Arrest and Harassment of Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Activists in Zimbabwe

Victoria Nuland, State Department spokesperson

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland issued the U.S. response to recent violence against LGBT activists in Zimbabwe in a news release this morning.

"The United States condemns the Government of Zimbabwe’s violent arrest and detention of 44 members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe on August 11 and a second raid by police on August 20.  Several of these members sustained serious medical injuries from the attacks and were detained without charges.  The Government of Zimbabwe has also targeted these same members’ homes and singled out their families for interrogation and harassment.

The United States stands in solidarity with Zimbabwe’s civil society, including LGBT activists.  We are deeply concerned when security forces become an instrument of political violence used against citizens exercising their democratic rights.  We call upon the Government of Zimbabwe to end this pattern of abuse and to eradicate the culture of impunity that allows members of the security sector to continue to violate the rights of the Zimbabwean people."

Male homosexuality is illegal in this South African country and it's President Robert Mugabe is openly hostile toward the LGBT community likening them to "pig and dogs".  The raids against the gay community have been carried out while some of the police have been allegedly drunk and the people arrested have been severely beaten.