Cape Verde stands out in Africa for LGBTQ tolerance

Cape Verde stands out in Africa for its legal protections and relative social tolerance toward LGBTQ people, even as several people interviewed in the archipelago said discrimination has not disappeared.

Same-sex relations have been legal in Cape Verde since 2004. In 2008, the country banned workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. Equaldex, which assesses LGBTQ rights, laws and public opinion, ranks Cape Verde as the most welcoming country in Africa for LGBTQ people, ahead of South Africa.

The contrast is sharp with many other African countries. Around 30 African nations criminalise same-sex relations, with penalties that can include life imprisonment or the death penalty, though the death penalty is generally not applied. Nearby Senegal passed a law in March doubling sentences for same-sex relations from five to 10 years.

In Mindelo on Sao Vicente island, make-up artist Leonardo, known as Leo, said he felt fortunate to be Cape Verdean. He said he had faced bullying as a child but can now work openly as a gay man and had walked in public holding hands with a former partner without problems.

Walter Pires, an openly gay physical education teacher and actor, said Cape Verde is now almost a paradise for LGBTQ people, though he said earlier generations in Mindelo had faced prejudice, including loss of jobs and homes.

Fernando Elisio Freire, Cape Verde's outgoing minister of family and social inclusion, said the constitution and government protect people with different sexual orientations and that freedom of sexual orientation is non-negotiable.

Others described continuing limits. Sindji Cawinny, a trans woman, said she left a restaurant job on Sal island after being told to stop wearing make-up and women's clothes to work. English teacher and artist Janette da Graca said Cape Verde has tolerance and awareness but needs more education, and she worries that rights could be questioned as restrictions increase elsewhere in the region.