The Most Revd Dr. Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of Southern Africa, has partnered with international human rights group Human Rights Watch to release a video message decrying homophobic violence and anti-LGBT discrimination on the African continent.

In the video Makgoba challenges arguments put forward by several African governments that culture, tradition, and religion justify the marginalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people.

‘Don’t fear,’Makgoba says to LGBT people in the video message.

‘You’ve been given this task of helping the rest of humanity to realize that we are called to respect and we are called to honor each other. People may come and say this is un-African, and I’m saying love cuts across culture.’

‘I’m called to love all God’s children and if I move from that context I cannot allow people to be discriminated [against] and I cannot allow people to [be subjected to] violence just on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Human Rights Watch interviewed the archbishop for the video as part of an effort to highlight supportive voices for LGBT rights in Africa.

Makgoba’s statement follows in the footsteps of his predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, in speaking out to combat homophobia and transphobia in Africa and around the world.

‘When you violate somebody on the basis of difference you’re not only violating them but you are demeaning yourself,’ Makgoba says in the video.

Makgoba calls on African leaders to take up their ‘moral responsibility to stop the violence against people who are different.’

‘Archbishop Makgoba’s statement should serve as a call to national, religious, and cultural leaders across Africa who support the rights of LGBTI people to speak out publicly,’ Human Rights Watch LGBTI rights director Graeme Reid.

‘The archbishop’s message of respect for everyone’s rights should challenge leaders who have opposed the rights of LGBTI people to reconsider their positions.’