Desmond Tutu daughter tells of bias against homosexuals

Reverend Mpho Tutu, daughter of Anglican Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu (picture on book cover), addresses the media about the health of her father, on August 18, 2015, in Cape Town. PHOTO | RODGER BOSCH |

Desmond Tutu’s daughter on Tuesday slammed rampant prejudice against homosexuals and the poor compliance with laws protecting the rights of gays and lesbians in Africa.

“The reality is that in much of Africa homophobic laws are tolerated and even in the places where the laws and the rights or LGBTI people are protected, the protections are on paper and not in fact,” Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu-van Furth told AFP. Even in liberal societies in Europe, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people face discrimination and harassment, she said.

“So the experience of people is very different from the promises that are enshrined in our rights documents, our constitutions,” she added on the fringes of an international human rights conference in Johannesburg.