Gay rights in Cameroon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

Homosexual acts are banned in Cameroon, and are punishable with up to five years in jail according to Section 347 of the country's penal code. In May 2005, 11 men were arrested at a nightclub on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct medical examinations to "prove" their homosexual activity. As of February 2006, nearly all were still being detained, with trials scheduled in March 2006[1].

Cameroon is a conservative society. Homosexuality is frowned upon. In 2006, a number of tabloids published the names of at least 50 very prominent people they claimed were homosexual. They condemned them for deviant behaviour. The stories boosted newspaper circulation, but were criticized by the state communication council for invading people's privacy. The campaign provoked a national debate about gay rights and privacy[2].

A Cameroon court jailed Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga for four months for defaming Gregoire Owona, a government minister named in the list of 50 presumed homosexuals in Cameroon[3].

Joel Gustave Nana Ngongang, a leading African LGBT human rights activist from Cameroon

  1.  "Cameroon jails two men for gay sex" PlanetOut Network. February 28, 2006. Accessed March 1, 2006. <http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20060301/co_po/cameroonjailstwomenforgaysex>
  2.  "Row over Cameroon 'gay' witchhunt" BBC News. Updated 6 February 2006, 11:43 GMT Accessed February 7, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4685298.stm>
  3.  Cameroon gay list publisher jailed Ninemsn. Saturday Mar 4 09:23 AEDT.
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.