Cameroon: two men kiss in public. Result: a beating

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

In Cameroon, some people’s views of homosexuality are “evolving,” says the CamerounWeb news site. But that didn’t help two men who kissed in public last week. Beating homosexuals is acceptable for too many in Cameroon.

Yaounde street scene like the location where two alleged homosexuals recently underwent a beating. (Photo from multiple online sources) — Yaounde street scene (Photo from multiple online sources)

CamerounWeb.com reported:

Yaoundé: two alleged homosexuals beaten in Nkozoa

The two men were surprised kissing next to their vehicle, eyewitnesses reported. Motorcycle drivers and residents of Nkozoa, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Yaoundé, confirmed that the two alleged homosexuals were beaten.

“One of them was wearing make-up, women’s clothing and shoes,” said a motorcycle driver who was at the scene.

Witnesses agree that several angry individuals beat up the two alleged homosexuals on the night of Monday to Tuesday [Aug. 20-21] after the two men returned from a trip and kissed before separating.

“The driver came to drop his boyfriend and we saw how the two men kissed in front of the door of their vehicle. We beat the devil out of them,” added another motorcycle driver.

The two alleged homosexuals managed to escape their grasp and run away. No resident of the neighborhood was offended by what was done to the pair, witnesses said.

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Cameroon is one of the [33] African countries that criminalize homosexuality.

Article 347-1 of the Cameroon Penal Code provides punishment of “imprisonment from six (06) months to five (05) years and a fine of twenty thousand (20,000) to two hundred thousand (200,000) FCFA [about U.S. $35 to $350 for] any person who has sex with a person of his sex.”

Although homosexuality is still criminalized, attitudes about it are evolving for some people. However, for a majority of Cameroonians, it’s an unpleasant experience to see two people of the same sex holding hands.

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