But I’m a Lesbian!

TW: homophobia, homophobic violence, gay conversion methods

It wouldn’t be June in America without the rainbow patterned corporate logos, online discourse, and queer-centered advertisements for various products. It’s also a celebratory month of parades, festivals, and historical memorials. However, with the exhausting deluge of discourse and predatory corporate campaigns, queer civil rights history, movements, and activism are sometimes overlooked. Most young Americans–myself included–grew up with rampant homophobia in the media, our schools, and our churches. To this day, sixty-nine countries have laws criminalizing homosexuality, and queer Americans still fight against legislation and religious organizations that threaten their safety, rights, and autonomy.

Map of countries where homosexuality is criminalized. Many are former British colonies. View the Interactive Map. Image credit: Human Dignity Trust.

Despite the hardships faced by the queer community throughout the world, love blossoms against all odds. Today, I present two teenage lesbian coming-of-age films about love triumphing over adversity.

Total Run Time: 167 minutes

Rafiki

2018; dir. Wanura Kahiu

Our first feature, Rafiki (which means ‘friend’ in Swahili), is based on the Ugandan short story “Jumbala Tree” by Monica Arac de Nyeko. In the story, an adult Anyango hears that her childhood friend and lover, Sanyu, has returned. She reminisces on their youth together, their sexual awakening, and the consequences of their intimacy.

The film follows the relationship between Ziki Okemi (Sheila Munyiva) and Kena Mwaura (Samantha Mugatsia), the daughters of rival politicians. Ziki is vibrant, full of life, and rebellious; Kena is more subdued, and works in her father’s shop while she prepares to attend nursing school. Despite their differences in personality, and the legal and society obstacles, they fall in love–and love is the core theme of the story, according to director Wanura Kahiu:

“My first and foremost concern was to find a love story…when I cam across ‘Jambula Tree’–because of the texture and nuances, the profound love that the main characters had for each other–I wanted to tell this story. Even though it’s a hard subject because it’s taboo–two girls falling in love with each other in a country where this is outlawed–it was very important for me to tell a love story because that’s what it is: how true love can triumph over everything.”

In a queer media landscape so dominated by teenage coming-of-age stories, Rafiki may come across as a little saccharine and cheesy. However, the film broke boundaries; it was the first Kenyan film to premiere at Cannes, and it was the first film portraying a positive message about homosexuality to be screened in Kenya.

“I remember watching a debate a couple of years ago about whether homosexuality is African or European. Somebody had the most brilliant argument; he said that homosexuality is not un-African, what is un-African is homophobia. Because if we think that Africa is built on the spirit of Ubuntu, homophobia is against the idea of the community, because you are ostracizing people of the community. It doesn’t go along with an African ethos.”
Wanura Kahiu in Black Camera Vol. 5, No. 2 (Spring 2014), pp. 186-190

According to Human Rights Watch, 32 African nations have laws that criminalize homosexuality. In many cases, these laws are remnants of colonial legislation.

The viewers are reminded of a violent reality for queer people in Kenya, but are also given a story of connection and hope.

It’s easy to forget, amidst the corporate slogans and rainbow spattered products, that queer people in other countries do not enjoy the same privileges. According to the Human Rights Campaign, same-sex marriage is legal in only 29 countries*, and according to Human Dignity Trust, “private, consensual same-sex sexual activity” is punishable by death in eleven jurisdictions**.

Although same-sex intercourse is illegal in Kenya, it is the only East African nation where someone can seek asylum and be registered as a refugee based on their LGBT status. As such, the nation has become a safe haven for queer refugees, especially from Cameroon, Sudan, and Uganda. In 2009, the Anti-Homosexuality Act was proposed to Uganda’s parliament. The bill was known as the “Kill The Gays” bill for its inclusion of the death penalty. Later, the death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment. The bill became law for a short period in 2014, but was struck down by Uganda’s Constitution Court later in the same year.

The Ugandan queer community today is still persecuted by the British colonial-era law that criminalized “sex contrary to the order of nature,” which the Ugandan government retained in its 1950 penal code, and again after the nation gained independence in 1962. The maximum sentence for violation of this law is life imprisonment.

Although Kenya’s laws are more lenient, homosexuality is still far from socially acceptable. In a 2020 poll, 14% of Kenyans said homosexuality should be accepted by society–up from 1% in 2001. However, 83% of Kenyans believe that homosexuality should not be accepted. Gay sex is illegal, with a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, and homophobic violence is common.

Director Wanuri Kahiu does not let the viewer forget about these threats; yet the story is ultimately one of connection. Despite the bigotry, violence, and grief that threaten to tear Ziki and Kena apart, they are driven by love and hope.

Run Time: 82 minutes

Watch the Trailer

But I’m A Cheerleader

1999; dir. Jamie Babbit

Popular, small-town cheerleader Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is sent to a gay conversion camp after her family and friends begin to suspect that she might be a lesbian. With help from counsellors Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty) and ex-gay Mike (RuPaul), Megan joins the students of True Directions, where she plans to follow the rules and learn to be straight so she can return to her cheer team and her football-player boyfriend. Instead, she becomes frenemies-to-lovers with Graham Eaton (Clea DuVall), and begins to question her morals and relationships .

But I’m A Cheerleader makes light of a dark theme–everyone at True Directions is hooking up with one another, RuPaul pretends to be straight, and the color palate is comically gendered. The characters and atmosphere are cartoonishly oppressive; girls wear pink and learn to be good housewives, while boys wear blue and learn to do manly things, like playing sports and fixing cars.

Learning to be domestic women and manly men

While everything–spoiler alert–turns out okay for these queer teens, this dark comedy does little to touch on the real horrors of conversion therapy. Gay conversion therapy dates back to the late nineteenth century, notably the research of psychiatrist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, who claimed in 1899 that he had turned a gay man straight through hypnosis, and endocrinologist Eugen Steinach, who used surgical methods to “cure” homosexuality. In the 20th century, queer people, primarily gay men, were subjected to a variety of psychiatric and medical treatments and operations.

*But I’m a Cheerleader* does not ignore damaging conversion treatments and the homophobic attitudes of the late 1990’s, but it also doesn’t delve into the real horrors queer people faced throughout the 20th century.

Homosexuality was listed as a psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) from 1952 until 1973, after psychiatrists in the 1960’s and 1970’s began to distance themself from conversion therapy. However, faith-based conversion therapy became prominent in the 1990’s through the 2000’s. The most common venue for this conversion was camps, where teens were isolated from their friends and family and reconditioned through spiritual exercises (“pray the gay away”), exorcisms, emotional and physical abuse, and sexual violence.

Track the progress of *50 Bills 50 States* through this interactive map, which shows states and municipalities in which legislation has been passed or submitted to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy

But I’m a Cheerleader perfectly balances the horror of conversion therapy, the outlandishness of homophobic rhetoric, and a tender teenage love story. The villains are cartoonishly bigoted, with upbeat catch-phrases and vivid personalities hiding their vile core. That’s one of the most brilliant aspects of the film; Babbit hides bigotry behind heightened, often personable villains. Mary and Mike think they are helping teenagers find God and live normal lives–but it doesn’t make their actions any less evil. That a romantic comedy in the late 1990’s so accurately satirized this form of villainy, while also giving its queer protagonists the opportunity to rebel against oppression and find their own happiness, is what puts But I’m a Cheerleader among the greatest queer films ever made.

Run Time: 85 minutes

Watch the Trailer.

Both films show queer female love persevering through adversity. Despite the societal, religious, familial, and legal barriers, Megan, Graham, Ziki and Kena fall in love and find the strength to be themselves. Megan wants only to return to her family, friends, and cheer team, but her parents have made it clear that if she does not pass the True Directions program, they will not allow her to return home. Graham’s parents threaten to keep her from attending college if she does not kick her homosexual phase and return a good, straight daughter. Kena and Ziki made a pact to be unlike typical Kenyan women. Instead of cooking for their husbands and having babies, Kena dreams of becoming a doctor, and Ziki wants to travel the world. Although these dreams remain tangible, they are prevented from being with each other; gossiping neighbors homophobic violence threaten their love and safety.

Intimacy is expressed through subtle caresses, stolen glances, and clandestine meetings.

But, as Kahiu stated, these are stories about love overcoming everything.

But I’m a Cheerleader is available free with ads on YouTube.

Rafiki is available on ShowTime.

*Gay marriage is legal in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uruguay.

**11 jurisdictions in which the death penalty is imposed or at least a possibility for private, consensual same-sex sexual activity. At least 6 of these implement the death penalty – Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen – and the death penalty is a legal possibility in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar and UAE.