The UK LGBT Humanist charity, Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) welcomes the demise of the brutal homophobic tyrant Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwe since 1980, has actively carried out actions against LGBT+ people and spoken out in public against homosexuality.
Mugabe received worldwide criticism for comments he made on August 1, 1995 after coming across a stall set up by the Association of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) at the country’s annual International Book Fair in Harare.
GALZ, founded in 1989 to facilitate communication within the gay communities, had not received much attention from the government beforehand. Mugabe’s said after seeing the stall at the book fair: “I find it extremely outrageous and repugnant to my human conscience that such immoral and repulsive organisations, like those of homosexuals, who offend both against the law of nature and the cultural norms espoused by our society, should have any advocates in our midst and elsewhere in the world.”
Two weeks later during Zimbabwe’s annual independence celebrations Mugabe proclaimed: “Homosexuality degrades human dignity. It’s unnatural, and there is no question ever of allowing these people to behave worse than dogs and pigs. If dogs and pigs do not do it, why must human beings? We have our own culture, and we must re-dedicate ourselves to our traditional values that make us human beings…..What we are being persuaded to accept is sub-animal behaviour and we will never allow it here. If you see people parading themselves as lesbians and gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police.”
Referring to pressures to decriminalise homosexuality, Mugabe told the UN: in 2015: “We reject attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, our norms, traditions and beliefs.”
Mugabe was invited to attend the beatification of Paul John Paul at the Vatican in 2011. Despite his Marxist pretensions and passionate rhetoric against the West, he has long been an admirer of the Catholic Church. Born at a Catholic mission station in British-ruled Southern Rhodesia, he attended Jesuit schools. Perhaps as a result, the Vatican has tended to give Mugabe a free pass.
PTT Secretary George Broadhead, said: “Mugabe must rank as one of the worst homophobic leaders worldwide and his cosy relations with the Vatican are hardly surprising. Let’s hope that the new regime will be truly democratic and respect human rights.”
Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell famously attempted a citizen’s arrest of Mugabe in Brussels in March 2001. Tatchell went to shake Mugabe’s hand and said: “I am putting you under arrest on charges of torture under the United Nations Convention Against Torture 1984.” Mugabe’s security guards bundled Tatchell away and Belgium police stood aside as they beat him up.