This is an excerpt from a feature article that was originally published in Canada’s Toronto Star on October 17, 2011.

In Malawi, revealing that you are gay is a very brave thing to do. David Chibwana recounted the day he told a carefully selected few.

“My older brother by four years, he said that whatever happens, he will support me,” whispered Chibwana. “But others said that they do not want to be close to me. That they were afraid that other people would associate them with what I am; that I am gay. So they shun me.”

Since then, Chibwana (not his real name) has suffered through worse circumstances than simply being ignored.

“One evening, I was walking home and somebody shouted, “We do not want you here,” he said. “And then a group threw stones at me. I had to run away so fast.”

In the southern African nation often touted as one of the continent’s most-peaceful, gays, lesbians and transgender citizens face up to 14 years in prison for, in the words of the editorial board of the Guardian, “the supposed crime of loving each other.”

On Malawi’s city streets and in the country’s rural villages, people’s attitudes are often just as prejudiced.

Now, the U.K. may have inflamed this widely held disdain. On Oct. 10, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that his government would cut aid to African countries actively persecuting gays. Historically a major contributor of aid to Malawi — having donated £200 million over the last three years — Downing St.’s threat was a real one. (Ghana and Uganda were also singled out with warnings.)

The increasingly authoritarian government of President Bingu wa Mutharika responded with fiery defiance.

“Malawi cannot be made to dance to their tune,” said Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati. “We are poor yes, but this is very sad that they should use our economic status to force us to do what we do not want as a country. Tell them we wish them all the best with their wealth.”

Speaking to a local newspaper, her remarks went further. “In the future they may say they do not want children in Malawi, and then do you expect us to kill all the children?” Kaliati continued. “Maybe another day they will say they do not want journalists in Malawi, should we chase all of you journalists because the British have said so?”

More concerning, the government’s steadfast refusal to moderate its persecution of gays is widely supported by its people, and many of them have also responded to Cameron’s remarks with anger.

“The Queen and her petticoat government wants me to marry another man in exchange of her sterling just because I am poor?” a journalist was overheard asking. “I say let Britain keep her purse and leave me and my culture alone.”

Chibwana described the country’s renewed attention toward gays as “very dangerous for minority groups.”

“The government is inciting people to commit violence,” he argued. “We are facing lot of harassment and we cannot go to the police. The police will arrest us if we go to them.”

Continue reading this article at the Toronto Star.

This is an excerpt from a feature article that was originally published in Canada’s Toronto Star on October 17, 2011.