If you aren\u2019t a gay traveller yourself, it\u2019s easy to forget about such legislation as the \u201cKill the Gays bill\u201d; in a decade or so of intermittent\u00a0work and travel in Africa, homosexuality has only been mentioned (by Africans) a handful of times in my\u00a0presence. You don\u2019t see homophobia, because you don\u2019t see people who are openly gay.<\/p>\n
An Ethiopian\u00a0evangelist once told me told that it was a Western genetic disease. A Ugandan journalist who explained it was\u00a0un-African. But really, there wasn\u2019t much reference to the issue. I\u2019m from a small town and used to that. I have worked with one or two African with \u2018camp\u2019 mannerisms and dress, people who would, in a\u00a0metropolitan setting, be described as flamboyantly \u2018out\u2019 gay men. I \u00a0worried for their safety. Homosexuality is\u00a0against the law in most of Africa.<\/p>\n
But nobody else suspected a thing, or referred to it if they did. You might meet very\u00a0traditional religious elders who will shake your hand and it turns into a handhold that last minutes; men publicly hanging off each other is a common African sight, from the North of Africa to its southern tip, cuddling basically, in those very\u00a0countries where homosexuality is illegal. But I hadn\u2019t thought much at all about homosexuality in Africa, until the issue became big in Uganda, around the\u00a0time of the \u201cKill the Gays bill\u201d was first proposed, in 2009.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d found Uganda an incredibly friendly and laid-back place, turbulent\u00a0history notwithstanding. Ugandans seemed so nice, my colleagues so welcoming. Did they really want to kill gays?<\/p>\n
In Uganda same-sex relationships were already punishable by jail sentences of up to 14 years, in a law drafted\u00a0by British colonialists. The bill which was signed on 24 February no longer\u00a0includes the death penalty, but increases the maximum sentence for \u2018aggravated homosexuality\u2019 to a life\u00a0sentence. It is a watered-down version of the \u201cKill the gays\u201d bill which was passed on 20 December 2013 by the Ugandan parliament in what was described as a \u2018Christmas gift\u2019 to its supporters.<\/p>\n
It forces anyone who is aware of an offence or an offender, including\u00a0individuals, companies, media organisations, or NGOs who support LGBT rights, to report the \u2018crime.\u2019 On Valentine\u2019s Day 2014 Ugandan President Museveni said he would sign the bill; the date of the\u00a0announcement, and the fact that he held off from signing it despite being urged to do so by Ugandan social\u00a0media campaigns and editorials, until there was \u2018scientific evidence\u2019 are notable.<\/p>\n
The weekly [Ugandan] Observer, describes \u201cintense campaigns in schools, luring people with money and all sorts of falsehoods \u2026\u00a0Gays target other people\u2019s children because they don\u2019t have their own to enlist.\u201d There are no openly gay\u00a0columnists to counter these gay-bashing op ed pieces, which tended to link homosexuality with molestation of\u00a0children, because being gay is illegal.<\/p>\n
The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power\u201d \u2013\u00a0President Museveni<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
[in power 27 years and counting. Abolished maximum presidential terms in\u00a0\u00a02006]<\/strong><\/p>\n
This is a populist, orchestrated move by the government, timed to\u00a0maximise coverage and, it could be argued, distract people from the real problems of the country which are within the government\u2019s remit such as sorting out the infrastructure or running basic services more effectively.<\/p>\n
On social media there is a lot of hate and ideological muddle over the issue; one Facebook user tells me that\u00a0there are no gays in Uganda, and a sentence later that they should send the gays to the UK. Also on Facebook\u00a0\u2018Kant Kanyarusoke\u2019 describes his \u201c\u2026pan Africanist unease that the so called developed world wants to\u00a0disorganise our evolving societies (by keeping us quarrelling amongst ourselves about their value systems \u2013\u00a0and also in this case, developing a crude population limiting and family destabilising habit).\u201d<\/p>\n
He is one of the\u00a0most eloquent. The most frequently used appeal is that homosexuality is un-African and not Ugandan. It\u2019s an\u00a0interesting thought, that people speaking English, using Facebook, in a country whose laws and system of\u00a0government are basically British should be talking about how they would like to put people in prison for life for\u00a0something which they see as being \u2018too Western\u2019.<\/p>\n
Particularly given that the last independent Buganda ruler (\u00a0King Mwanga II, who died in 1901) was himself widely reported as homosexual. That the original law punishing homosexuality was drafted by British colonialists comes as no surprise given the\u00a0potentially confusing nature of the language: it describes \u201ccarnal knowledge of any person against the order of\u00a0nature\u201d, for instance, with no explanation of what that act might be. It\u2019s a prim, antiquated and very English idea.<\/p>\n
To a Westerner it might seem remarkable that a homophobic law could be so populist, and jumbled up with a pro\u00a0African, anti Western message. The church\u2019s popularity is an important factor, but when you dig a little deeper,\u00a0there\u2019s more recent cultural colonialism at work. David Bahati, is the Ugandan MP who proposed the legislation and in doing so became briefly (kind of) famous.\u00a0He is Chief of the Scout Board of Uganda, is a member of the ruling party and has a remote constituency at the\u00a0far south of the country.<\/p>\n
Although often described as a \u2018rising star\u2019, he seems to be otherwise unremarkable. In the\u00a0past he has attended the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast along with Martin Ssempa, an influential pastor and\u00a0darling of the Bush era White House.<\/p>\n
The U.S. National Prayer Breakfast is actually a series of meetings (and dinners) hosted by The Fellowship\u00a0Foundation, a conservative Christian organisation usually referred to in America as \u201cThe Family\u201d. \u00a0The Family is\u00a0an odd mix of \u2018sworn to secrecy\u2019 and \u2018wealthy lobbying group with international PR aims\u2019. It has strong links with\u00a0Uganda\u2019s evangelical churches, including Martin Ssempa\u2019s. In doing so the Family angered some NGOs for\u00a0diverting US cash away from promoting safe sex education towards abstinence programmes: Ssemba himself\u00a0has publicly burnt condoms, although he is possibly more famous for a weird YouTube rant in which he holds up\u00a0a laptop and describes gay porn to a bemused congregation.<\/p>\n
He would be a comical figure if he weren\u2019t so influential, and\u00a0that the legislation on the books didn\u2019t put people in prison, whilst silencing its critics. Bahati has accused foreigners of \u201cpromoting homosexuality by distributing cell phones and iPods and things like\u00a0this\u201d and described how \u00a0wanted \u201cto kill every last gay person.\u201d He said that $15 million had been invested in\u00a0Uganda to \u201crecruit\u201d children \u201cinto being gay\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also said that \u201chomosexuals from Europe and America are\u00a0luring our children\u201d on [US] National Public Radio, a widely reported figure for which there is not one shred of evidence. The link between homosexuality and child abuse is frequently\u00a0made.<\/p>\n
On the Facebook messageboard pages of Ugandan newspapers, a place where I\u2019m not very popular it must be\u00a0said, these claims are repeated. It\u2019s remarkable, because you can really see how rumours spread, nobody can\u00a0remember quite how they started but it seems a generally accepted fact amongst some people that gays are after your children; in the\u00a0same way nobody could remember exactly which Jew ate which particular baby, or which Tutsi men raped\u00a0exactly which Hutu woman, the \u2018facts\u2019 become established.<\/p>\n
That there is no evidence doesn\u2019t matter by the time\u00a0the time the angry mob has formed. And the mob is angry; it\u2019s vicious. \u2018God Hates Fags\u2019 explains one Facebook user, simply. Ariho Christopherous explains\u00a0that it\u2019s \u2018their\u2019 fault \u2013 \u201cIf they hadn\u2019t sodomised children maybe would\u2019ve been considerate, I\u2019m just tired of these\u00a0Americans and Europeans please leave us in peace, we know your only aim is to destroy Africa in all ways\u00a0possible, stop poking your noses in African issues\u2026.I just wish God could give Africa another planet.\u201d She\u2019s\u00a0even the member of a charming Facebook group called KICK HOMOSEXUALS & LESBIANS OUT OF AFRICA\u00a0(their caps), which admittedly only has two members.<\/p>\n
Which isn\u2019t to say the bill is unpopular; every time the\u00a0story is mentioned, it is greeted with hundreds of \u2018likes\u2019: as the President looks to re election in 2016, his stock\u00a0is rising. \u00a0\u2018Well done Mr President\u2019 says one user, whilst another \u2018Sanity finally prevails\u2019 says another, this time\u00a0on the Red Pepper messageboard.<\/p>\n
Another user bizarrely claims that \u2018some white guy\u2019 married a dog, as if\u00a0underlining the perverse nature of Westerners and their ways. One or two users are brave enough to criticise the bill; others are concerned about Western aid money, but \u2018Derrick Junior\u2019 explains that: \u201cWe don\u2019t need\u00a0their finances or anything, we can always survive,\u201d perhaps not realising that a lot of the anti gay sentiment is\u00a0both imported and funded by American churches.<\/p>\n
One American name that keeps cropping up is Scott Lively, whose \u2018Defeating \u201cGay\u201d Arguments With Simple\u00a0Logic and Seven Steps To Recruit-Proof Your Child\u2019<\/em> book has been widely distributed in Uganda since 2009. He\u00a0brought several copies over and allowed its free distribution. He also co authored a book called\u00a0the Pink\u00a0Swastika<\/em>\u00a0(first published in 1995 and still available on Amazon), which bizarrely argues that homosexuals were\u00a0behind the rise of the Nazi Party.<\/p>\n
Richard Cohen is another name; he is described as a\u00a0psychotherapist, author, and \u2018sexual orientation therapist\u2019\u00a0on Wikipedia and describes himself as an \u2018ex-gay\u2019. In 2002 Cohen was permanently expelled from the American\u00a0Counselling Association but his International Healing Foundation sent a representative to Uganda and gave out\u00a0free copies of his book\u00a0Coming Out Straight<\/em>. He calls homosexuality \u00a0\u2018same-sex attachment disorder\u2019, and his ideas are\u00a0influential within Uganda although he has distanced himself from the \u2018Kill The Gays\u2019 bill. In a brilliantly\u00a0uncomfortable MSNBC interview, US journalist Rachel Maddow forces him to \u00a0admits the statistics in his book\u00a0were made up by a rogue and multiply discredited \u2018expert\u2019 and will be removed from future editions of his book.<\/p>\n
Given that one of these states that \u201840% of child molestation is carried out by homosexuals\u2019, it\u2019s pretty important\u00a0stuff.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to remember that some of the homophobic and spiteful comments on Ugandan messageboards\u00a0come from genuinely concerned parents, who are relying on their priests for guidance; those priests, many of\u00a0whom have a very limited education themselves, are relying on bad data made up by discredited rogue academics.<\/p>\n
Having said that, it would seem equally remarkable that ideas stemming from the fringe of American evangelism should be\u00a0described as \u2018African\u2019 and used in such a way as to stir up anti Western feeling. President Musaveni\u2019s has stated that the delay in signing the bill, and the reason why it made the news recently,\u00a0is because he wanted to find a \u2018scientific\u2019 reason for what has gone on record as describing as \u2018disgusting\u00a0behaviour.\u2019<\/p>\n
His \u2018team of scientists\u2019, produced a short statement which denied that homosexuality was genetic or a disease,\u00a0\u201c\u2026but merely an abnormal behaviour which may be learned through experiences in life\u2026The practice needs\u00a0regulation like any other human behaviour especially to protect the vulnerable.\u201d I put \u2018team of scientists\u2019 in quote marks because none of them would appear to have published any research as\u00a0part of this process, nor ever; rather they have given their name to a statement backing the government\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
The team are government officials,\u00a0doctors, or lecturers employed by the government-owned university. I have failed to find a single piece of peer-reviewed scientific research published by any of them. In the West the influence of the \u2018Pray Away The Gay\u2019 movement is dwindling; Alan Chambers, was the former\u00a0president of Exodus International, one of the oldest \u2018Pray Away The Gay\u2019 organisations which lasted from 1976\u00a0to 2013.<\/p>\n
As it closed down he \u00a0apologised for \u201cyears of undue suffering and judgment at the hands of the organisation and the Church\u00a0as a whole\u2026For quite some time we\u2019ve been imprisoned in a worldview that\u2019s neither honouring toward our\u00a0fellow human beings, nor biblical. In his statement he admitted that he \u201cconveniently omitted my ongoing same-sex attractions.\u201d His organisation\u2019s director and several top executives visited Uganda in 2009, at the time that the \u2018Kill The\u00a0Gays\u2019 bill was being drafted, and whilst it subsequently it distanced itself from the actual legislation, it clearly had an impact.<\/p>\n
Google it a bit: you find them making speeches and praying together. Having disseminated factually incorrect and homophobic material in the region it would seem that these organisations should be doing more to prevent further human rights abuses stemming from their actions.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they should reflect on David Kato, the Ugandan LGBT activist, who was murdered in 2011 after a magazine called for him to be executed \u00a0and published his personal details, and ask whether this really what Jesus would have wanted.<\/p>\n
PS I would love at this stage to point people to the best organisations involved in campaigning around this issue; \u00a0I\u2019m not sure which they are and would welcome comments.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you aren\u2019t a gay traveller yourself, it\u2019s easy to forget about such legislation as the \u201cKill the Gays bill\u201d; in a decade or so of intermittent\u00a0work and travel in Africa, homosexuality has only been mentioned (by Africans) a handful of times in my\u00a0presence. You don\u2019t see homophobia, because you don\u2019t see people who are … Continue reading Sex, lies, politicians<\/span>