According to the Office of National Statistics ....
 |
| Black Gays .... USA |
..... only 0.9% of the UK’s
black population describe themselves as openly gay, compared to 2 - 3%
of the total UK population (not the 10 - 15 per cent the BBC thinks). But it hasn't always been a subject that Black men couldn't admit to ... Oddly in pre-colonial Africa homosexuality
was widely recognised.
In the Buganda kingdom (in what is now modern day Uganda), some priests in the Kingdom of Bunyoro would
wear women's attire, while in the Iteso tribe, men who dressed as women
were officially recognised as a third gender. Another tribe of northern
Uganda, the Langi, allowed people who were born intersex or who were
regarded as impotent (labelled as a third gender known as mudoko dako), were legally and socially allowed to marry either a man or woman, and acquired either traditional male of female roles.
Similarly, in Kenya, amongst the Kikuyu and Meru tribes, special
religious leaders called the Mugawe,
dressed and wore their hair like women, and in some cases were even
recognised as being married to other men. Another Kenyan tribe, the
Kamba allowed same-sex marriages between two women in order to encourage
fertility (the second wife would be a surrogate mother for a childless
woman).
In Ghana, the Ashanti Kingdom during the 18th and 19th centuries had
male concubines who were sex slaves who were expected to dress and act
as women. While in the Dahomey Kingdom, males who were castrated during
rituals, served as royal wives within the upper courts.
In Northern Nigeria, the Hausa tribe recognised the existence of 'men
who are like women' (the "dan Daudu"). As adults, they would perform
women's tasks such as preparing and selling food at the marketplace, and
they could take a husband.
.... but since the arrival of Christianity in Sub Saharan Africa, attitudes towards same sex sexuality in the black population have changed and so the practise has gone more underground. However that doesn't explain the reticence of Black men to admit to being homosexual in Western countries ... its certain that the true figure is likely to be 2 - 3%.
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