This article addresses the recent debates on homosexuality and human rights in Zimbabwe, particularly as they relate to the controversy surrounding the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) participating in the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. These debates highlight the problems inherent in talking about universal human rights when appeals to ‘cultural difference’ are made. In Zimbabwe, for example, critics of GALZ and homosexuality have tried to argue that ‘homosex is not in African culture’. Drawing from recent scholarship on human rights in anthropology and elsewhere, as well as the work of the philosopher Richard Rorty, the author argues that appeals to human rights on behalf of GALZ in Zimbabwe must consider the moral sentiments involved in arguments over human rights more carefully if claims to those rights are to be realized.
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