Is education the answer to shifting citizen’s attitudes towards homosexuality in Botswana?

Botswana is among 76 countries where homosexuality is considered illegal and criminalised. Despite this we have seen changes in favour of minority groups in Botswana, which are mainly driven by court rulings. For instance, the government of Botswana denied Legabibo, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian’s rights registration as an independent nongovernmental organization; Legabibo sought relief before the high court; and it declared that Legabibo had the right to register as a society.

In another instance Ricki (Tshepo) Kgositau, a transgender man, took the government to court for refusing to change the gender mark of her national identity form from female to male. This turned out to be another victorious case for the LGBTIQ community. Ricki, a student activist and leader, was able to draw on the resources of being educated and used education as a tool for social change. Access to courts is facilitated by access to education and hence Accountability International, in partnership with the higher education sector, drives this change through knowledge production and use of research for advocacy.

Although contravening constitutions and defying principles of equality, fairness and justice which most African democracies claim to adhere to or aspire to achieve, the discrimination of LGBTI people cannot be viewed in isolation. It also ensues from cultural claims, societal values, citizen’s heteronormative attitudes, ignorance, intolerance among many other factors. Developing countries have not made the protection of LGBTI rights a priority, claiming the need to attend to citizens’ dire developmental needs and alleging that the phenomenon of homosexuality is alien.

Governments in developing countries are likely to find themselves swimming against the tide by formulating and upholding laws that do not reflect sentiments of the masses. However, the purported protection of people’s bigotry comes at the expense of the rights and interests of the minority.

The attitudes of Batswana may in part explain the government’s reluctance to protect the rights of sexual minorities; they also reveal the level of homophobia that confront LGBTI people and the challenging environment in which they are expected to thrive. Higher education is not exempt from this; there is discrimination in a number of post school/higher education institutions in Botswana responsible for teaching and technical skills training.