LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity vs Cultural Relativism in a Conservative Africa: The Travails of Western Children Entertainment in Cameroon

Abstract

Over the decades, Western cable television channels have purveyed the LGBTQIA+ rights movement in Africa. Through the broadcast of queer contents (particularly LGBTQIA+ inclusive animated cartoons), broadcasters such as Disney Junior, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Canal+ Elles among others have sought to positively represent non-heterosexual identities and contribute in some ways to the gay rights movement in Africa. Considered antithetical to the moral values and cultural policies of most African nations, this inclusive children contents have most often attracted virulent criticism and sanctions from African media regulators. In Cameroon more specifically, tighter censorship systems are now deployed to stultify pro-gay media advocacy and queer children media. African governments’ hostility to pro-LGBTQIA+ inclusive contents warrants that Western television channels adapt their broadcast and business strategies to African cultural and political realities. This paper seeks to examine this adaptation imperative in the light of the Cameroonian experience. Using secondary sources and critical observations, the paper specifically answers three research questions: How have Western cable television channels used animated contents to support the LGBTQIA+ rights movement in Cameroon? How has Cameroon homophobic institutions sought to counter this TV-assisted rights movement? And how may Western media adapt to the Cameroonian homophobic context?