In Cameroon, the LGBT loves of Biya’s daughter are creating a buzz

June 2023. The French ambassador for the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people cancels a planned trip to Yaoundé, following a note from the Cameroonian Minister of External Relations specifying that “it is not possible to talk about LGBT+ people” in Cameroon, which has been ruled for four decades by par Paul Biya. A year later, confirming what some observers already claimed to know, the daughter of the head of state and the current first lady displays her homosexuality on social networks.

To read : Between Cameroon and France, LGBT+ rights of discord

It is from Switzerland, dear to the presidential family, that Brenda Biya posted a photo of herself kissing Brazilian Layyons Valença on her Instagram page, with the caption, “I’m crazy about you, and I want everyone to know it.” On TikTok, the one who has a musical career under the pseudonym King Nasty is silent already defined as “a bit of the masculine gender and a bit of the feminine gender”. A coming out that provokes a reaction.

In Cameroon, legislation remains intransigent

Article 347-1 of the Cameroonian penal code provides for “a sentence of six months to five years in prison and a fine going up to 200,000 francs for any person who has sexual relations with a person of the same sex.” Homosexuals or those presumed to be homosexuals are regularly subject to arrest and legal proceedings and the Paul Biya regime hunts down LGBT+ allusions even In the slightest “allusive cartoons” broadcast for young people.

Populist, some Cameroonian politicians even see in the Western demand for respect for sexual minorities an extension of cultural imperialism. Political intransigence towards gays and lesbians knows how to rely on homophobia that is still GOOD widespread in Cameroon. This is evidenced by the many outrageous comments that accompany, on social networks, the evocations of the coming out of the daughter Biya. Many of them conclude that no one would be above the law.

To read : On the instrumentalization of the homosexual question in Africa

Is Brenda Biya’s revelation only a matter of In the search for buzz of a pure product of the African jet set lacking artistic resonance? The coming weeks will demonstrate whether the artist asserts herself as a voluntary muse of sexual minorities. But already, LGBT+ activists are not being too picky bouche. Persecuted in Cameroon, the now exiled transgender celebrity Shakiro congratulated Paul Biya’s daughter for her courage, hoping that the Etoudi palace will soon resound with tolerant speeches.

And to conclude: “We will obtain this decriminalization of homosexuality thanks to you.” Some hope in effect use in the future the lever of paternal love by demanding, in advance and in the presumed absence of prosecution against Cameroonian citizen Brenda Biya, the release of homosexuals detained in Cameroon because of their sexual orientation and their choice of identity or of genre…