US Envoy Spars with Zambian Host Over Gay Rights
Ambassador blasts gay couple’s jailing, while noting American fi nancial support
BY MATT TRACY
Comments made by US
Ambassador to Zambia
Daniel Foote in response
to the harsh sentencing
of a gay couple in that nation
prompted backlash from the Zambian
government and led to threats
that Foote said prevented him from
attending World AIDS Day events
there out of fear for his safety.
And while the tension centers on
the unfair imprisonment of a gay
couple, the bickering unearthed
themes similar to the ones already
at the forefront of current-day
American politics: the demand for
favorable treatment in the face of
international aid.
Foote, who grew up near Buffalo
upstate and spent decades in
the State Department before getting
appointed to his current role
in 2017, fi rst encouraged the Zambian
government to carry out a review
of anti-LGBTQ laws, according
to BBC News, after 38-year-old
Japhet Chataba and 30-year-old
Stephen Sambo were sentenced to
15 years in prison for violating the
penal code’s ban on same-sex relations.
The Lusaka Times, a local
newspaper, reported extensively on
that case.
As in many African nations,
Zambia’s anti-LGBTQ laws stem
from colonial era measures that
were imposed by the British and
remained on the books after the
country gained independence in
1964.
Chataba and Sambo were staying
at a lodge when an employee
peeped through a window in their
hotel room and allegedly saw them
having sex. The men were subsequently
forced to undergo intrusive
anal examinations as part of an effort
by local offi cials to determine
whether they had sex. The doctor
who performed the examinations
said the court fi ndings were “inconsistent”
with his fi ndings but
still said his conclusions did not
rule out the possibility they had
sex.
Zambian news reports about
the case refl ected the nation’s reactionary
US Ambassador Daniel Foote meets with Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu last year during happier times.
attitudes toward LGBTQ
people. The Zambian Observer
published a brief news story about
the sentencing and classifi ed the
online article under the categories
“Court” and “Bizarre,” while hundreds
of homophobic comments
were posted in the comments section
of the Lusaka Times piece
about the case.
Foote’s disagreement with Zambia
blew up into a public uproar
when he responded to the two
men’s punishment in a written
statement to Bloomberg News on
November 29, saying he “was personally
horrifi ed to read yesterday
about the sentencing of two men,
who had a consensual relationship,
which hurt absolutely no one,
to 15 years imprisonment.”
Zambia’s president, Edgar
Chagwa Lungu, told Sky News
that Foote’s comments were “disrespectful”
to Zambia’s culture and
values, and that he was interfering
with the nation’s sovereignty.
“We know that there could be
people who are homosexual in
Zambia but we don’t want to promote
it,” Lungu continued. “We
frown on it… the practice… most
of us think it’s wrong… it’s unbiblical
and unchristian… and we don’t
want it.”
Foote then pushed back in a
lengthy written statement, saying
he “was shocked at the venom
and hate directed at me and
my country, largely in the name
of ‘Christian’ values…” Foote defended
LGBTQ rights throughout
his statement but also used the
international controversy as an
opportunity to address longstanding
gripes over his lack of access to
Zambia’s president at a time when
the United States allocates $500
million in American aid annually
to the southern African nation.
Foote specifi cally voiced his frustration
with only having secured
meetings with the Zambian president
fi ve times in two years.
“Both the American taxpayers,
and Zambian citizens, deserve a
privileged, two-way partnership,
not a one-way donation that works
out to $200 million per meeting
with the Head of State,” he said.
Foote also charged that the
Zambian government “wants foreign
diplomats to be compliant,
with open pocketbooks and closed
mouths.”
Joseph Malanji, Zambia’s foreign
affairs minister, said the government
is writing to President
Donald Trump to formally accuse
Foote of meddling in Zambia’s internal
affairs.
Notably, the Trump administration
INTERNATIONAL
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has rolled back LGBTQ rights
throughout his presidency and
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
rolled out a new panel earlier this
year tasked with re-evaluating
America’s approach to human
rights issues abroad — a move
widely interpreted as a retreat from
prioritizing those concerns.
Pompeo’s initiative seemly contracted
an administration commitment
to lead a global campaign to
decriminalize homosexuality — an
effort led by out gay US Ambassador
to Germany Richard Grenell,
who has long been an outspoken,
at times infl ammatory foreign policy
hardliner.
Given Grenell’s history, some
observers questioned whether
his leading role in the campaign
was anything more than windowdressing
— a suspicion heightened
in February when a reporter asked
Trump about the effort, and the
president responded, “I don’t know,
uh, which report you’re talking
about. We have many reports.”
Foote did not mention Trump in
his public comments and it is not
clear whether he made his statements
independently or in coordination
with top brass in the Trump
administration. The State Department
did not respond to a request
for comment.
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