Gay Rights' Progress Blocked by Malawi Churches

Written by Jo Stephanie, News Team | 13 December 2012

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For a second it seemed that Malawi was on its way towards improved rights for its gay community. After being sworn in as President in April 2012, Joyce Banda promised to overturn the country’s anti-gay laws. Following this, in November 2012 the Malawian government announced that it was suspending anti-gay laws and ordered police to stop arresting gay people.  Malawian churches acted swiftly to strongly oppose the announcement. As reported by the Independent/Reuters, the Malawi Council of Churches, a coalition of 24 church groups, pressured the government until its backed down and reversed the decision.

While Malawi is officially a secular state, recent events show that separation of church and state does not occur in practice. In Malawi (and many other African countries) religious institutions use their positions to influence national politics and further their agendas. Gay people continue to be marginalised largely due to religious influence.  As a gay man in Malawi put it, the Council of Churches "believes that gays are not human beings and should not be allowed to be free." [1] Secularism promotes human rights for all but, as demonstrated in Malawi, religious institutions choose their particular interpretation of their particular god’s law over human rights. 

[1] DW article: Little Support by African Churches for Gay Rights.