As of mid-2025, roughly 31 of Africa’s 54 nations still criminalize same-sex relationships. The latest addition to that list is Burkina Faso, which enacted new legislation in September outlawing same-sex intimacy. For those who have followed the continent’s social and political currents, this development is neither surprising nor isolated. It reflects a broader wave of resistance to what many African societies view as Western moral intrusion-a pushback rooted in historical memory, cultural tradition, and religious conviction.

According to the latest Afrobarometer surveys, only 24% of respondents across 39 African countries say they would feel comfortable living next to someone in a same-sex relationship. In countries such as Uganda and Ghana, that figure plummets to below 10%. These attitudes underscore how deeply public opinion shapes government policy in Africa. Legislators who advance anti-LGBTQ bills often claim to be acting not out of cruelty but in defense of popular will. While critics abroad call such laws oppressive, many Africans see them as affirmations of moral order and cultural identity.

What emerges from this dynamic is a paradox: laws originally imposed by European colonizers now serve as symbols of national sovereignty and resistance to Western dictates.

The cultural rejection of homosexuality in Africa runs deep. Before colonialism, traditional African societies rarely codified sexuality in the legal sense, but they often treated same-sex relations as taboo or socially unacceptable. Today, that moral disapproval is amplified through religion. Africa’s two dominant faiths-Christianity and Islam-share similar theological opposition to homosexuality, viewing it as contrary to divine law and natural order.

In Nigeria, one of Africa’s most influential nations, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God has explicitly stated: “Same-sex marriage cannot be allowed on moral and religious grounds. The Muslim religion forbids it. Christianity forbids it. And the African traditional religion forbids it.” His words capture a near-universal sentiment across the continent’s major faith traditions.

Muslim clerics have been equally forthright. Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, has denounced calls to normalize homosexuality, calling them “a dangerous deviation from human values.” For many African leaders, these religious voices hold more weight than Western diplomats or aid donors.

This fusion of religion and politics makes reform exceedingly difficult. Politicians who might personally support decriminalization cannot ignore overwhelming public sentiment. As in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and now Burkina Faso,........

© Blitz