Police in Malawi have launched an operation to hunt down and arrest high-profile gays and lesbians in the southern African state.

Fears of an anti-gay backlash across Africa are intensifying after the prosecution of the first gay couple to seek marriage in Malawi, and thousands of Ugandans demonstrated this week in support of a bill proposing the death penalty for some offences involving homosexual acts. Last week five men were arrested at an alleged gay wedding in Kenya.

South African women who choose not to remain in the closet as lesbians are being gang raped. Stories of women who have come out being gang raped to "correct" their behavior and even murder are growing at alarming numbers.

Human rights leaders say men are committing these acts in an attempt to "cure" women of their sexuality and are called "corrective rape." Women and girls are living in fear of being dragged off the streets by groups of men to be gang raped or worst.

One of the more shocking stories that gained headlines is that of Eudy Simelane a lesbian equal rights activist, who was also a member of the famed South Africa's Banyana Banyana national female football squad. Her body was found in a creek outside of Johannesburg, reportedly she had been gang-raped, beaten and stabbed 25 times.