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AP Photo/Armando Franca, file Colonialism and the “real African man”
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Her support for the tchindas was key in the LGTBI tolerance of the island. Singer Cesaria Evora (1941-2011), known as the "Barefoot Diva", at her home in Mindelo. The women’s struggle has also served trans women, Serena adds. “This movement for women's and human rights has helped us to be more open to a culture of non-discrimination,” says Rodrigues. It legalised abortion in 1987 and female genital mutilation is banned. The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) 2020 report lists Cape Verde as among the most “girl-friendly” countries. “If there were three people in the government: at least one woman if there were five: at least two women”, says Rodrigues.Īfter the former Portuguese colony became an independent country in 1975, Cape Verdean feminists pushed for women’s equality, and the impact of this can still be seen today. Whenever Cabral liberated a territory and established a new local government he allocated a number of top roles to women. This is due to anti-colonialist leader Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973), says Claudia Rodrigues, a sociologist and former president of the Cape Verde Institute for Gender Equality and Equity. Hand in hand with women’s rightsīeyond the cultural specifics of Tchinda Andrade, the carnival, and the small, close-knit island community, the LGTBI tolerance in Cape Verde can be linked to its strong gender equality. Pitanga does not find it easy to find a job, either, and she wants to marry her boyfriend, but this is still illegal in Africa’s most LGBTI-tolerant country.Īn image from the documentary 'Tchindas' courtesy of Marc Serena, co-director. She has fallen in love many times, but her boyfriends never want to go out with her in broad daylight. “There is still a lot of prejudice,” she says. Wearing a dress and high heels means Andrade can only work as a street vendor. The rest of the year, the “tchindas” face problems finding work and love. “They have managed to hack the carnival, the most important festival in the country that lasts months, not just days,” says Serena.Īndrade and her friends have won a right that would be unthinkable in Senegal: to parade openly in front of their neighbours without fear of reprisals.īut the apparent freedom of the carnival is deceptive, Serena says. Together, the “tchindas” of Mindelo have become a strong community that protects each other. It is a small community where everyone has known each other since childhood. Why has this African country become an exception on the continent? Serena points to factors including its natural isolation in the Atlantic Ocean. On the archipelago, the fight for LGTBI rights has reached another level as activists are seeking to legalise same-sex unions.Ī photo of Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde. “What we see in Africa is something that Europe got completely rid of in 2014, when Northern Cyprus became its last region to decriminalise consensual same-sex sexual acts,” says Lucas Ramón Mendos, a researcher and author of the State-Sponsored Homophobia report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, based in Geneva.īut in Cape Verde, homosexuality is not illegal or punishable. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than half the countries have laws prohibiting or repressing homosexuality. It can be a big shock for the Senegalese.” “Many people from Senegal told me that when they go to Cape Verde and see Tchinda and her friends, they start praying in the middle of the street to counteract what their eyes see. "It is very difficult to see trans girls walking down the street in Dakar they don't have the right to be visible,” he says. He says what he saw in Mindelo was very different from the streets of Senegal, the nearest mainland. Ten years ago, Serena travelled across 17 African countries collecting testimonies from the African LGTBI community for his book “ This is not African!”, originally published in Spanish.