Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Zimbabwe face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents.

[2] Zimbabwe stands in sharp contrast with neighbouring South Africa, as well as Mozambique, which enacted LGBTQ protections in the 21st century.

Same-sex marriage is banned by the Zimbabwe Constitution, and LGBTQ people enjoy no legal protections from discrimination, violence and harassment.

As a result, many choose to remain in the closet, commit suicide, or emigrate, with a popular destination being South Africa due to their gay-friendly laws.

However, since Robert Mugabe's forced removal from the presidency in November 2017, LGBTQ activists have expressed hopes that their human rights will be respected.

[6] Among both the Shona and Ndebele peoples, same-sex sexual activity was historically viewed as a form of spiritual rearmament (i.e. as a source of fresh power for their territories).

[6][11] Other homosexual male relations during early colonial times included love affairs, prostitution, rape, and sexual brutality.

[12] Marc Epprecht stated that many Zimbabweans believed that homosexuality was un-African, caused by a disease introduced by white settlers from Europe.

[13] Writing in the 19th century about the area of today's southwestern Zimbabwe, David Livingstone asserted that the monopolization of women by elderly chiefs was essentially responsible for the "immorality" practised by younger men.

The Zimbabwean Government has made it a criminal offense for two people of the same sex to hold hands, hug, or kiss.

[19][20] President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, from 1980 to 2017, actively discriminated against LGBTQ people and spoke out in public against homosexuality.

Mugabe received worldwide criticism for comments he made on 1 August 1995 after coming across a stall set up by the organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) at the country's annual International Book Fair in Harare, founded in 1990 to facilitate communication within the LGBTQ community and which had not received much attention from the Government beforehand.

[21][22][23] Mugabe's comments after seeing the stall at the book fair were: 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.Two weeks later, during Zimbabwe's annual independence celebrations, Mugabe proclaimed:[24] It degrades human dignity.

If you see people parading themselves as Lesbians and Gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police!Since then, President Mugabe increased the political repression of homosexuals under Zimbabwe's sodomy laws.

Mugabe blamed gays for many of Zimbabwe's problems and views homosexuality as an "un-African" and immoral culture brought by colonists and practiced by only "a few whites" in his country.

Some critics believed that Mugabe was using gays as a scapegoat to deflect attention from Zimbabwe's major economic problems.

[29] In 1999, British gay rights activists, led by Peter Tatchell, attempted a citizen's arrest of Mugabe for the crime of torture.

There are hopes that Mnangagwa would reverse Zimbabwe's decades-long persecution of LGBTQ people, led by the virulently homophobic former President Mugabe.

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.

The manuals read: "The programme is to educate and equip healthcare providers in Zimbabwe with the knowledge and skills to enable them to provide health services that support and adequately cater for the unique healthcare needs of sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender and non-gender conforming people and people who inject and use drugs.

The school later affirmed its commitment to providing a safe and caring environment for "all persons, regardless of race, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, abilities or disabilities or any other real or perceived difference".

[47] His successor as bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, accused Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams of "heresy", and suggested he was "coming to lobby for homosexuality".

[48] HIV/AIDS has plagued the population of Zimbabwe; the country has one of the highest prevalence rates in the world as approximately 13.50% of adults aged 15–49 have been infected with the virus.

Initially being separated from the cause of the HIV/AIDS community of Zimbabwe, GALZ is now one of the largest proponents for rights of those afflicted and their health.