FALSE: The claim that Africa is gay free except for South Africa is untrue
This X (formerly Twitter) post claiming that Africa is gay free except for South Africa is FALSE.
“Africa is gay free except for South Africa. I wonder why, where whites go, gay follows,” reads the claim.
However, a manual search on Google using “number of gay people in Africa” as keywords, revealed that the claim is untrue.
Africa is home to 40.9 million individuals, according to Gayther, an online collection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community-related information.
Additionally, it is reported that twenty-two young gay and bisexual men were interviewed for this qualitative study dubbed, “What if I get sick, where shall I go?’: a qualitative investigation of healthcare engagement among young gay and bisexual men in Nairobi, Kenya.” It was stated in the report that all participants identified as cisgender, with most stating that they were gay 73 per cent and 27 per cent identifying as bisexual. Also, this study titled “Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV Vaccination Completion Rates Among Gay and Bisexual Men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania”, involves 83 participants. Of these, sixty-six identified as gay men, fourteen as bisexual, and three as transgender women, according to the results section of the study.
In Ethiopia, there was a study that examined human rights abuses and development needs of sexual and gender minorities involving 68 respondents, 56 per cent identifying as gay. It was stated in the report that 69 per cent of respondents still live in Ethiopia.
Moreover, Truth Media reported that the LGBTQ+ population in Sierra Leone is 95,000. The Guardian also reported that there are roughly 1.3 million LGBTQ+ people in Kenya, citing Galck+ as a source. There are also other reports from countries such as Uganda and Namibia, where gay people were interviewed as part of the research; here, here and here.
These research reports show that the claim that says Africa is gay free except for South Africa is untrue.
Although the LGBTQ+ people live in Africa, a 2025 report by the European Parliament stated that 31 out of 54 African countries criminalise (page 1, first paragraph) consensual same-sex relations. Furthermore, other reports here and here indicate that the majority of African countries are LGBTQ homophobic.
PesaCheck has examined an X (formerly Twitter) post claiming that Africa is gay free except for South Africa and found it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here's more information on PesaCheck's methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Kiya Ali and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s chief copy editor, Stephen Ndegwa.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.