Under the Constitution of Zambia, Christianity is deemed as the official religion. As such, homophobia is often justified by the fact that Zambia, being a Christian nation, should not tolerate same-sex sexuality with a view that it is not in line with Christianity. Efforts to support and defend LGBTQI+ human rights are labelled by media as part of an agenda driven by western donors, threatening local cultures, traditions, and values. Three of the most dominant church bodies in Zambia, the Christian Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, and the Zambia Episcopal Fellowship, have issued public statements against LGBTQI+ human rights, informing not only the public’s discourse and opinion, but also the Constitution’s position on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Some people in Zambia believe that gay men are born homosexual whereas some believe that it is a result of increasing Western influence on African culture. Those campaigning for rights for homosexuals are seen to be selling out to international donors, as a result of poverty in the country.

Same-sex male and same-sex female relationships are illegal and due to the patriarchal nature of the Zambian society, protection of lesbian women is said to be even more urgent. According to a joint report by Global Rights and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the preservation of codes criminalising homosexuality results in LGBTQI+ persons living in “constant fear of arbitrary detention, discrimination in education, employment, housing, and access to services, and extortion”.

LGBTQI+ persons struggle with access to mental health counselling and proper healthcare services in Zambia. According to UNICEF data, the prevalence of HIV/Aids in Zambia has decreased from 60,000 infections in 2010 to 51,000 in 2019, however, there are no government-sponsored programmes addressing HIV with respect to same-sex male relations. In addition, counselling centres such as the KARA counselling centre, refuse to counsel LGBTQI+ people because it is thought that “homosexuality is catching”.

Enforcement and State Capacity to Protect
There are numerous cases of the national laws being enforced against same-sex persons in Zambia and those that support LGBTQI+ rights. For example, in February 2024, Zambian police arrested two male university students on suspicion of having sex with each other. The students were both subjected to invasive medical checks afterwards, on police orders. Additionally, in March 2023, the police arrested four activists from the Sistah Sistah Foundation, a feminist non-governmental organisation seeking to further the rights of women, children and minorities through general equal programming, for allegedly providing false information about a planned protest. The group was holding a protest against gender-based violence ahead of International Women’s Day. Authorities claimed that the protest was a front to promote homosexuality. During the same year, the Ministry of Health banned the use of the terms  “sexual reproductive health rights”, stating that the terms promote LGBTQI+ rights.

In September 2022, the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security announced that there had been over 18 arrests for violating the laws against same-sex sexual activity, with four more cases under investigation in Lusaka, Copperbelt and the Western Province. One case in Mpika had resulted in conviction with a sentence of seven years imprisonment with hard labour. The announcement was coupled with claims from the Catholic Church and opposition parties claiming that the government needed to do more to enforce the laws against same-sex sexual activity.

The US Department of State reported in its 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices that government, politicians, media figures and religious leaders regularly used inflammatory public rhetoric to express opposition to basic protections and human rights for LGBTQI+ persons and same-sex marriage, resulting in a spike in hate speech, threats and assaults by members of the public.

Despite enforcement actions, recent public actions and comments from current Zambian officials suggest that views on LGBTQI+ persons in Zambia may be changing, or, at least, not a priority focus. Current President Hakainde Hichilema has been viewed by some as “covertly pro homosexuality” and has been said to avoid “anti-gay talk” and anti-LGBTQI+ protests and actions. Also, in September 2023, Zambia Chief Justice Mumba Malila stirred controversy when he said, “I think there is something absolutely wrong in discriminating against people that have different sexual preferences… it is absolutely wrong to allow them less rights than you would give to anyone else”.

However, both President Hichilema and Justice Malila have since walked back their comments. In March 2023, President Hichilema vowed to defend Zambia’s anti-homosexuality legislation and denounced as untrue any allegations that his administration supported gay rights. And Justice Malila clarified that his point was “even criminals, even people that commit the most heinous of crimes are still human beings to be accorded human respect not that we should respect human gay rights we have the law in this country and the law is very clear… no-one can be allowed to forget the law with impunity. So, if you are gay the law is there to deal with you but what I meant is that you know don’t… don’t kill them because they are gay”.

Additional history of LGBTQI+ enforcement actions and public attitudes in Zambia follows:

• In the aftermath of the government’s September 2022 announcement of widespread LGBTQI+ arrests, the Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson issued a statement reaffirming the government’s commitment to upholding Zambia’s laws criminalising homosexuality, calling on parents, the church, leadership and NGOs to “join hands in scaling up the fight against LGBT”. NGOs such as The Zambian Rainbow Coalition have been reported being concerned about “the satanism which is about to engulf the country” and have called for an amendment to Zambia’s constitution that would explicitly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Similarly, an NGO calling itself Zambia Against People with Abnormal Sexual Acts was formed to fight against homosexuals.
• In February 2019, a reality television show following the lives of three Zambian celebrities was cancelled because of backlash from Zambian viewers and the Minister of Religious Affairs regarding one of the male celebrity’s “gay tendencies” and purportedly feminine clothing. Months later, in July 2019, a gay South African television presenter and actor was reportedly uninvited as a guest to a Lusaka fashion event after pressure from the Minister of Religious Affairs.
• In November 2019, two men were sentenced by the Lusaka High Court to 15 years imprisonment for engaging in same-sex sexual activities. However, in 2020, the men were granted presidential pardons following a diplomatic row with the US. One of the two men has reported that he has since been stalked, verbally attacked, threatened with physical violence and has been afraid to leave his home.
• In 2019, after the sentencing of two gay men, there were suggestions that the US would cut aid to Zambia. Then-President Edgar Lungu stated, “If you want to be tying your aid to homosexuality… If that is how you will bring your aid then I am afraid the West can leave us alone in our poverty”.
• Former-President Lungu also said in December 2014, prior to his election as president, “We will not support homosexuality. I will not compromise human nature because of money”. He reiterated this rhetoric throughout his presidency and continued to argue against homosexuality.
• In February 2012 former Vice President George Kunda asked the current government to state its position on homosexuality in Zambia after a visit from Ban Ki Moon called for Zambia to recognise homosexuality rights. Kunda announced that Zambia should not be plagued by foreign culture and must stand strong in their beliefs. In March 2012, Chief Government spokesperson Fackson Shamenda stated that “the Government has no intention to legalise homosexuality because there is no reason to do so…. the Government has more pressing issues to address”.

Zambia

Mwanza & Zambia Civil Liberties Union v Attorney General (2024) 2024/CCZ/008 (Zam.): Civil rights activist Isaac Mwanza and the Zambia Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU) petitioned the Zambian Constitutional Court to clarify and amend Section 155(a) of the Penal Code to ensure legal certainty and eliminate discrimination. Mwanza and the ZCLU argued Section 155(a)(c) is discriminatory and infringes upon fundamental human rights, including dignity, privacy, and equality as enshrined in the Constitution. Their petition contended that the language used in the section was vague and ambiguous, failing to provide clear guidelines on what constituted “against the order of nature”. This ambiguity, they argued, led to the unjust invasion of privacy for consenting adults engaged in same-sex relations, amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Moreover, Mwanza and the ZCLU pointed out that the provision was not gender-inclusive, criminalising only male same-sex activity while excluding female same-sex relations. This selective enforcement, they asserted, perpetuates inequality and discrimination based on gender. In December 2024, the Constitutional Court allowed Zambia’s three mother Christian organizations to join the case as interested parties. In January 2025, the organizations urged the Court to dismiss Mwanza’s petition for lack of merit, alleging that Zambia, as a Christian nation, was governed by biblical principles that reject same-sex relationships and that the criminalisation of same-sex acts did not violate the right to privacy because laws prohibiting same-sex relationships were necessary for maintaining order and morality.

Hellen Sindaba v The Attorney General and Anor (2017) 2017/HP/0859 (Zam.): Rick Sindaba Nkuba, an intersex individual with Disorder of Sex Development, was recorded as female at birth and was given the name Hellen Sindaba. A medical examination after puberty was delayed revealed that although he had phenotypically female characteristics, he had 46XY chromosomes, lacked female reproductive organs and had male reproductive organs. Upon realizing he felt more male than female, he petitioned the court to declare him male. The court approved of his petition to modify his government documentation to reflect that he was male, but in so doing emphasised that Sindaba “is not seeking a sex change but is seeking to assume the correct gender as determined by irrefutable medical and scientific evidence”. Therefore, this decision does not impact the lack of rights currently afforded in Zambia to transgender individuals.

The People v Kasonkomona (2015) HPA/53/2014 (Zam.): Human rights activist Paul Kasonkomona appeared on a television programme advocating for decriminalisation of homosexuality and protection of human rights of the LGBT community and sex workers, and to combat the spread of HIV among these groups. He was arrested and charged under section 178(g) of the Penal Code with the idle and disorderly crime of soliciting in a public place for immoral purposes. The High Court affirmed the Magistrate Court’s ruling as the state failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, and that Kasonkomona was exercising his right to freedom of expression.

United States

Little information exists about the number and characteristics of LGBTQI+ asylum seekers in the United States. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) records Asylum Pre Screening System data. The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that between January 2007 and November 2017, there was one defensive asylum USCIS pre-hearing interview based on LGBTQI+ status with an asylee applicant from Zambia. The prospective asylee used Form I-870 (Record of Determination/Credible Fear Worksheet) and the asylum pre-screening officer determined that credible fear, fear of persecution and fear of torture were each established.

Kalulu v. Garland, 94 F.4th 1095 (9th Cir. 2024): Milly Kalulu, a native of Zambia who identified as lesbian filed a petition to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision affirming an immigration judge’s denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under Convention Against Torture. Kalulu had applied for asylum to the United States, alleging past incidents of persecution and fear of future persecution because of her sexual orientation. She submitted supporting documents, including declarations from purported eyewitnesses to three alleged attacks in Zambia motivated by her sexual orientation and medical records detailing her injuries from the second attack. The immigration judge held, and the BIA affirmed, that her verbal testimony was inconsistent and therefore made an adverse credibility determination, rejecting her application. Judge Lawrence VanDyke granted Kalulu’s petition to appeal, finding that although substantial evidence from her testimony supported the immigration judge’s adverse credibility determination, the immigration judge and the BIA failed to consider the medical records and misread the witness declarations submitted by Kalulu, independent from her testimony. The Court granted Kalulu’s petition and remanded the case to the BIA for reconsideration.

Canada

Anold Mulaisho fled to South Africa, where his application was rejected in 2018 by the Department of Home Affairs, which said his application for asylum was denied because it was fraudulent. The reasons they gave included that he could not be both gay and Christian. Although South African law supports asylum for individuals facing persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a 2021 report documented 67 LGBTQ+ asylum applicants who had been rejected due to discriminatory practices by South African Home Affairs. Anold Mulaisho then fled to Canada, where he was granted permanent residence.

South Africa

As discussed immediately above, although South Africa has rejected LGBTQI+ asylum applications in the past, it does officially support such asylees. Francis Chisambisa, one of the founding members of Lesbians Gays and Transgender Association was forced to flee Zambia in 1988 after local newspapers printed articles exposing his sexuality in a highly inflammatory manner. Chisambisa was eventually granted political asylum in South Africa where he has been living for the past nine years away from his family, friends and with limited financial support.