this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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I really want to like Traore', but the fact that he seems to be vehemently homophobic, disgusts me.
I'm open to being proven wrong, and I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve critical support at a time like this, but as a fellow BIPOC and a LGBT comrade, it angers me that Traore' is even considering or not immediately striking down this series of policies that will punish LGBT people.
I'm in no way saying that he himself is solely responsible for it, and I understand that MAYBE it's a luxury to live in the first world and criticize national liberation/socialist movements, leaders, and groups, but it's fucking disgusting that he seems to be homophobic, when Thomas Sankara would probably have told him off for it, who Traore' claims to admire.
I'm not trying to be a douchebag, and I hate qualifying my statement so much, but JFC, he is sooo close to getting it right. I believe in ruthless criticism of all things. I'm concerned about the LGBT people and comrades who could be hurt or imprisoned over this, nor am I saying that the capitalist imperialist fascist west should be let off the hook for their centuries of homophobia or their dangling of LGBT rights over the heads of African peoples, but fucking hell.
I'm not expecting Traore' to be perfect, and maybe he hasn't given this comparatively much thought, given he has a country to run, or maybe this is more on the socially fascist inner circle or interlopers that know nothing but the white supremacist colonial hatred drilled into their heads for a long time, but I don't find this to be rational or excusable.
I'm not seeing anything about laws that could cause the imprisonment of LGBT people. Where are you getting this? Like, I wouldn't be shocked if same sex marriage isn't legal or if laws for trans people changing their birth certificates aren't on the books yet but I see nothing that encourages the active imprisonment or disenfranchisement of LGBT people outside of having a somewhat more conservative culture would cause as a matter of expectation. Although I will admit I didn't look particularly hard at such issues as they have bigger things on their plate at the moment but still. If you have a source on that I'd appreciate it.
I'm simply saying homosexuality wasn't much of an issue in much of Africa until missionaries kept pounding the idea. Obviously not having spent time there, I can't know.
Not as much of an issue certainly but no historical society outside of perhaps hunter gatherer groups were particularly accepting of LGBT. At best they were considered a bit weird but not worthy of direct oppression. At worst they were directly oppressed. Pretty much every society upon reaching feudal relations directly oppressed LGBT people. Europe was worse because ownship was largely petit bourgeois production and an owner needs to pass on their property for society's sake. Everyone from nobility to a blacksmith needed a legitimate heir or issues happen. Imagine the town's only blacksmith is gay and then they die. Suddenly the necessary functions of a blacksmith are gone, this is a terrible situation. Especially because in that era trades were largely very secretive so you can't easily train a new one, you need to find a journeymen traveling across the country to get a new smith.
Basically, the higher the concentration of ownership of property is (the more people disconnected from the Means of Production) the lower the pressure is on the average person to pass on property as less people own it. This creates more relaxeed LGBT view as any given individual doesn't really need to pass on property. They only have personal possessions but nothing socially necessary to pass.
African societies often had more collective and central ownership so LGBT people were generally treated better however it was still viewed as negative and outside the norm.