Queer-on-queer Violence: Homopopulism & African LGBTQ Mobility

In November 2018 the governor of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, launched an anti-gay crackdown, threatening the arrest of individuals suspected of being homosexual. Of the 54 countries in Africa, 34 currently have laws that criminalise homosexuality, three of which include the death penalty (Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria). Like many marginalised communities, LGBTQ individuals cross borders for the sake of political and economic security. This article explores the structural constraints associated with African queer mobility within the context of global geopolitical shifts and the subsequent rise of anti-immigration populist-nationalist sentiments in Europe and North America. The article draws on the theoretical lenses of Queer IR in order to understand how and to what extent European queer subjects are implicated in enforcing restrictions on African queer mobility. It makes specific reference to the rise of populist-nationalism and the resistance from and/or collusion by queer subjects. As such, it argues that the emergence of Homopopulism has resulted in increasing queer-on-queer violence through LGBTQ support of anti-immigrant and security (populist-nationalist) regimes.