蜜芽传媒

What do you do when your mother thinks you're a sinner and your country thinks you're a criminal? This was the position Namibian Friedel Dausab found himself in when he realised he was gay, aged 13. His mother was an Evangelical Lutheran missionary and for years after he came out, they didn't speak. In an attempt to bring them closer together, Friedel agreed to try - in his words - 'to pray the gay away'. But it didn't work. Friedel's Mum looked again at the Bible and came round to the view that it isn't for her to judge her son's sexuality, but for God, and she loved her son too much to reject him. She's been his staunchest defender ever since and he's needed it - because Friedel's had a lot to deal with. In 1999 at the age of 25, he was diagnosed with HIV and after that started working with organisations promoting sexual health and supporting LGBTQ+ people. He became convinced that one of the reasons why Namibia wasn't getting to grips with high transmission rates of HIV is because it wouldn't acknowledge that some men have sex with men. Friedel also believed that the laws criminalising homosexual acts were 'un-Namibian', hangovers from the colonial era and in direct contradiction to the commitment to human rights enshrined in its constitution. He and a group of like-minded people decided to go to the High Court to get the laws overturned, and Friedel became the face of the legal action. Friedel's Mum stayed by his side and prayed until the verdict was announced in June 2024.

Presenter Jo Fidgen
Producer Anna Lacey

(Image: 'Friedel Dausab outside Namibia's High Court'. Credit: Friedel Dausab)