Rwanda recognizes LGBTQ relationships in new book

The Rwandan government has recognized same-sex relationships in a newly launched book for adolescents and young people who are under 24-years-old.

The Comprehensive Sexuality Education Toolkit titled “Amahitamo Yanjye” (“My Choice”) in the country’s Kinyarwanda language seeking to curb teenage pregnancies recognizes and promotes education about homosexuality and other sexual orientations.

The book is largely written in Kinyarwanda with limited English translations and states that there is no relationship between gender and sex in exploring gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, among other topics.

To recognize the existence of gay and lesbian relationships, the toolkit uses the “Genderbread Person” tool to educate young people.

The out-of-school book is a product of Plan International Rwanda, a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health and Rwanda Biomedical Center.

Mireille Batamuliza, Rwanda’s Permanent Secretary in the Gender and Family Promotion Ministry who presided over the launch of the sexuality toolkit on March 31, acknowledged it as a solution to address teenage pregnancy through sensitization.

“The kit provides lessons for adolescents especially those out of school, parents, teachers, and health works for additional knowledge,” Batamuliza said.

Plan International Rwanda Country Director William Mutero noted that the sexuality toolkit brings hope to increase collaboration with various stakeholders in sharing knowledge.

However, the government’s involvement in the book that also promotes homosexuality sparked criticism from the public and praise from the LGBTQ community and its rights defenders.

The Triangle Organization, an NGO that supports LGBTQ communities to access services lauded the recognition of the queer community and the explanation of the “genderbread person” in Rwanda’s local language, welcomed the book.

The public outcry prompted the Rwandan government’s spokesperson to state that the toolkit belongs to Plan International Rwanda and denied any state institution having “validated, endorsed or adopted” it. The book’s cover, however, bears the logos of the Health Ministry, the Rwanda Biomedical Center and Plan International Rwanda.

The toolkit is also forwarded by the Rwanda Biomedical Center, a state agency whose officials, led by Adolescent Health Officer Elphaze Karamage, attended the launch.

“Sexual orientation and gender identity are private matters, and the health and well-being of all Rwandans are protected without discrimination under the existing law and policy,” the government spokesperson said.

There is no restriction on the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ issues in Rwanda, despite the fact the country’s 2003 constitution does not recognize homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Rwanda is the only East African nation that treats sexual orientation as a private matter free from government interference through legislation to restrict certain sexual practices. Homosexuality remains criminalized in neighboring Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

The Kenyan government, for example, this year started cracking down on foreign teenage books with LGBTQ content. MPs also passed a resolution that bans public discussion, reporting and distribution of LGBTQ-specific material.

Kenya’s Education Ministry and the church have also formed a Chaplains Committee chaired by Kenya’s Anglican Church Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit to counter the infiltration of

LGBTQ in schools. The committee’s mandates include counseling students who identify as LGBTQ.

Rwanda in 2010 voted in support of re-introducing sexual orientation as a category in a U.N. resolution on “extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions” after the reference had been removed in the previous year. This move led to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Rwanda.

Rwanda in 2011 joined four other African countries in signing a U.N. joint statement “Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.”

Although Rwanda is seen as a haven for the LGBTQ community in the region and serving a refuge for gays under attack in hostile neighboring countries like Uganda, the community still faces discrimination and abuse from local authorities.

Various queer activists and civil society groups last year petitioned the government to also collect data about the LGBTQ community in the August 2022 national census for consideration in planning, but their request was ignored.

The LGBTQ community has complained about some of its members being fired from work or denied jobs and health services, kicked out of rental houses, excommunicated from churches, and shunned by family members for disclosing their sexual orientation. Activists have also called for marriage equality, a non-discrimination law, recognition of LGBTQ people as a distinct group to enjoy equal rights and other policies that protect them.

Some LGBTQ people have been accepted by the Church of God in Africa in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, where they are respected and treated equally, even though Rwandan society remains largely homophobic.

SAM KISIKA

Keshet Deutschland, A Wider Bridge, Keshet Sefarad, Rainbow Jews, Magen David Keshet Italia, the World Congress of GLBT Jews, Guimel and Gaavah are major LGBTQ Jewish groups from the U.K., Brazil, the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Germany and Italy that signed a joint statement calling on the Israeli government not to lend a hand to legal changes that would harm Israel’s status as a safe home for them.