From taboo to truth: The influence of African queer positive films in challenging stereotypes

In a scene from Ìfé, a 2020 movie about two Nigerian lesbian lovers overseen by LGBTQ rights advocates and filmmakers, Pamela Adie (producer) and Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim (director), Ìfé (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) says to Adaora (Cindy Amadi) as they both lay and hold each other in bed, “We are lesbians, this is the perfect time”. 

The quote is memorable for different reasons; a quippy reference to how fast the progression of lesbian relationships are said to be, but it is also a testament to the urgency of their emotions that, at the same time, acknowledges the reality of being two queer Nigerian women in love. 

On January 7, 2014, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former president of Nigeria, passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, which criminalised homosexual relationships and marriages with a 14-year imprisonment penalty. The act also prohibited the meetings of gay clubs, societies, and organizations. Other African nations, which at that time had also stringently criminalized same-sex relationships include Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, and Mauritania, amongst others.

While queer people and queer relationships were already actively discriminated against in Nigeria, with homosexuality taught as deviant behaviour in most schools, churches, and mosques, the passing of the SSMPA introduced a much more aggressive wave of acts of violence against queer people, including femme presenting men and masc presenting women who ‘seemed queer’, without confirmation of their sexuality. 

People suspected of being homosexual are still today exposed to verbal and physical harassment from homophobic members of the public. Many queer people seeking partners on the internet get kitoed by homophobes, who disguise themselves to be queer online, in order to assault, rob, blackmail, or even kill queer people.

This is not a situation peculiar to Nigeria alone. Across Africa, stories of closeted queer people being forcibly outed, assaulted, and harassed, permeate the news. With the constant othering of queer people, the majority of African society has gotten comfortable with the dehumanisation of people in homosexual relationships, a reality that mainstream African cinema mirrors all too well.

The portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in African cinema is often one-dimensional, stereotypical, and portrayed as taboo. Many of these characters and their relationships are created with little to no nuance, their primary function – furthering a plot that usually ends with reinforcing ideas of queerness being synonymous with evil, immorality, or some other kind of dysfunctional behaviour, an open and shut lesson on the consequences of deviating from heterosexuality. 

Examples of this abound in early Nollywood titles like Men in Love, Emotional Crack, Ajegbodo, and Girls Cot, where queer characters are written as morally bankrupt, homewreckers, and rapists who eventually come to a tragic end.

Films can be an impactful medium for telling stories and bringing public awareness to social and political issues in a way that can be used to initiate conversations leading to mindset shifts and social change. 

In recent years, African cinema has seen notable gains in addressing social issues that were once considered taboo, including LGBTQ+ rights. Several African filmmakers are now producing queer-positive films, highlighting the oppression and violence faced by LGBTQ+ people on the continent. These new African queer-positive films are challenging these negative stereotypes, and they bring us one step closer to a world in which people of all genders and sexual orientations are accepted and equal. 

Rafiki, directed by Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu, is a 2018 film about two queer women, Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), who fall in love despite societal expectations that “Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives,” and legal restrictions against same-sex relationships in Kenya. 

It is important to note that not only was Rafiki banned in Kenya because it contravened the law by positively portraying “an illegal relationship,” but also because the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) directed Kahiu to change the ending of the movie as it was too light and hopeful, a directive that was refused. Rafiki went on to be nominated for the Un Certain Regard and screened at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in France, becoming the first Kenyan film to be screened at the festival. 

South African movie The Wound (Inxeba) directed by John Trengrove examined queerness and toxic masculinity in the South African context. The film’s release was met with violent protests in South Africa after an unsuccessful attempt to have it banned by those who felt it infringed on cultural practices. The film premiered at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in 2017, opened the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival in 2017, was selected as the South African entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards and has gone on to win many international awards. 

In Babatunde Apalowo’s debut feature film, All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, two Nigerian queer men struggle with their desires as their friendship gets deeper and their connection, more intimate. The movie went on to win the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.

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These are just a few examples of queer-positive African films that have gained recognition and international critical acclaim in recent years, even though a common factor that all the aforementioned movies share is the pushback and low reception from the mainstream audience in their home countries. These films are however significant because they influence social perceptions on LGBTQ+ issues, shifting negative attitudes and opinions in a more positive direction. Through their storytelling, these films resonate with and amplify the voices of those who have been silenced by long-held stereotypes and prejudices. They create awareness of the struggles that the LGBTQ+ community faces in Africa and also celebrate queer culture, highlighting the beauty and diversity of human sexuality.

The art of filmmaking holds a significant place in society, offering new possibilities for social change. In the 1993 American film Philadelphia, Tom Hanks stars as Andrew Beckett, a young lawyer who keeps his HIV status a secret after his diagnosis, and later brings an unlawful dismissal action against his workplace when he gets wrongfully terminated following a reveal of his condition. The film played a key role in raising awareness about the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV/AIDS at that time, and it helped to alter the public’s perception and attitude towards the disease and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

According to Pamela Adie, Nigerian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker and writer of Ìfé, visual storytelling has more power than its other mediums. “Film not only has the power to show us the reality that we are living in, it can also give us a future to imagine.” She believes that where there is more visibility and representation of Nigerian queer people, it emboldens queer people to live more authentically and for others to question their biases.

When the nuanced lives and narratives of people in the LGBTQ community are portrayed on screen in multidimensional ways, filmmakers and their films get to significantly sway the queer conversation, influence pop culture and even have an impact on future laws and policies. By depicting queer characters in a positive light that displays not just their sexuality, but their humanity as well, the cause and struggle for the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights gains more traction, and expands the room for dialogue and the exploration of queer issues that are often overlooked or even silenced. All of these create hope and make space for a reimagined and more inclusive society.

In the 2022 study documents for The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERS) social perception survey to understand how the Nigerian public views lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons and their rights, there was a 34% level of acceptance of a family member who is LGBTQ+ from participants across the 36 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capacity Territory. This reflects a positive shift and growth from the 30% level of acceptance that was recorded in 2019. There has also been a significant decline in the support of the SSMPA from 77% in 2015 when the law was first passed to 48% in a 2022 poll. 

Despite the opposition and censorship that they have to repeatedly face, queer-positive films are still and will remain an important part of the wave of the social discourse driving the change in society. Instead of perpetuating the typical conversation around queerness that solely and negatively revolves around the sexual relationships of queer people, they offer the necessary counter-narrative that every person deserves respect, dignity, and love, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Edited/Reviewed by Banjoko Samuel, Caleb Okereke, and Uzoma Ihejirika