This report gives an overview of what it means to be gay and African in the early part of the 21st century. Commissioned by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the OTHER Foundation, it also highlights organisations working to improve the situation and the funders supporting such activities. This is not an academic publication. It is meant to provide information about the conditions facing gay people throughout the continent and show that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are often pawns, vulnerable pawns, for those seeking power. But the report will also show that there is a groundswell of gay people doing it for themselves throughout Africa. Our overall feeling, despite some depressing scenarios, was a hopeful one. We found the remarkable scattering of LGBTI organisations and people prepared to fight for their rights all over sub- Saharan Africa particularly exiting. We had a sense that sexual orientation and gender identity are important parts of the human rights agenda, and that the LGBTI community was producing human rights ‘warriors’ who play a significant role in the battle to develop LGBTI and human rights in Africa.