The intensity of Zambian homophobia might suggest that the nation could not endure a demonstration of LGBT pride, but some activists think it’s time to shake the country out of its anti-gay status quo. The question was even touched upon in the Lusaka Times, a prominent newspaper in the Zambian capital, in an article about homosexuality in Zambia and Malawi. The article was based on a report by the South Africa-based Institute of Race Relations, “LGBTQ Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa” (PDF) by IRR researcher Gerbrandt van Heerden. Van Heerden interviewed a Zambian gay-rights activist who said that “the capital city of Lusaka is a ‘diverse, cosmopolitan environment’ in which the idea of gay people is ‘nothing new’. Many people in Lusaka are, in other words, not concerned about whether their neighbours or colleagues might be gay or lesbian.”