SEE Why Same-Sex Marriage Is An Old African Tradition

In some parts of Africa same-sex marriage is a century-old tradition and it is not in danger of disappearing any time soon – see why.

Nyanswi Marwa, 35 (left) and Wegesa Marwa, 60 (right) have been married for 15 years and have six children together.

In some parts of Tanzania same-sex marriage between women is not an odd thing but an old tradition – but not not necessarily because they’re lesbians. The thing is that men there are too bad to have relations with.

These women from Kurya community in the Tarime district of the Mara region in northern Tanzania have been married for 15 years. The elder woman is sixty now and she married her younger wife when she was twenty years old.

Wegesa Marwa, who is an older wife, says that in their culture women cannot inherit properties. So she looked for a wife who could inherit her property when she dies. Besides that her younger wife helps her to farm, fetch water, raise the cattle and other household chores.

Wegesa has no male children and so after her husband passed away she was left with no heir to her property and the family name. She took Nyanswi Marwa as her wife to solve the problem.The couple now has six boys fathered by relative from the family of Wegesa’s late husband. “Since she took me as her wife I feel like life is normal,” says Nyanswi Marwa, “Wegesa introduced me to her brother-in-law’s son and we have been living happily till now”.

Wegesa’s nephew has his own family but he has agreed to be the biological father of the six children. He has no claims on the children and forgoes all parental rights. His reward is that through his children with Nyanswi his late uncle family’s name would be carried on.

But increasingly the culture of women marrying women is being used as an escape from domestic violence. UN figures show that northern Mara region has the highest recorded rates of violence against women in the country, with sixty per cent women here reported to experience either physical or emotional violence.

The elders here have come to accept this as a consideration for adapting the tradition.

Health issues also come into play. Many men are promiscuous. They are diseased now. And women don’t want to take risks, because if they will get infected it would be difficult for the family to look after her. These marriages have empowered both old and younger women who agree to them, to take control of their own lives. Men play a secondary part in their lives. So this tradition is not in danger of disappearing any time soon.

Recent survey has shown that Nigerians are more gay than they used to be five years ago – or at least more gay-friendly. The newest opinion poll shows shift in attitude towards gay people and same sex marriages.

Meanwhile, one month ago Mozambique joined the family of gay-friendly African nations, now consisting of Burkina-Faso, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and The Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Madagaskar, Mali, Niger and Rwanda where homosexual contacts have never been criminalised.