Advocates to outlaws, and other issues...

A good summary of what has been happening.

Uganda's gays: from advocates to outlaws

By Ben Simon (AFP)

KAMPALA — If Uganda?s recently tabled Anti-Homosexuality Bill becomes law, Frank Mugisha and other individuals found campaigning for gay rights will face the choice of going to jail or leaving the country.

Mugisha heads Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a leading sexual rights advocacy group that could soon be classed a criminal organization.

"I have never really considered moving out of Uganda. But if I cannot work within the country, then I will have to leave," said Mugisha.

The bill has baffled legal experts who read it as the product of an over-zealous Evangelical community that is clueless about both Uganda?s constitution and international law.

But for the bill?s proponents, chief among them Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, who has repeatedly alleged that there exists an organized, western-backed plot to recruit people into homosexuality, the law is necessary to confront a national emergency.

Homosexuality is spreading, Buturo argues, and if people like Mugisha aren?t stopped they will continue to lure impressionable youths into their sinful lifestyle and thereby threaten the perpetuation of the Ugandan people.

"Who is going to occupy Uganda in 20 years if we all become homosexuals? We know that homosexuals don?t reproduce," Buturo said last year when announcing plans to table the bill.

[Yes, I know, you are now seriously concerned for Buturo's state of reasoning. He is a PhD mind you, an MP and a minister. Seems doesnt save him from stupid, conspiratory theories? Why cant such an educated man reason?]

But, for statements of questionable intelligence, Ssempa has some. He is actually enjoying the accolade in Uganda. At very long last, his fight against gays in Uganda is on a roll.

Sylvia Tamale of Kampala?s Makerere University Law School told AFP.

For Tamale, the bill?s composition reveals an absence of qualified legal input and an unhealthy amount of input from people like Martin Ssempa, a prominent Evangelical pastor and internationally known anti-gay crusader who has confirmed having contributed to the bill.

"It would be political suicide for any Ugandan politician to vote against this. Leaders will have to ask themselves, do I listen to my own people, or ... to top down orders coming from New York and the UN," he added.

Ssempa seems to relish the criticism hurled at him by western rights groups, but he is concerned the proposal will create a fissure within the Evangelical Church.

"The western church is going to find itself increasingly at odds with the African church and find itself in a situation where there is a split like in the Anglican Church," he said.

Ssempa told AFP he was disappointed by a recent statement by American mega-Pastor Rick Warren, who delivered the convocation at US president Barack Obama?s Inauguration.

Warren did not mention the Anti-Homosexuality Bill specifically, but said he and his wife ended their relationship with Ssempa, "when we learned that his views and actions were in serious conflict with our own".

I seriously believe there is something wrong with the way Ssempa thinks. But then, I am gay.... And he is anti-gay. But, more important is, he is feeling the pressure. And, we hope to puncture more of his ebbulience. Unfortunately, real stupidity has no cure. But, is Ssempa stupid, or just very clever. No, I am not saying stupid as in abuse. Stupid as in an observation of his actions..... Eh, you may not find any difference!

The article continues...

I read this op-ed in the LA Times, and I had to shake my head. No. I am not commenting. Just follow the link

Homophobia and AIDS funding can't coexist

The U.S. sends millions of dollars in relief money to Uganda, which is considering a draconian law aimed at homosexuals.

Does it help, or hurt? I know, Ssempa and Bahati are very happy with such headlines. But, I also understand a gay man in the US who would put this pressure on. Why send hand outs to a country that thinks your sexuality is so bad, they want to 'eliminate' their own homosexuals?

Of this article in the Guardian, I seriously liked the last lines, which I am lifting to here. Because they show the state of mind of the, on the roll, anti-gay group. They fascinate me. The players. I had never met Bahati, and was prepared to hate him when I saw him at the debate. But, I couldnt. I can feel the hate that oozes from Ssempa. I can feel disgust and horror at Langa doing an intellectual justification of a genocide. But, Bahati, he is just a dupe. Sorry, he is THE dupe.

Here are the lines from the Guardian

Uganda's ethics and integrity minister, James Nsaba Buturo, told IPS that "it is with joy we see that everyone is interested in what Uganda is doing, and it is an opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership where it matters most".

David Bahati, the MP who introduced the bill, defended it by saying "homosexuality is not a human right. It is a foreign behaviour imported and promoted by people using the poverty in our country to expound bad behaviour".

[I love collecting such statements. They show the real state of mind of the anti-gay group here.

Buturo is seriously happy that Uganda is showing 'international leadership'. You know, you may look at him and wonder whether he is serious. And even doubt his sanity. And, you cant really believe the statement. But he is. Very serious. He is happy and enjoying the roll. God help Uganda]

Now, pick this from somewhere else

The Ugandan government will put to death gay citizens repeatedly caught having sex and throw into jail those who touch each other in a "gay" way, if a new proposed bill becomes law.

A new bill, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, seeks to legislate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people in Uganda. And it wants to pave the way for its harsh treatment of them by nullifying any international treaties, conventions or declarations believed to be contrary to it.

Why do I feel the incredulous tone in those opening lines? Yet, this is the absolute truth. Ssempa and group are amazing. They brush these details off, saying they are protecting the 'boy-child'. I am also incredulous, but, these guys are deadly serious. How does one deal with this kind of schizophrenia? It IS madness.

"The bill is so inhumane ... It violates every aspect of a human being. I mean you cannot tell me you will kill me because I'm gay," says Gerald Sentogo, the gay administrator for the organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda.

Dont worry Gerald, we are all in the same boat!

But, the quotes from the other end of the anti-gay spectrum are incredulously funny. They would be anyway. Here are some choice ones.

The International Leadership quote.

But Uganda's ethics and integrity minister sees the uproar surrounding the bill as a positive sign that Uganda is "providing leadership" to the world. The minister, James Nsaba Buturo, says he is happy the bill is causing a lot of debate globally.

"It is with joy we see that everyone is interested in what Uganda is doing, and it is an opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership where it matters most. So we are here to see a piece of legislation that will not only define what the country stands for, but actually provide leadership around the world," he says.

Back in the days when the Church of Uganda had an official stand, the spokesperson had said these things.

Religious leaders from the Orthodox Church, Pentecostal Church and Islam, in appearing before the Parliamentary and Presidential Affairs Committee, say the law against homosexuality was timely, but they were opposed to the death penalty.

Reverend Canon Aaron Mwesigye Kafundizeki, the Church of Uganda provincial secretary, says: "It is an important law, but the provision related to the death penalty may prevent this law from being passed, because death should not be accepted as a punishment. Therefore propose another form of punishment instead of death."

Kafundizeki said pushing for extra territorial jurisdiction would be counter-productive.

"The Church of Uganda is saying we need to limit ourselves to the Ugandan territory, instead of extra territorial jurisdiction, because the Ugandan constitution is very clear on protocols and ratifications. Going beyond the borders will be counter-productive," he says.

Yes, the only objections they had were those. All the others are stellar bits of legislation. Fact is, he said that they should 'emphasize life imprisonment' more than the death penalty.

And, you know what happened? Christians from abroad were so horrified that, the Church of Uganda withdrew its official position. And, now has no position on the bill. They are still studying it.

Know which other Church is still studying it? Catholics.... Mum, to date. Not even a whisper of anything.

A Hate campaign? No. Says Bahati.

Bahati denies claims that he is involved in a hate campaign.

"I moved a private Member's bill not because I'm involved in a hate campaign, but because there are enormous threats to the traditional family values as we know them in Uganda. We don't believe in our country that for a man to sleep with a man, and for a woman to have sexual intercourse with another woman, is a human right.

"We know that homosexuals are getting money from abroad. They are using that to influence our young people into this behaviour, and we cannot sit back and see this happen," he says.

If I was not so intimately involved in this thing, I would really find this funny. That now, it is the Episcopal Church which is thinking the Church of Uganda amiss, somehow in the head.

No, they have not issued a statement.

But, the pressure is on.

I must say, I dont know the internal politics of the various churches. I try to keep my knowledge to the minimum... So, I dont know how this helps, but, I believe it helps!

"The Episcopal Church, like the Anglican Communion as a whole, is very clear in its support for the human rights of all people, including gay and lesbian persons," said Alexander Baumgarten, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations. "For us in the Episcopal Church, that means we oppose all abuses of human rights, whether in our own midst or in other parts of the world, and we seek to make that opposition known through our ministry of advocacy."

The Chicago Consultation on Nov. 20 called on four prominent church leaders to raise their voices in opposition to the bill.

In letters sent to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda, the consultation called the bill "draconian anti-gay legislation" and urged the leaders to speak out against it.

Baumgarten noted that for the past several weeks, the Episcopal Church "has encouraged Episcopalians who have contacted us on this issue to be in touch with their own elected officials. As of the present moment, we are very encouraged by the engagement of the U.S. State Department, which has called the law a 'significant step backwards for human rights,' and has given public assurances that it is addressing the matter with the Ugandan government. It is our understanding that neither the Ugandan government nor the Church of the Province of Uganda (Anglican) has taken a position on this legislation."

So,

where does all this leave me? With lots of stuff to read. And, little knowledge whether my reading will save the day.

Keep up the pressure. Please.

I am ashamed on behalf of my countrymen. (there are few women doing the anti-gay thing!) But, well, that is the kind of war that it is.

And, it is no less deadly.

Have a good day

Should you Comment, as a 'Foreigner'?

Someone was commenting about the letter from Exodus. He or she detailed the news, and then came up with this conclusion.

I might oppose such legislation in my home country, but I don't think it is the place of foreigners to tell Ugandans how to run their country. Let Uganda be Uganda. 


Of course, me being me, I was not happy at that kind of complacency.


So, me being me, I lashed out. Furiously. I am sorry. I dont actually have the patience for someone to give me empty excuses... We are all residents of this small world.
Here was my comment.


Funny, I am a Ugandan, desperately worried because of this bill in parliament. If it passes, which most likely it will, I and my partner will face life imprisonment, or death, once caught.

Is it suprising that I dont mind anyone, even a 'foreigner' speaking out for me? Especially when I cannot speak out myself in my country about this bill?

I used to like Political correctness until I realised that life does not follow its rules. My country mates plan to kill me, and, you fear to say no, because you dont think you as a foreigner should comment?

Happened in Nazi Germany. For Jews, and homosexuals. Happened in Rwanda as recently as 20 years ago.

When, I pray, do you as a 'foreigner' plan to challenge my murderers that they have gone beyond the pale of humanity? When I am dead?

Do you really think that will help?

Probably, by the time this blogger posts this post, the person would have already deleted the comment.

Un-African Human Rights.

Just read this article.

Concerns me, of course, and, I felt I needed to share it. I mean, at the moment, my country-mates are busy discussing a bill to become law. That bill would make all people of my sexual orientation prosecutable. And, the penalty they would give me is either life in prison. Or death.

Funny isnt it?

Comes from the concept that, people of my sexual orientation cannot be African. People of my race cannot have my sexual orientation. Anyway, I cannot deny being African. And, I cannot deny being gay. Bite me.

PS;
Frequently, I pick and choose and post articles from sites that seem to contradict my stand. What I am. I mean, I know the battle lines are clearly defined between gays, ex gays, anti-gays, etc, for example.
Me, I retain my bloody independence!

Well, I would not like to be shackled by any particular ideal.... I am free, for the time being. If that doesnt continue, so be it. But for now, I will accept no shackles. What I post, the words, they mean exactly what they mean. No imputation about the source....

Here is the article

Gay Debate: Human Rights Concept Not Un-African

Nations from all over the world—including the Mother Land—conceived and signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. They understood that all human beings have inherent worth and are deserving of protection by the governments of their respective nations. 

However, many Africans believe that some human beings should not be permitted certain inalienable rights. Perhaps foremost among such human beings are Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans-gendered persons (LGBTs). Indeed, many Africans maintain that homosexuality is un-African, and therefore, not to be tolerated in African societies.

This raises the question: Does a supposedly static African culture and tradition take precedence over mutually-agreed-upon and universally recognized basic human rights? Put another way: is it acceptable that human rights be sacrificed on the altars of culture, tradition and religion?

Essentialism is always problematic. Do all Africans think alike? More importantly, would that constitute real thinking? A wise man once said, “where everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much.” What person or group decides which thoughts and practices are authentically African? More importantly, if a practice is deemed un-African, does that mean the law should prohibit it and punish those that embrace it?

Most people do not engage in sexual relations with members of the same sex. However, homosexuality is not only African, but it is human. Further still, according to the June 16, 2009 issue of Trends in Ecology and Evolution, a yearlong study finished at the University of California at Riverside found that same-sex behavior occurs in practically all animal species.

Still, there are those that argue that such behavior is alien to Africa. However, Leo Igwe of the Center for Inquiry/Nigeria wrote an excellent article titled “Tradition of same gender marriage in Igboland” in the June 19, 2009 issue of the Nigerian Tribune (http://www.tribune.com.ng/19062009/opinion.html). Igwe wrote of married women living together and raising families, a practice dating before the Christian era. Certainly, regardless of what one thinks of such an arrangement, no one could argue that these women were brainwashed by the cultural imperialists of the West. Love it or hate it, if Africans have been doing it for centuries, is it not African?

It has been said that “tradition is the dead hand of human progress.” While this is not always the case, it all too often is. Why are so many Africans reluctant to change? Today Blacks are just as likely to engage in kinds of “unnatural,” “perverted,” and “un-African” acts as are Whites. And who’s trying to stop them?

continued....


Does raise questions, doesnt it? Time to think, countrymates, those of my race who are so damned ready to lynch me for what I am.

I am gay. I am Ugandan. I am African


gug

Debate in Uganda

I think we have, at long last, crossed into the main stream media in Uganda.

Well, it is just that the Daily Monitor has taken the Public Dialogue, and put it on the front page. As the lead story.
The Monitor is an independent. It is generally the first to jump onto any case of abuse of Human rights. Sadly, most Ugandans dont believe that gay rights are human rights. Nor are homosexuals human beings. I am not exaggerating. Look at the abuse on this post.

So, when the debate started, no paper in Uganda was reporting it. Only one television station was diving into the reporting. News hungry, and pushy NTV. It has taken a month, when the world outside Uganda is boiling with outrage. And, it must have taken a lot of internal negotiations. What tipped the balance? I dont know. But, this is a front page story, and, it is the second in two or three days in the Monitor.

Excerpts from it

Homosexuality Bill is extreme- activists

PATIENCE AHIMBISIBWE

kampala

Legal experts and activists have warned government against passing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill currently before parliament arguing that some of the clauses go ‘overboard’.

The experts who held a public dialogue on Wednesday on the bill at Makerere University said that if passed in its current form, the bill would hinder the fight against HIV/AIDS because it criminalises homosexuality.

According to Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga, the Executive Director of the National Guidance and Empowerment Network of people living with HIV/Aids in Uganda, who has lived with the HIV virus for over 20 years, said “15 per cent of the HIV/Aids spread is as a result of gay activities.

Maj. Ruranga said: “The best thing is to educate them (homosexuals) because criminalization causes stigma, discrimination and denied knowledge on HIV/Aids and its treatment.”

According to Clause 14 of the Bill, “A person in authority, who being aware of the commission of any offence under this Act, omits to report the offence to the relevant authorities within 24 hours of having first had that knowledge, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty currency points or imprisonment not exceeding three years.”

Maj. Ruranga asked the government to do more “analysis on the clauses before the bill is passed into law to avoid bad consequences especially in the fight against HIV/Aids.”

Hey, it is longer. Read the whole of it.

Want to see Dr. Tamale's excellent speech. Check it out here. It is worth reading.

That debate was significant. It really showed how illogical, extreme and out there that this bill is. And, it also showed that the guys who are pushing for it, in the name of Christ, God and Country, are determined to have the bill through. They want it.

Bahati boasted, 'We have the numbers. This bill will become law.' And that 'If I were to have a vote at the end of this forum, I know we (bill proposers) would have won.
Yes. It is true. But, that would have been not a win for logic. But for hate.

Langa, after going on and on about how bad homosexuality is, had the gall to say, 'To all the homosexuals here, I must say that I love you.'

How wonderful that Christian love is! Thanks, but no thanks. For the time being, I will fight his loving embrace. It is like Judas' kiss.
But, these guys are vulnerable. Because, their biggest justification is that they are doing it in the name of religion. So, what happens when other Christians say, no way. Not in the name of our God? Please, keep up the pressure.

Every little thing helps. New York, Washington had protests at the Uganda missions.

Here is the AFP story.

Shame on Uganda. True, it is a shame. But, we are shameless. See, when gay people outside Uganda shame us, we are smug and happy. We are doing the right thing. But, remember we are doing it in the name of God. And, those are evil humans that are abusing us..!

So, will the bill pass? Most likely! More than likely. The government will be overjoyed at the debate. It is diverting attention from a controvertial land bill which they are ramming through parliament....
But, ours are the lives at stake. We will count, and take our blessings, as and when we can.

gug

Round up...

Seems as if there are always lots of articles on the Bahati Bill and Uganda these days.

The most amusing, and evocative was this one in the Monitor. The point was easy. For the Bahati Bill, Return to the sender is the best action. Read it.

And here is an excerpt

Bahati’s Bill should be returned to sender

DANIEL KALINAKI

Sitting in a cafe in a European capital last week, I was, I admit, a bit surprised when the two gentlemen on the next table fell into a passionate embrace and then kissed, smack on the lips.

I brought my eyes back to my book and coffee in case I was caught staring, but my mind kept going back to the issue of gay rights in Uganda.

If this scene had played out in a cafe in Kampala, and if Ndorwa West MP David Bahati has his way and forces through his Anti-Homosexuality Bill, I would have been required to immediately call the police and report the two ‘criminals’.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda but MP Bahati has written a Bill so strong in its homophobic sentiments and the sanctions it prescribes, a lay reader of the Bill would imagine that this is the greatest challenge facing our country in our lifetime.

Few things evoke as much emotive debate in Uganda as homosexuality. It is labelled evil and foreign, a virus that crazy white people with their crazy white ways are smuggling into the country with the help of local acolytes. A few reformed converts have turned up to talk of money being sent surreptitiously to local networks to ‘recruit’ young people into homosexuality never mind that there is never evidence adduced of who sent how much money to whom and how it was spent.

In a country of thieves, rapists, murderers, adulterers, etc., the one practice many people can confidently condemn publicly without fear of personal contradiction is homosexuality

Continued...

I sincerely believe that a kind of dialogue has actually started. Heavily counter weighed, and emotional. But, much better than it was in the country in the days just after the bill was tabled.

In the international press, dialogue continues. It is not suprising, given the terribleness of the bill as it is, and the failure of those who support it to see how bad it is. I am Ugandan enough to feel irked by what I consider bone headed stupidity. But, that is a matter of fact. Here is one persons opinion on it in the New Statesman.

To me, this is a must read report. Yes it is. It just seems to be too close to the truth for me to doubt it. Maybe I am forming my own Conspiracy Theories. Ones that are fitting to me. A Homophobia agenda!

But, it does still explain too much for me to dismiss it like so. And, I am recomending it to you. To everyone, interested in the global connectedness of Uganda's blood curdling homophobia. Here is the links. To the Full Report. To the Executive Summary. It is appropriately titled "Globalising the Culture Wars: US Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia" Listening to Langa and Ssempa, I see the real thing. In flesh and blood. Yes I did. Yesterday.

Christians outside Uganda continue to be amazed, and incredulous. About the Bill. Well, I was calling on Christians to act. And, it is Christians who are putting the pressure on Christians here. For their uncharitable actions.

I was very glad that the Church of Uganda has stopped giving out its incediary statements. Yes, they are under scrutiny. And, I expect they know it. No more hate speech, in the name of Christ. I was waiting for it yesterday.

Here are some fighting words from the Canadian Synod of General Synod on Uganda. Please remember, me, when I call these guys non-Christians for supporting the bill, they disdain what I say. Because I am a homosexual. When Christians, indeed, those 'foreign Christians, who they have constantly deviled show Christian Compassion and call upon them to show restraint, in Christ's name. They listen. of course, they call you 'foreigners'. But, they listen. Despite everything to the contrary, they want to live up to their label of Christian. That is why such a letter says so much, in so little. Fact is, it is worth much more than the many words on this blog.

Amazing. They actually call on the Church of Uganda to oppose the bill! Yeah, you do it! Even non Christian me see it is not Christian at all!

Other Christians are outraged that THEIR churches are not coming up with condemnation. And, they are expressing this outrage. Thanks, fellow human beings. You make me feel human. Even when I am a Ugandan homosexual living and working in Uganda.

Williams of Canterbury is under pressure. I hope Sentamu of York feels it too. I feel, in a way, that it is also an opportunity for him. To come up and point at the Church of Uganda and say, you are doing a non-Christian thing, Brother. In COU rhetoric, Williams has been the wolf in sheeps clothing. Does he really have to be pressured into taking a stand?

Here is another article, addressed to Christians to STAND UP and be counted. Is a good one. I love the title a lot. A very Un-Christian Campaign against Homosexuality in Uganda.

The Exodus letter is a particular foil. Why, even Exodus does not support the Bill! That is a shock, to Steven Langa. An unpleasant one. Because he is using information published by some of the signatories of this letter. He quotes them. And, very embarassing that they dont support his bill! Even his allies see that his action is un-Christian. He also quotes Lively, extensively. Yes, he does. This Lively. To Langa, the true intellectual mind behind the Bahati Bill, Lively is THE prophet of his crusade. And he promotes his books. Repeateldy. Even yesterday. (It was the Pink Swastika)


I will always remember Langa's face when he was challenged that Exodus was not supporting the bill. That they were not supporting him, though he was quoting them. And, it was a fellow pastor, I believe, who challenged him. Could he answer? Ha!

And, of course, human rights activists, and LGBT friends world wide continue the pressure.

Thank you. To all.

Yes, we might have a miniscule chance of getting this horrendous genocidal bill stopped. We can try. With your help. Help, Please!

gug

Recruiting Homophobes

I dont think the case for 'recruiting homosexuals' in Africa is proven. Yes, despite our Dear Leaders blaming of 'European homosexuals'

I think that is our perenial xenophobia manifest.

But, I think there is a very good case for the export of homophobia. Recruiting Homophobes. Will you forgive me if I strongly hint that it is Christian American homophobes who are recruiting in Africa?

The idea is not mine. No, it is not original. Actually, I lifted it from here. Reality Check; Globalizing the Culture Wars. Some excerpts. But, the whole article is worth studying. Not reading. Studying.

I want no place in some other place's cultural wars. But, I think I may have no choice. Here are some choice quotes.

"according to “Globalizing the Culture Wars”, a new report produced by Political Research Associates and released today, laws like the one in Uganda can be seen as the direct result of a campaign by United States neoconservative religious groups to use Africa as another player in the culture wars they have fomented on American soil for many years.

After a rigorous 16-month research and on-the-ground investigative period, Zambian Anglican priest Kapya Kaoma, author of the PRA report, found that U.S. conservatives are working in collusion with African clerics (specifically, the report focuses on Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.), in three denominations (The Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church and The Presbyterian Church), to counter any progress mainline U.S. churches are working towards, around LGBT issues as well as to foment homophobia on the ground in Africa."

"According to the report, American conservatives, by involving African clerics in these three countries, have managed to almost completely halt recognition by these churches of the full equality of LGBT individuals in the U.S. including the ordination of LGBT clergy. But, of course, this crusade by U.S. conservatives is having even more dire consequences on African soil, leading to a growing and increasingly violent homophobia throughout Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya; violence that is typified in the Ugandan bill before Parliament.
"

Read on.

I mean, seems as if we have a more than credible theory of our own to counter 'foreign recruiting homosexuals', the one which is being promoted by Scott Lively.

By the way, this benovelent Christian, who did the introduction of the idea that us homosexuals in Uganda were fronting for homosexuals in other countries to 'recruit' (He does have a publication called 'Recruit proofing your child' or something like that!)
He has some very sage advice on the 'liberalisation' of the Sodomy law. Well, this is part of the advice that he gave to Ugandan parliamentarians. Which has translated into the Bahati Bill

"But Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries and a speaker at an ex-gay conference in Uganda last March, said he’s not completely opposed to criminalizing homosexuality. He said that he advised Ugandans to liberalize the law, add the option of treatment, and “make the law more palatable to the international community.” But he adds that he believes Uganda should maintain its law against homosexuality “and that they should use that as a way to basically say, ‘No, you’re not going to be able to promote this behavior because it’s illegal behavior.’
"

How benevolent indeed!

Sigh!!!!!!!! Now, I must make sure that I survive the genocide in the making......


gug

The ‘Dialogue’

It was this afternoon.

Sure, and I did attend. Kind of funny that I was there, and, of course it was interesting. On my part, to learn what the ‘other’ side thinks. And, of course, to see reason weighed down by the burden of unthinking emotion.

Afterwards, a friend commented that, in a way it was frightening. That, 2-300 years ago, that was how a ‘court’ judged summarily a witch. And, afterwards, they would go ahead and burn her. I didn’t dare point out to my friend that, just last year, in one part of Uganda, three people were accused of being witches by a village court. They were found guilty, and the sentence of death was quickly and immediately carried out. That was in modern day Uganda.

Oh, the sentence was carried out by the Biblical method of ‘beating/stoning’ to death. Here it is.

The dialogue had the atmosphere of a kangaroo court. True, and, the issue had already been judged. The judges came in well aware of what the judgement was to be. Sadly, for them, the sentence was not to be carried out. Because this was a dialogue. Not a debate. A ‘kimeeza’ in the local parlace.

Time check 1300 hours. That is when the debate was supposed to begin. There was only a handful of people inside. Mainly people from outside the campus….! And, of course the debate was not supposed to start at that time.

Time check 1345 hours. That is when the dialogue was supposed to start. Auditorium was about half to two thirds full.

Time check 1400 hours. The ‘moderator’ comes and gives us the oldest African excuse. We are tardy. We don’t know time. So, because the moderators wanted the debate to start at around 1400, and knowing the time keeping habits of their audience, they had put the ‘official’ time forward by a fantastic hour. A full hour….!

But, even then, the discussants were not yet in.

Time check 1430 hours. Dr Tamale has been seated for a while at the front bench. So has Major Rubaramila. The room is now overflowing. Standing room at the doors. We are beginning to murmur that they should have chosen a bigger venue.

But, of Mr. Bahati, there was no sign. We were told, some ten minutes ago, that he was some two-three minutes away. (I call them 3 African minutes…, bite me, I am African, and I do know how elastic time is here.)

Time check 1440 hours. MP Bahati in the house. And, the crowd settles down, for what is to happen.

NB. The fourth ‘discussant’ was found not to be the Provincial Secretary of the Church of Uganda, as had been put in the billing. It was Stephen Langa. The organizer of the 3 day anti-gay seminar. Earlier on this year.

Why the change? I don’t know. We were not told. Of course, I am able to speculate freely. The Church of Uganda is still seriously studying the bill, and has no ‘official’ position.

And, the Church of Uganda cannot have the official Church spokesperson giving the as yet unmade church position as he has done more than three, four times ago.

Sad. I was really waiting to see what the good Reverend was going to say! More nails in the coffin.

MP Bahati gave the first presentation. On why the Bill is necessary.

He is a young man. Said he has one kid, who he is very fearful that he can be ‘recruited’ into being a homosexual. He is an accountant by profession. A chartered accountant, I think that is the word? And he is of course also an MP. Of the ruling party. And the public face of the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’

He gave the usual reasons. Why the bill is necessary. You know them. Homosexuality un-natural, abnormal, un-African. The threat from outside the country. The imposition of ‘outside values’, etc, etc. They have been well laid out in the bill.

And, he goes on about the threats that he has been receiving. Didn’t say from where.

He is a politician. And dull, as a speaker. Didn’t impress me with his intelligence. I mean, he just seems to be the guy who decided to be the ‘fall guy’. Anyway, he was what he is.

Anyway, then came Stephen Langa. Odd, he is an Electrical Engineer, from the University of Nairobi.

Then followed the most hopelessly illogical and inconsistent reasoning that I have ever listened to. No, I am not a stellar logician. But, I am a person who knows the consistency of logic when a person is presenting it.

Langa presented a conspiration theory. The ‘Gay Agenda’. The support from outside. The ‘recruitment’ (maybe it was him whispering into the Presidential ear? You know, recruiting European Homosexuals). A conspiracy theory which begins by trying to upset the opposition point of view. Listen well, they are going to lie, they are going to cry, they are going to say they are human. It was sad. And scaring.

The audience lapped it up. It was his. Yeah, he is also a Pastor, I am told. Yes, a pastor, in the Ugandan, evangelical sense. He talked of science, but showing the most unscientific evidence. Gosh, it was so bad. Morality taught as a science. Dr Tamale had to jab at him that, he was, as a pastor, had a right to believe and talk as he was talking. But, he was not supposed to make us believe that what he was saying was right.

Fear mongering. I have heard of the term. Never really seen someone do it, so effectively. And, he was quoting The Pink Swastika. By none other than Scott Lively. It is a matter of fact that we are going to feel the after effects of his preaching for long afterwards. God bless you, dear Lively

In the middle of the Langa presentation, Pastor Martin Ssempa made a grand entrance. The audience clapped, drowning out the speaker. He swaggered up the auditorium, to where the most noise was being made. His brown shirts were all seated together. It was his place, his crowd. And they showed it.

Oh, this will be too long.

And I don’t need to say much more, do I?

The Major is a well intentioned individual who is fighting a war without knowing the crowd. But, he is a soldier. He scored his points.

Last came Associate Prof. Sylvia Tamale.

Well, the lady did it. Taking the bill apart in a few concise words. She gave the same arguments as she wrote in the article. But this time had the time to open up on what she meant. And, the lady is damned good.

End of it all, her recommendation to the Honourable MP? He should either withdraw the bill as an embarrassment to the Country Uganda. Or, it should be let to die quietly in committee.

I will post her speech. Well, I will get it. It was fantastic. Don’t have it now, but will.

Then came the mess of the Q&A.

I was embarrassed. This is supposed to be the premier university of Uganda. Most of the people present, and peeping in through the windows, were students. Yes they were.

But, the clear logic of Tamale had not been any impression. They commented. And commented, and showed their ignorance.

I am a Ugandan. Yes, of course I am gay. But, I was acutely embarrassed at the reasoning capacity, the logic behind what people were commenting. Because it was too illogical.

These university students were ready to take in the ‘here is the information, believe it’ preaching of the preachers. Logic was left behind. And, it was extremely, well, village meetingish.

A University dialogue in the Faculty of Law was no more than a village meeting. I am Ugandan enough to be acutely displeased. And worried.

Yes, there is a big problem, if those we call our bright future are no more than ‘believers’ in some illogic.

Maybe I was an Egyptian in a long gone life…! Hey, I have to blow my own horn, (trumpet for you.)

I was complaining about that and someone told me, smugly, that I am gay. That means that I am logical, and, I come from a long line of super inventors. I claim the sexuality of Leornardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Alan Turing, and many others. Hey, I am gay, and have to look at the brighter side of life!

Anyway, the dialogue ended at well past five. As scheduled!

And I made my way out. Cause I had to congratulate the people of the minority opinion. MP Bahati was very encouraged by the positive crowd. And, he was having all these people congratulating him and giving him hugs. To them, he had definitely won the day.

Well, my opinion was different. But then, I am gay, aint I?

Someone, Kaybie, has surprised me by having made a comment about the dialogue. He or she was there, and their impressions are here. They are interesting. Do check them out here.

Dialogue? No, it certainly wasn’t a dialogue. It was a kangaroo court. But, I was impressed by the logic, and illogic, of the sides. Very interesting. Maybe the fact that I am gay, and Ugandan, makes me more susceptible to being critical?

gug