This essay is part of a weekly feature on this blog that presents interesting stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, Israel and Iraq.
Wherever activists fight to ensure that gays are afforded the same human rights as everyone else, the inevitable backlash follows.
A few weeks ago, I wrote of a hideous attempt by the Nigerian government to ban not only gay rights, but any form of expression in favor of gay rights.
Now, tabloid newspapers in neighboring Cameroon have started a gay witchhunt to 'out' prominent homosexuals who engage in 'deviant behavior,' according to the tabloids.
"We could not remain silent. We had to ring the alarm bell," ranted the editor of one of the rags.
His paper offered the headline (insert menacing music): 'Gays are among us.'
But the campaign has been condemned by the state communication council for invading people's private lives.
The country's communications minister was one of those named.
Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon are three of the most corrupt countries in the world. But while Kenya is in an uproar over graft scandals, Nigeria and Cameroon are scapegoating gays and those who support human rights for gays.
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