LGBTQ Rights in Africa : A Mixed Map

T. Ashe

The purpose of this research is to identify any statistical relationships, if any, between several independent variables and LGBTQ rights in Africa. Variables considered include: a country's GDP per capita, literacy rates, religiosity, U.S. Foreign Aid to a given country, # of INGO membership by country, Level of Freedom in country, and British Colonialism of said country, if applicable. The first phase of the project involves computing a data set of LGBTQ rights for 39 countries in Africa. This new data set provides scholars a comprehensive way to analyze LGBTQ rights, specifically in Africa. The final phase involves data sets for each of the independent variables, and then running linear regression tests to determine if any statistical relationships exist. Results demonstrate that the only factor which produced a statistical relationship with LGBTQ rights in Africa was religiosity. Further testing with more data must be conducted to study this issue more in depth, however, this quantitative analysis serves as the first study to analyze LGBTQ rights with data sets and numbers. This study can also aid policy makers and scholars to find ways to advance human rights throughout the world.