Under Wraps A survey of public attitudes to homosexuality and gender non-conformity in Malawi
The Other, Foundation
This report is called Under Wraps because it shows that Malawi has a comparatively high LGBTI population that is known by a significant number of ordinary Malawians to be socially vulnerable – but this reality remains hidden in Malawi’s social consciousness. Despite strong social values and aspirations of equality, non violence, and belonging in a community, the majority of Malawians restrict LGBTI people from being openly recognized and safely included in families, communities, workplaces, cultural practices, and public policies. However, a large number of Malawians are thinking differently about discrimination, even the majority in relation to recognition of intersex people and violence towards LGBTI people.
Abstract
The Malawi National Attitudes Survey (MNAS), the first nationally representative survey of attitudes towards LGBT I (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people in Malawi, confirms many of the common assumptions people have about homophobia and transphobia in Africa, and calls others into question. It shows that large majorities of Malawians have strongly negative views and misconceptions about gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.
However, it also shows that attitudes towards transgender people are significantly less hostile and that attitudes towards intersex people are broadly positive and accepting. These findings offer LGBTI groups and all people who value freedom, equality, and social inclusion in Malawi, and in Africa in general, some important pointers to chart a path towards acceptance of all sexual and gender minorities. A majority of Malawian’s endorse sharing spiritual beliefs and experiences with LGBTI people, reject violence against LGBTI people, and support programmes to assist sexual and gender minorities.
This ought to mean that Malawians should not oppose formal human rights protections for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people 3.5 percent (186,000) of Malawian adult men and women, of all population groups, both rural and urban dwelling, and across age groups self-identify as either homosexual, bisexual, transgender or intersex in some way. 83 percent of Malawians will accept an intersex family member and nearly 86 percent say intersex people should be included in culture and tradition.
Nearly nine out of ten agree that intersex Malawians should be protected from violence and more than three quarters agree that they deserve constitutional protection. A third of Malawians believe that transgender people should be protected from violence, though fewer (less than one in seven) think they should be accepted in families.
One in five Malawians believe transgender people should be included in culture and tradition or protected in the constitution but nearly one in three (28 percent) agree that they deserve the same human rights as all Malawians. The level of support for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people is lower. Almost nine in ten (90%) find the idea of same-sex physical intimacy to be ‘unnatural’ but only four out of five (80%) reject same-sex ‘love’.
