This study takes its point of departure in human rights, equality and personal freedom, including support for the rights of LGBTI persons. Its intention is to combine these principles with respect for African communities, cultures, and the fortitude with which Africans face many challenges.

Human rights law demands that people be protected against human rights violations committed by private actors. The Human Rights Based Approach to Development (HRBA) looks at the potential of non-state actors as partners. In contexts where many public services are delivered by non-state actors, many areas of family and private law are governed by customary or religious institutions and norms, and where the outreach of the state is limited, examining the roles of non-state actors takes on a particular urgency. Thus, this study devotes as much or more attention to structures and norms based in religion and society as in the state. In practice, these various norm sets are very often mixed together with one another.

Some may argue that African societies are not yet ready to take on the challenges of a debate on issues such as sexual orientation and gender identity. There are many responses to this. Most obviously, African societies are taking on this challenge, either on their own account or as a consequence of living in our globalized world. African LGBTI persons and activists, like those in other parts of the world, are not waiting for a date in the future to start challenging prejudice. Neither are their opponents. All sectors of society, including media, politics, religion and the education and health sectors are increasingly addressing these issues. Representatives of all of these sectors testify to the public’s thirst for knowledge, as well as for a firm moral foundation on which communities can live together. African societies and the deeply human values they embody contain resources to face challenges, including in this sensitive domain.