The organisation runs a resource centre in Harare which provides professional counselling, entertainment and educational activities for members, and is involved in campaigning on broader issues such as access to HIV treatment.

[1][5] It does its work against a background of persecution and repression of gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe: historically, the State, the President, and church leaders have encouraged homophobia, and there is a general lack of societal tolerance for sexual or gender difference.

Membership initially also consisted largely of male, white or mixed-race middle-class professionals, but since then the association has grown to represent the broader LGBTI community.

The Affinity Group Programme was set up in 2002 for members living outside Harare, who had previously not been able to take full advantage of GALZ services and resources.

Membership has subsequently grown significantly in ten other urban areas, including Bulawayo, Chipinge, Chitungwiza, Marondera, Masvingo, Mutare, Penhalonga and Victoria Falls.

According to their website, "GALZ has played a significant role in the struggle for LGBTI emancipation in Africa by showing others on the continent that it is indeed possible for lesbian and gay people to organise openly in hostile, homophobic climates."

GALZ is part of a pan-African consortium of 10 organisations serving sexual minorities and marginalized groups known as the Love Alliance, which was set up with the support of AIDSfonds and the Embassy of Netherlands.

[5] Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe received worldwide criticism for homophobic comments he made after seeing the GALZ stall at the 1995 International Book Fair in Harare.

[8][9][10] He said: I find it extremely outrageous and repugnant to my human conscience that such immoral and repulsive organizations, like those of homosexuals, who offend both against the law of nature and the cultural norms espoused by our society, should have any advocates in our midst and elsewhere in the world.

As GALZ states on its website, "The lesbian and gay issue was the real litmus test for the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe … not until 1995 did it finally become accepted that the ruling party (ZANU-PF) was prepared to use whites, gays and any other stigmatised minority as political scapegoats and target all perceived enemies who posed a threat to its power base.”[7] Ultimately, the controversy alerted international rights organisations such as Amnesty International to the dire situation for sexual minorities in Zimbabwe.

In 1996 and 1997, GALZ attracted funding from HIVOS and the Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT), which enabled the association to establish offices.

[7] In 1998, the Ecumenical Support Services, IGLHRC and Amnesty assisted GALZ in its participation in the 8th Summit of the World Council of Churches in Harare.

Chester Samba, director of GALZ, said: "As an initial meeting it was great that they responded positively and somewhat surprising as this marked a departure from the previous leadership which did not engage with us.