LGBT rights in Cameroon

In 1921, German ethnographer Günther Teonmann quoted a local calling homosexuality a "national custom"[4][5][6] among the Bafia people in his book Die Homosexualität bei den Negern Kameruns. He later on described the three stages of life of a Bafia man, namely:[7]

• kiembe, men who did have any sexual relationships with women. It starts around 15 years old.
• ntu, men who had sexual relationships with women.
• mbäng, fathers, men who have children.

Kiembe boys were prohibited to have sexual and social contacts with prepubescent girls at the risk of being tortured or enslaved; there was a fierce competition to get the available women. The only option left of those kiembe men was to develop a close male sexual friendship with a lexan, a kiembe boy of a younger or of the same age who is in the same situation, where they would often engage in ji’gele ketön, anal penetration.[8] Before the sexual act, one of the boy would ask the consent of the other person by showing them a basketry plate of earthnuts and say that if they eat one, they consent. This metaphor symbolized the apparent dirtiness of a nut coming from the ground but become sweetness of it upon tasting. These acts could happen anytime, at any place (such as at one of the boys' home) and were seen as normal. For instance, it wasn't rare for a father to come back home to witness his son performing a sexual act and to laugh it off.[9]

The kiembe and his lexan would help each other to abduct a woman and share her, regardless of her marital status, with the other kiembe people of the settlement so they could all become ntu. This event is seen by many as a turning point that will make the young man win over heterosexual relationships. However, some still continue to be in same-sex relations.[9]

Upon reaching the mbäng stage, the father would often name his newborn after the lexan, regardless of the baby's gender.[7]

Same-sex relations were also seen as the logical extension of intimate adult friendships.[6][4]

In May 2005, 11 men were arrested at a nightclub on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct medical examinations to "prove" their homosexual activity. As of February 2006, nearly all were still being detained, with trials scheduled in March 2006.[11]

The Advocate estimates that in 2011, at least a dozen men were deatined under Section 347.[12] One of these, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, was arrested by security forces for sending SMS messages to male acquaintance and sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Kondengui Central Prison.[13] The sentence was protested by international human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International,[13] the latter of which named him a prisoner of conscience.[14] On 24 November 2011, three young men were sentenced to five years' imprisonment for having oral sex in a parked car.[15]

In November 2011, a Cameroonian court convicted two young men who had been arrested for homosexuality outside a nightclub based solely on their appearance and behavior to five years' imprisonment. The presiding judge stated that the way they spoke and their having worn women's clothing and ordered a cream-based liquor was sufficient evidence for homosexuality. An appeals court later overturned the verdict.[16][17]

In February 2021, two Cameroonian transgender women spent five months in prison after being arrested on February 8 for "wearing women's clothing in a restaurant" in the country's largest city, Douala.[18][19] The two women were later convicted of "attempted homosexuality, public indecency, and failing to carry identification."[19] A judge ordered the pair, named Shakiro and Patricia, to be released "until a court could hear their appeals."[19] The women received five-year sentences for these crimes.[19] Douala's main prison is described as "hell" by prisoners accused of homosexuality.[19]