspaper The Parisian¹where she announced that she wanted to send a “strong message.” “If she takes leadership on this issue, I think people will listen to her,” Epprecht observed. “On the other hand, it will be easy for her detractors to say that she is not really African because she lives in Europe, that she is part of the elite and that she is super rich and that therefore she is not relevant to the masses.”

…but not on the law

For Larissa Kojoue, Brenda Biya’s bravado has “at least” the merit of having freed a speech. “It is understood, we can no longer ignore it. What it says is that homosexuality is in all families, including presidential families,” explains the researcher. In this sense, the young woman has clearly “scored a point” in changing mentalities even in “the most remote villages.” On the other hand, it is unlikely, according to her, that this will change anything on the legal level, at least in the short term. “In my opinion, change will be possible in Cameroon after the departure of Paul Biya,” adds Marc Epprecht. “It may be another authoritarian regime, but nothing excludes the possibility that it will decide to abolish the law for pragmatic reasons, which is what happened in other African countries, such as Rwanda, for example, where condoms are available in prison and where people turn a blind eye to the law.”

The situation in Africa

Being gay is still illegal in about thirty countries on the African continent. Some states are more brutal than others. In Kenya, homosexuality is punishable by 14 years in prison, while in Mauritania or Nigeria, you risk the death penalty… Some countries like Mauritius, Namibia or Botswana have recently decriminalized homosexuality, but the progress is fragile and setbacks are possible… In Burkina Faso, where no law represses homosexuality, the military junta has just announced that it wants to criminalize it. Only South Africa, a pioneer in this area, adopted a law recognizing homosexual couples and allowing adoption in 2006. “There are pockets of freedom, but not many,” summarizes Larissa Kojoue.

A first

Brenda Biya is certainly not the first “star” from the African continent to come out. Other personalities have come out, including Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina and Chimano, singer of the group Sauti Sol, who identifies as queer. But these are the exceptions that confirm the rule. “It’s easier for a pop figure to come out coming out than for someone attached to a family that is in power, concludes Marc Epprecht. To my knowledge, Brenda Biya is the first, so it is certainly a big story… »

With The world, International mailTV5 Monde and Amnesty.org

1. Read the article from Parisian