Zimbabwe's Mugabe Lashes out at Homosexuals
Reuters, April 23, 1998
HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has taken another swipe at gays
and lesbians, condemning them as worse than wild animals, the state ZIANA news agency
reported on Thursday.
"Animals in the jungle are better than these people because at least they know
that this is a man or a woman,'' Mugabe was quoted as saying in a speech of condolence on
Wednesday at the home of Charles Chikerema, editor of the state-owned Herald newspaper.
Chikerema died on Tuesday.
Mugabe also attacked the World Council of Churches, which is reported to have accepted
the participation of the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe at its December
conference in Harare.
"Will God not punish us because of such practices?'' he said. Mugabe drew local
and international criticism when his government barred the Gays and Lesbians Association
of Zimbabwe from participating in the 1995 Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
The association won a court order the following year allowing it to participate in the
fair, but its stand was trashed by angry crowds, who set fire to a display of books on
homosexuality.
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