Magister Legum - LLM / In many societies, a division between genders exist. This differentiation is attributed to a patriarchal culture which creates gender norms in sexualities.1 A set of cultural practices and expectations exist; these cultural practices and expectations assume that heterosexuality is the cornerstone of social unions - this phenomenon is known as heteronormativity.2 Heteronormativity affords that there are only two sexes with predetermined gender roles,3 creating the homophobia in societies. Human rights infringements on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation has become noticeable across Africa.4 Homophobia in Africa is linked to the codification of laws that infringed on human rights under colonialism, which still forms part of the current norms around sexuality.5 Homosexuality is prohibited and is unlawful in most of the countries in Africa, South Africa being the only country that allows for the legal union of same-sex couples.6 There have been a number of academic texts debating the importance of culture against the right to equality in the South African context; 7 however, there is an inadequate amount of academic text available about this topic on an African level. Therefore, an ongoing debate about the protection of "sexual minorities" contrasted with the protection of cultural rights exists on an international scale. 8 The rights of sexual minorities are disregarded too often and they are often denied equal and fair access to the law. A large number of African countries believe that homosexuality is un African,9 thus choosing to exclude lesbians and gays from citizen rights. 10 Due to this belief, the practice of homosexuality in Africa is seen one that goes against the morals and values of the majority of society. This creates a stand-off between cultural rights and equality rights of sexual minorities.

Given the state and social homophobias one can encounter in Cameroon, it can be rightly assumed that MSM (men who have sex with men) constitute an extraordinarily vulnerable group. Such vulnerability, besides its legal nature, encompasses a number of sexual risk behaviours and psychological distress precisely derived from criminal prosecution and social discrimination. For that reason, and following the humanitarian imperative, humanitarian actors might want to launch an operation targeting such populations. Nevertheless, various ethical challenges linked to conflicting humanitarian principles, the post-colonial socio-political positions, and the diversity of queer identities might arise. This thesis will explore such ethical challenges, in an attempt to sensitise foreign humanitarians about the most sensible, yet effective, ways to support MSM in 21st- century Cameroon. The methodology used will include primary data collection through interviews and open- ended questionnaires, secondary data collection through articles and books, and the analysis and discussion of both. The theoretical framework utilised will be a combination of the Post-colonial and Queer theories, complemented with concepts borrowed from the advocacy and humanitarian ethics field.

Sexual anxiety is a prevalent issue among men who have sex with men (MSM) that negatively affects sexual satisfaction and wellbeing. However, research investigating sexual anxiety among MSM has been scarce. This descriptive phenomenological study was conducted to address knowledge gaps and identify the predominant underlying causes of sexual anxiety among non-monogamous MSM. Using purposive sampling, eleven sexually active, non-monogamous MSM were recruited for this study (N=11). Data were collected using audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using Moustakas’ (1994) structured approach to data analysis in phenomenological research. Participant descriptions of their lived experiences of sexual anxiety identified six prevalent causes among MSM individuals. These included performance anxiety, fear of HIV, fear of bacterial STIs, internalized homophobia, body image dissatisfaction, and history of sexual abuse. Not surprisingly, fear of HIV was the dominant cause of sexual anxiety among most participants. Recommendations to prevent and reduce sexual anxiety among MSM are provided.

As rates of HIV transmission have accelerated in Kazakhstan over the past ten years, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in Kazakhstan have experienced a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic, including a seven-fold increase in HIV prevalence. Earlier age of first sexual activity (i.e., earlier sexual debut) has been associated with long-term health trajectories among MSM at risk of HIV, however, no previous research has examined associations between earlier sexual debut and HIV-related risk factors among MSM in Kazakhstan. This dissertation tests hypotheses examining whether earlier sexual debut is associated with the following factors associated with HIV infection during adulthood among MSM in Kazakhstan: substance use, exchange sex, and experiences of anti-gay violence. Study data were obtained through a NIDA-funded clinical trial of a behavioral intervention seeking to increase the engagement of MSM who use substances in Kazakhstan in the HIV care continuum. Findings indicate that earlier sexual debut is significantly associated with increased risk of substance use, exchange sex behaviors, and experiences of anti-gay victimization among MSM in Kazakhstan. Future research should examine the contexts of MSM’s sexual debut, including whether this experience was consensual or involved other forms of adverse childhood events. Policy recommendations include increased access to sexual and gender expansive-inclusive comprehensive sexual education, and anti-discrimination policies. Clinical considerations include trauma-informed HIV prevention resources for MSM that recognizes that individuals seeking care may have complex, intersecting, and marginalized life histories, including experiences of violence across the life course.

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[pt] Uma das principais reivindicações dos movimentos brasileiros de minorias sexuais LGBT nas últimas duas décadas tem sido a aprovação de uma lei que criminalize a homofobia em âmbito federal. O Projeto de Lei da Câmara 122 (PLC 122), conhecido como lei anti-homofobia, foi proposto na Câmara dos Deputados em 2001 com o objetivo de incluir a discriminação por orientação sexual ou identidade de gênero no Código Penal. O projeto foi arquivado no Senado Federal no final de 2014. Considerando que o jornalismo é agente ativo na produção de enquadramentos específicos acerca dos acontecimentos, o objetivo da tese é investigar a cobertura jornalística sobre o PLC 122, entre 2001 e 2015. Nosso material de análise é composto por 619 reportagens de quinze jornais impressos, que cobrem as cinco regiões brasileiras, e utilizamos como ferramenta metodológica a Análise de Categorização de Pertencimento (Membership Categorization Analysis). Como resultado, nossa análise evidenciou quatro padrões analíticos, que englobam as categorizações de pertencimento utilizadas no âmbito dos discursos jornalísticos no período: acerca 1) dos sujeitos LGBT, formulados como minorias sociais, vítimas de crimes homofóbicos ou como militantes; 2) do projeto de lei, categorizado como censura ou como promotor de direitos; 3) da prática homossexual, categorizada como opção ou antinatural; e 4) das instituições brasileiras, definidas ora como fundamentalistas ora laicas. / [en] One of the main demands of Brazilian social movements of sexual minorities in the past two decades has been the approval of a law that deals with the criminal classification of homofobia at a Federal level. The Bill 122, also known as anti-homophobia law, aimed to include discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity as identified in the criminal code (specifically Law 7716 from 1989, also known as the Racism Law). Proposed in 2001 in the House of Representatives, the bill was later filed in the Senate at the end of 2014. Assuming that the journalistic field is an active agent in producing frames about the bill and its related subjects, the primary objective of the dissertation is to investigate how the Brazilian printed newspapers frame the Bill 122 between 2001 and 2015. The dataset is composed of 619 news articles from 15 different papers, which encompass all five brazilian regions, and we use as a methodological tool the Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA). As a result, our analysis revealed four analytical patterns, composed of the categorizations used within the journalistic field during that period: about 1) the LGBT subjects, formulated as social minorities, victims of homophobic crimes or as militants; 2) the Bill 122, categorized as a type of censorship or as a promoter of human rights; 3) the homosexual practices, categorized as an anti-natural option and 4) the Brazilian institutions, defined sometimes as fundamentalist, sometimes as secular.

Die Bundeskonferenz der schwulen, schwul-lesbischen und queeren Referate und Hochschulgruppen Deutschlands arbeitet als Zusammenschluss von Hochschulreferaten aus zwölf Bundesländern an der Akzeptanz und Gleichberechtigung schwuler, lesbischer und queerer Lebensweisen. Sie besteht sei 1993 und fungiert als Diskussionsforum, Interessenvertretung und politisches Instrument zur Stärkung der Rechte der schwulen, schwul-lesbischen und queeren Referate und Hochschulgruppen.

La recherche portera sur la montée des vidéos de gay bashing depuis 2013. Par vidéo de gay bashing, nous entendons des vidéos documentant l’abus physique ou verbal d’individus perçus par les agresseurs comme étant gais, lesbiennes, bisexuels, transgenres ou queer, mais nous nous concentrerons spécifiquement sur des vidéos montrant des agressions envers des hommes. Ces vidéos peuvent être enregistrées par les agresseurs eux-mêmes ou par des témoins de la scène. Il s’agira de situer cette montée dans un contexte politique de retour de lois et sentiments anti-LGBT dans les pays d’où proviennent certaines des vidéos étudiées et par rapport aux différentes théories anthropologiques et socio-historiques concernant les sources et motivations derrière les actes de violence homophobe. Le corpus se composera de trois vidéos venant de Russie («Putin’s Crackdown on LGBT Teens un Russia»), de Lybie («Gay torture and violent in Lybia») et des États-Unis («Attack at gay pride event in Detroit»). L’analyse du corpus se fera en trois temps : d’abord l’analyse de la forme et du contenu des vidéos en tant que tels, ensuite, l’analyse de leur circulation et des différents utilisateurs qui distribuent les vidéos en ligne, et, finalement, l’analyse de la réception des vidéos en portant attention aux commentaires des utilisateurs. Il s’agira de montrer comment les vidéos de gay-bashing effectuent une rupture par rapport à une vision de YouTube, et autres médias sociaux, comme libérateurs et comme lieux d’expression de soi (particulièrement pour les membres des communautés LGBT) et les transforment en lieux d’une humiliation triplée par l’enregistrement de l’humiliation physique et sa diffusion sur le web. Il s’agira ensuite de voir comment la circulation et la redistribution de ces vidéos par différents groupes et utilisateurs les instrumentalisent selon différents agendas politiques et idéologiques, pour finalement se questionner, en s’inspirant du triangle de l’humiliation de Donald Klein, sur le rôle ambivalent du témoin (physique ou virtuel) dont la présence est nécessaire pour qu’il y ait humiliation. Finalement, nous nous intéresserons aux vidéos de témoignages de gay-bashing, vidéos faites par les victimes elles-mêmes, racontant leur traumatisme à la caméra, renouant ainsi avec les vidéos de coming out sous la forme de l’aveu et de la spectacularisation du soi. La présente recherche sera également l’occasion de développer des outils théoriques et méthodologiques propres aux nouveaux médias et aux nouvelles formes et contenus qui s’y développent. / This research will study the rise of gay bashing videos since 2013. We define gay bashing videos as videos documenting verbal or physical attacks against individuals perceived by the abusers as being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual or queer. We will however concentrate our study on videos showing attacks against men. These videos can be recorded by the abusers themselves or by witnesses. This rise in gay bashing videos will be situated within a comeback or anti-LGBT feelings and laws in some of the countries where the videos come from and also within anthropological and socio-historical theories about the sources and motivations behind homophobic violence. The corpus will consist of three videos coming from Russia ((«Putin’s Crackdown on LGBT Teens in Russia»), Lybia («Gay torture and violent in Lybia») and the United States («Attack at gay pride event in Detroit») The analysis of the videos will be made in three steps: 1. The analysis of the form and content of the videos. 2. The analysis of their circulation and the different users circulating them online. 3. The analysis of their reception with a particular attention given to the users’ comments on YouTube. We will show how gay bashing videos are creating a rupture with a certain vision of YouTube and other social medias as liberating and sites of self-expression (especially for LGBT people) and how they transform them as sites of humiliations that are tripled by the recording of the event and its circulation on the web. We will then see how the circulation of those videos by different groups and users transforms them according to different political agendas and ideologies, to finally question ourselves, by following the Humiliation Triangle from Donald Klein, on the ambivalent role of the witness (physical or virtual) whose presence is necessary for a humiliation to take place. Finally we will focus on videos of gay bashing testimonies made by the victims themselves who narrate their trauma in front of the camera thus reviving the logic of avowal that we can find in coming out videos. This research will also be an opportunity to develop new methodological and theoretical tools for the study of new medias.

Considérant la « nouveauté » du phénomène de dénonciation auprès des policiers et l’utilisation croissante du concept social de « crime motivé par la haine », peu d’études ont été réalisées au Canada sur l’incidence de ces crimes pour les personnes comme pour la société. Cette recherche exploratoire a comme objectif de comprendre la façon dont ce type de crime se distingue des autres manifestations de conflits ou d’incidents et de comprendre les impacts de ce type de victimisation pour les homosexuels en particulier. Plus spécifiquement, ce mémoire vise à approfondir la compréhension du stigmate homosexuel et son impact sur la reportabilité des événements de victimisation criminelle aux autorités judiciaires. Pour ce faire, cinq intervenants communautaires, deux policiers, un avocat et quatre victimes considérant avoir vécu des événements de violence homophobe ont été interviewés. Cet échantillon diversifié a permis de mieux comprendre le phénomène de sous-déclaration des incidents de violences homophobes de la part des victimes et d’obtenir une vue d’ensemble des perceptions des acteurs clés qui peuvent être confrontés au phénomène. L’analyse des entretiens suggère d’importantes lacunes sur le plan de la formation des divers intervenants qui entrainent des difficultés à reconnaître une violence homophobe. Les intervenants confient ne pas se sentir pas suffisamment outillés pour intervenir auprès d’une victime de violence homophobe, n’estiment pas tous posséder les compétences et une compréhension suffisante des réalités des minorités sexuelles, de l'homophobie et de l'hétérosexisme, en somme, l’ensemble des savoirs ultimement nécessaires à une assistance et un accompagnement efficaces pour la déclaration aux autorités d’une telle violence vécue par les victimes. Du côté des victimes de violence(s) homophobe(s), il ressort que la discrimination basée sur l’orientation sexuelle est encore prégnante dans leurs interactions quotidiennes. De leur point de vue, la banalisation et l’impunité de certains comportements homophobes par les instances judiciaires viennent renforcer l’idée chez les victimes et la société d’une forme d’infériorité de l’orientation homosexuelle. L’apposition d’une étiquette homosexuelle paraît ainsi avoir de multiples conséquences psychologiques et sociales sur les victimes, notamment sur leur développement identitaire et sexuel. L’intégration des stigmates homosexuels et l’autostigmatisation, qui les poussent à se déprécier, voire à déprécier l’ensemble de la communauté homosexuelle, surgissent de leur perception de la présence de forts stéréotypes homosexuels, d’une société majoritairement hétérosexiste et de l’opérationnalisation sociale d’une distanciation entre le « nous » hétérosexuel et le « eux » homosexuel. Par leur marginalisation, leur mise en infériorité historique, l’ambiguïté du concept de « crimes motivés par la haine », la noncompréhension de la violence et des répercussions qu’ont les intervenants communautaires et judiciaires de la situation et partant, dans bien des cas, de la prise en charge inadéquate qui en découle pour les victimes des violences homophobes, il est possible de comprendre les appréhensions mentales que les victimes entretiennent ainsi que leur réticence à solliciter de l’aide et encore plus à rapporter la victimisation vécue aux autorités judiciaires. / Given the “novelty” of the denunciation phenomenon with the police and the increasing use of the social concept of "hate crime", few studies have been conducted in Canada on the impact of these crimes for individuals and for society. This exploratory research aims to understand how this type of crime is different from other conflicts of events or incidents and to understand the impacts of this type of victimization on homosexuals in particular. More specifically, this paper aims to deepen understanding of the homosexual stigma and its impact on reportability of criminal victimization events to judicial authorities. For those purposes, five community stakeholder, two policemen, a lawyer and four victims who believes that they have experienced homophobic violence events were interviewed. This diversified sample allowed a better understanding of the phenomenon of underreporting of homophobic violence incidents by victims and a comprehensive overview of the perceptions of key stakeholders who may face this phenomenon. The interviews analysis suggests significant deficiencies in the training of the various stakeholders that cause difficulties to acknowledge homophobic violence. Stakeholders entrust feeling not sufficiently equipped to intervene with a victim of homophobic violence, acknowledge that they do not have the necessary skills and a sufficient understanding of the realities of sexual minorities, homophobia and heterosexism, in sum, all the knowledge ultimately necessary to provide assistance and effective support to report to authorities such violence experienced by victims. As for victims of homophobic (s) violence (s), it is clear that discrimination based on sexual orientation is still vivid in their daily interactions. From their perspective, the trivialization and impunity of some homophobic behavior by the courts reinforce the idea among victims and society of a form of inferiority of the homosexual orientation. The affixing of homosexual label appears to have multiple social and psychological consequences for victims, in particular on their identity and sexual development. The integration of gay stigma and self-stigma that drive homosexuals to depreciate themselves or the entire gay community, arise from their perception of the presence of strong homosexual stereotypes, a predominantly heterosexist society operationalizing social distancing between "us" heterosexuals and "them" gays. By their marginalization, their social inferiority position throughout History, the ambiguity of the concept of "hate motivated crimes", the lack of understanding of violence and the impact that community and judicial stakeholders of the situation and thus, in many cases, may be a consequence of inadequate care for victims of homophobic violence, it is possible to understand the mental apprehensions that victims have and their reluctance to seek help and even more, to report to judicial authorities their victimization.

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