Friday, February 27, 2009

Uganda




Once
I looked at my land
harsh, with
no softness hidden
but a red
dust patina
covering everything,

Now I see
the glorious sunshine
the green
of trees and grass
smiling people
lovely men
beauty, children
a golden wealth
of life pulsatile-

Why were
my eyes blind
ears deaf, mouth
dumb to all this
flow of life?

true.
I’m in love.





©GayUganda 26 February 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

There is something touching about Christians coming out and standing against overt homophobia that is disguised as ‘God’s Love’.

It is a better ministry than we un-believers shouting our heads off about the huge log in Christian eyes.

 

Uh! Got you…

 

So, what has made me to start channeling charity to Christians? This article.


Christians must reflect after UK bars U.S. anti-gay preacher

Posted by: Avril Ormsby

The British government has done its bit and barred an American anti-gay Christian preacher and his daughter from entering the country - now it’s up to churches to do theirs, a group of evangelical Christians says.

The Reverend Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, were barred from entering Britain after it emerged they planned to protest against a play about the murder of a gay man.

The reverend picketed the funeral of the student in the U.S. declaring he was “burning in hell” and has staged protests outside theatres.

Phelps believes the U.S. is doomed for tolerating homosexuals. The government last week said the pair were anticipated to spread “extremism and hatred”.

Six major British Christian groups, among them the Evangelical Alliance and the Baptist Union (which is not associated with Phelps’ church), issued a statement condemning the proposed visit.

 

“We do not share their hatred of lesbian and gay people,” they said.

“We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities.”

But a group of evangelical groups said Christians had to do more than just condemn with words. They had to face up to their own discriminatory policies and behaviour.

 

“The real challenge to evangelicals is to face the need for change themselves,” a group which includes Accepting Evangelicals, Courage and the Network of Baptists Affirming Lesbian and Gay Christians, says.

“This means: engaging more fully and openly with lesbian and gay Christians and accepting them as equal under God; examining the way prejudice against gay people has distorted biblical understanding; prayerfully re-thinking church policies of exclusion and acknowledging the harm they cause; and recognising the growing number of evangelicals who have had a heart-change and now affirm faithful gay relationships.”

Others signing the joint statement are the Evangelical Fellowship for Lesbian and Gay Christians and the Christian think-tank Ekklesia.

 

They said they recognised a growing trend, nationally and internationally, among evangelicals to challenge “what has been a hardline stance against gay people from within that global segment of Christianity”.

They cited a recent case where the deputy head of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in the U.S. resigned after criticism because he was moving to an “affirming” position on faithful lesbian and gay relationships.

“We would now call upon these groups to reflect on their own attitudes and prayerfully consider what their “hate the sin, love the sinner” teaching does to the minds and souls of faithful Christians who are gay,” they add.

“In the Gospels, Jesus warns his followers not to avoid their own failings by pointing to the failings of others - even if they are much larger. Westboro Baptist Church operates as a hate group and is an easy target. The real challenge to evangelicals is to face the need for change themselves.”

 It is from a Reuters blog. Dont read the comments. Sigh...! Ideology seems to be the very root of hate.

I think I understand a little why Jesus did rant so much against the Pharisees.


gug

Anti-Gay Bias Should Anger Christians –


I loved this article. Many times we are bombarded by the pro and cons, and we have to fight our way out of the positions. We are bombarded by an anti-gay position. Or, I bombard you with a gay position, mainly because I have to. It is like either you are for me or you are against. No middle ground. I feel I am forced to that. Because the homophobia is so corrosive, and my very livelihood is at stake. It is my life that I have to defend.

 

But, here is one writer who could, and did read up about the issues. And went ahead and got a personal story to illustrate some of the problems. She writes more logically than I would. I would be really, powerfully angry about the Matthew Mitcham story. And of course I have railed against Christian homophobia a long while. Rev. Howard Bess takes a very calming point of view which impresses me.

 

Here is the article. The link has the more complete one.

 

The role that is being played by religious people and institutions is especially tragic. Christian churches lead the parade of homophobic bigotry.

 

I write as an insider. I have lived my entire life as a follower of Jesus from Nazareth. I have always been a church member. My honest identification in life is simple and straightforward. I am a born again Evangelical Christian in the tradition of Baptists.

 

 

The Jesus that I know, and whom I call Lord, was first and always a man of love. The second attribute that I see in him is moral outrage, especially with religious people who turned their backs on the most vulnerable people of his time.

 

Most Christian bodies today have turned justice on its head and have become attackers of a vulnerable minority.

 

I first became involved in advocacy for full acceptance of gay people in our churches over 35 years ago. Gay people were already in my congregation, but they felt that they needed to stay in their closets.

 

Some cautiously came out. Others identified themselves to me only after many years. I believed at first that reliable information would make the difference and lead to gay acceptance. It did not prove to be the case.

 

 

In the late 1990s, a flood of books were written by Bible scholars and theologians. Most concluded that the Bible says nothing about homosexuality as sexual orientation. They argued forcefully for inclusion of gay people in our churches.

 

There were a few books that were written to make the case for exclusion. I have a lengthy bookshelf full of these volumes, pro and con. Those who argued for inclusion overwhelmed those who argued for exclusion. There are now some excellent “how I changed my mind” books being written.

 

Good information and good scholarship have made little difference. I was wrong about what would be needed to bring full acceptance in our churches.  

 

Story telling has been more effective. This is the reason I decided to share the story of Matthew Mitcham. Some people respond to stories of painful injustices.

 

I suspect that gay people and their parents telling their stories is the single greatest influence in gaining a new level of gay acceptance in our society. But story telling has not moved church leaders to bold action.

 

 

Movement toward acceptance and justice in our churches has proceeded at the pace of a glacial pace

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Official Invitation

  • Some points to note
  • The official invitation is e-mailed (to me! Ha ha ha) from Kampala Pentecostal Church. A mega church, founded by a Canadian in Uganda.What I know about the pastor is that he hates Harry Potter and all the shingdings.
  • They are not stopping at only the conference, but there are public lectures at

    Makerere University Pool, where Pastor (you guessed) Martin Ssempa holds his ‘Pool Side Fellowship’

    Kampala Pentecostal Church itself

    Greenhill Academy; an elite secondary school in the middle of the city.

  • First Time in Africa!!!!
    Ok, my friends from over the seas. Now, I can actually say there is proof that you do export homophobia. First it was the British with the law. Now, it is the Americans in a more insidious state.Bet you it will not be the last time. So, Africa, here comes our own involvement in the ‘Culture Wars’

    Ok, jokes aside. The programme is much more extensive than I thought. Our work is really cut out for us.


We well funded homosexuals, who are out to spread the homosexual agenda in Uganda and in Africa are reeling from this, even before it happens. Can we hold a conference like this?
I will ask Honourable Nsaba-Buturo. But the answer is too obvious.

But, how can we counter this? Ideas appreciated.





Subject: Exposing the Homosexuals Agenda for Uganda

Dear Parent, Guardian, Concerned Person,

You are cordially invited to attend an important seminar and on homosexuality scheduled for March 5-7, 2009. The details are given here below. Please forward this information to others.

Best regards,

Stephen Langa (0772-476071)
Executive Director
Family Life Network


Awareness & Training Seminar on How to Handle Homosexuality Issues, March 5-8, 2009

Theme: Exposing the Truth behind Homosexuality and the Homosexual Agenda

Background
Today, the well funded and well organized homosexual machinery is taking one country after another by de-criminalizing homosexual practices in those countries and legalizing gay marriages in some of them.
Uganda is now under extreme pressure from the same group to de-criminalize homosexuality. This group recently scored a landmark victory in a court case against the state in December 2008. Several homosexual groups are active in Uganda and are busy recruiting school boys and girls at an alarming rate using a variety of methods. These groups have support from within and outside the country, have well trained activists, who have a clear vision, an agenda and are determined to accomplish their objectives.
While most people have little factual information on the whole subject of homosexuality, the homosexual propaganda machinery is taking advantage of this, by feeding the un-suspecting world with information that is wrecking havoc in individuals, families and the society at large.

2. The Seminar March 5-7, (8.30-5.30pm)


It is against this background that Family Life Network and other stakeholders have organized a three-day seminar to provide reliable and up to date information to Ugandans and nationals from Africa so that they can know how to protect themselves, their children, families and can make informed decisions on this global subject.


The seminar will aim at accomplishing the following objectives: -
· Provide insight on the causes and treatment of homosexuality
· Provide practical tips on how to prevent homosexuality behavior in youth
· Expose the homosexual agenda, their tactics, strategy and methods of recruitment
· Provide information and guidelines on how to respond to the homosexual agenda in an organization, community or nation.


Main Speakers:

Dr. Scott Lively (USA), founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, a lawyer, human rights advocate, author, media personality with over 600 media appearances, international sought speaker with over 20 years experience in matters relating to homosexuality.

Mr. Don Schmierer (USA), has been in counseling and interpersonal work for over 40 years among students, professionals and leaders in universities, the military, institutions and corporations. He is also an author and has worked with homosexual recovery groups.

Mr. Lee Brundidge (USA), from International Healing Ministries, a ministry that is rehabilitates homosexuals and lesbians. He is a former homosexual who has reformed and is now helping other homosexuals to get reformed.

Resource Materials: Will be available on sale.

Participants: This seminar is for parents, guardians, teachers, government officials, policy makers/members of parliament, religious leaders, counselors, activists who need in-depth knowledge on the subject of homosexuality.

Venue: Hotel Triangle , Buganda Road, Kampala . Tel. 256-414-231748; Website: www.hoteltriangle.co.ug

Seminar Fees: UShs. 75,000 for the 3days or 25,000/= per day, including morning and afternoon refreshments. Participants should make their own lunch arrangements. (There are several restaurants in the neighborhood.)

Invitation Letters: Participants who need special invitation letters can request for them.

First time in Africa: This is the first such seminar on homosexuality, in Africa

Booking: Deadline for bookings is February 28, 2009


3. Other meetings (Free Entrance, Resources will be on sale)


Thursday March 5, 2009, 5.30pm-7.30pm Don Schmierer
Testimony by Lee Brundidge
Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC)
All categories of people invited


Friday March 6, 2009, 5.30pm-7.30pm Dr. Scott Lively
Testimony by Lee Brundidge
Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC)
All categories of people invited


Saturday March 7, 2009, 7.30-10.00 Dr. Scott Lively & Lee Brundidge
Prime Time,
Makerere University Swimming Pool
University students invited


Sunday March 8, 2009, 2.00pm-5.30pm Dr. Scott Lively & Lee Brundidge
Greenhill Academy Kampala , near Mukwano Industries.
School students & pupils invited

For more information contact : Family Life Network,
Gaba Road, Kansanga, Opposite KI University,
P.O Box 28614, Kampala,
Telephone: 0772-464226, 0753-492156,
0712-395612, 0414-268981,
Email: fln@infocom.co.ug
Website: www.familylife.ug
Contact Person:
Stephen Langa
stephenlanga@yahoo.com
Cell Phone: +256-772-476071

A thought. Am I doing Mr Langa a favour advertising him here? He is certainly a man to watch. Like Ssempa, and Nsaba-Buturo.

But the ultimate accolade from me? Advertising his work here? Wellllllllllll!!

gug

The Anti-Gay, Ex-Gay Conference in Uganda

I have been interested in this conference. Well, am blogging about it multiple times. It is because I think it a dangerous escalation.

We have been punching holes in the Ssempa and Nsaba-Buturo arguments. Because they actually do not know a lot about being gay. But now they have enlisted friends from overseas- (read the Right in America), and are coming out swinging. (Errr, I thought we were the ones who were always accused of overseas help!)

Initial reaction from activists here- a laugh and shrug of the shoulders. It is understandable. Ssempa will always shout. Nsaba Buturo has his homophobic agenda. They are hateful in the things they say and preach, but they are so full of the vitriol of hate that we are used to them. We shrug our shoulders and not listen. We know what they are going to say... 

But, they are bringing in real fire power. And we must take note. These guys are the true preachers of hate. They have lots and lots of 'logic' and rationalisation of their message. It can and will look quite logical and rational. We must not laugh them off. We cannot. We must take them seriously.

Afterall, we are going to be awash with how homosexuality is un-natural, and abnormal. How it can be healed. How homosexuality is the worst kind of illness, and how it is to blame for all the world's crisis (even the current economic one...!!!)

Here is an article about the guys who are coming.

Holocaust Revisionist Joins Exodus Board Member At Uganda Conference

 

A Uganda-based anti-gay group has announced that American Holocaust revisionist and anti-gay extremist Scott Lively will appear at a three day conference in Kampala, Uganda beginning on March 5th.

 

Joining him will be Exodus International board member Don Schmierer. He heads a group called His Servants, and is the author of five books related to ex-gay counseling. He’s been quite a globe-trotter lately, having traveled to Seoul, South Korea, in March of last year, as well as to the Ukraine last summer.

 

Also joining them will Caleb Lee Brundidge, a staff member at Richard Cohen’s International Healing Foundation, which advocates the controversial “holding” or “touch” therapy to cure homosexuality.

 

Scott Lively is co-founder of the international anti-gay extremist group, Watchmen On the Walls, which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. He is also the author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, in which he writes that “the Nazi Party was entirely controlled by militaristic male homosexuals throughout its short history.” In other words, it was gay people who brought World War II to Europe and killed twelve million people in the gas chambers.

 

Lively’s brand of rhetoric is unusually vitriolic, even by some of the more ardent anti-gay standards. He regularly describes gays as being sick and “followers of the Father of Lies.” When the Watchmen On the Walls held a rally in Novosibirsk, Russia, Lively excused Satander Singh’s murder in Sacramento. Lively contends that “civilization and homosexuals” are engaged in a full-blown war, which is part of the Devil’s design to destroy civilizations:

 

There is a war that is going on in the world. There is a war that is waging across the entire face of the globe. It’s been waging in the United States for decades, and it’s been waging in Europe for decades. It’s a war between Christians and homosexuals. … Now, the homosexual movement has been winning this war in the United States, and it has been winning this war in Europe. And we’re looking at the future collapse of Western civilization.

 

This sort of extremist, paranoid rhetoric will probably go down well at in Kampala. Stephen Langa, Director of Kampala-based Family Life Network which is organizing the event, sees gay people posing the familiar sinister threats to children:

 

[Langa] says homosexuals in the country were boosted by a December 2008 Court victory which declared that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against homosexuals and that they should enjoy the same rights as enjoyed by other Ugandans.

 

Langa in a statement today said several homosexual groups are active in Uganda and are busy recruiting school boys and girls at an alarming rate using a variety of methods.

 

Lively struck up a friendship with Langa (PDF: 1.7MB/22 pages) during a tour of the African content Lively undertook in 2002. Like Lively, Langa is not immune to spreading demonstrably false conspiracy theories on this so-called recruitment drive (PDF: 8 pages):

 

In most cases, porn is a tool used by the homosexuals as the first step toward introducing homosexuality (sex between people of the same sex) to a conservative society like Uganda. They know that if they come directly, they will not be accepted, So what they do is introduce pornography first to that society. The porn then corrupts the minds and morals of that society. After that goal has been achieved, they then introduce homosexuality as an acceptable alternative to heterosexual (sex between a man and a woman) sex. This is because it is much easier to introduce homosexuality to a porn addict than a non-consumer of porn. For example, the founder of Playboy Magazine, was a self-professed homosexual.

 

In 2004, Langa spoke out more specifically on what he sees as the threat to schoolchildren:

 

“FLN has also found out that homosexuality and lesbianism are spreading like wild fire in schools,” Langa said.  “There is rape inside schools and sex among students themselves. We have also found incest and cases of teachers molesting children and a lot of abortions,” he added.  Much of the promiscuity is germinating from viewing pornography in the media and the Internet and blue movies.  “If nothing is done to address the present state of affairs, the present generation of parents will find themselves having to bury their children instead of their children burying them,” Langa stressed.

 

This conference will be taking place on very dangerous ground for LGBT citizens and residents of Uganda. Martin Ssempa, the influential evangelical pastor at Makerere Community Church, has called for open season on LGBT people:

 

August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. “Arrest all homos,” read placards. And: “A man cannot marry a man.” Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. “Homosexual promoters,” he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle. Soon afterwards, two of President Yoweri Museveni’s top officials demanded the arrest of the gay activists named by Ssempa. Terrified, the activists immediately into hiding.

 

This is no idle threat. Homosexuality is officially illegal in Uganda. Conviction can lead to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, while sodomy carries a penalty of fourteen years to life.


Pro-gay western media has had a lot of interaction with these guys than we have. So it is understandable that it is actually them who are raising the alarm. Check out these articles


Melbourne Australia Uganda imports US anti-gay experts

PinkNewsUK, though the webpage may have some malware.


gug

Monday, February 23, 2009

Seminar against homosexuality on in Uganda


Family Life Network has organized a training seminar to equip Ugandans with information and skills to fight what it calls spiraling promotion of homosexuality in the country.

The Executive Director of Family Life Network, Stephen Langa says that Uganda is now under extreme pressure from homosexual groups to de-criminalize homosexuality.

He says homosexuals in the country were boosted by a December 2008 Court victory which declared that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against homosexuals and that they should enjoy the same rights as enjoyed by other Ugandans.

Langa in a statement today said several homosexual groups are active in Uganda and are busy recruiting school boys and girls at an alarming rate using a variety of methods.

He says these groups have support from within and outside the country, have well trained activists, who have a clear vision, an agenda and are determined to accomplish their objectives.

Langa says the seminar from March 5th to 7th will provide insight on the causes and treatment of homosexuality; provide practical tips on how to prevent homosexuality behavior in youth; expose the homosexual agenda, their tactics, strategy and methods of recruitment; and provide information and guidelines on how to respond to the homosexual agenda in an organization, community or nation.

Participants will be facilitated by experts on the topic including Dr. Scott Lively (USA), founder of Abiding Truth Ministries; Mr. Don Schmierer (USA) from International Healing Ministries; and Mr. Lee Brundidge (USA) who works with a ministry that is rehabilitates homosexuals and lesbians.

Langa says the seminar to take place at Hotel Triangle in Kampala is intended for parents, guardians, teachers, government officials, policy makers, members of parliament, religious leaders, counselors and activists who need in-depth knowledge on the subject of homosexuality. Participants


Uhhhhh!

Seems our apparent successes last year are being used to re-inforce the opposition. And, imagine. We are directly quoted as the reason...

Let me not swell my head too much.


gug

PS Afrogay has checked out those guys who are planning to come. Check it out here.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Immorality in Uganda: (And who you should blame it on)


Blamed for the country’s ills we are-

(Shhhhh. A very recent spate of articles in the news. From the other side.)

 

Government to fight immorality 

First published: 20090216 11:42:56 AM EST

 

 

The minister of state for Ethics Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has indicated that immoral practices like corruption, homosexuality, pornography and indecent dressing among others are on the increase in the country because of the immoral leaders.

 

He says some leaders are part of the problem because they practice and encourage such immoral practices.

 

Buturo told journalists in Kampala recently that his ministry has now started a campaign to expose and sensitize such leaders on moral issues.

 

Although, such immoral practices like homosexuality are banned by the constitution, they are widely practiced by some sections of the population.

 

Recently, the president of the People’s Development Party (PDP), Abed Bwanika said that homosexuality is a serious problem in schools because school administrators continue to hide such immoral acts to protect the image of their schools.

 

Supporters of such practices have criticized the Ethics Minister’s hard stance on homosexuality and lesbianism in the country because its against human rights.

 

And, Abed Bwanika on Homosexuality in Schools

 

Parents warned on homosexuality

First published: 20090216 11:38:54 AM EST


The President of the People’s development Party (PDP) Dr. Abed Bwanika has appealed to parents to be cautious of their children when choosing the schools to take them to so as to avoid them from adopting the immoral practices of homosexuality and lesbianism.

 

He says, there are schools in the country set up by homosexuality and lesbianism organisations to encourage the immoral practices.

 

Although the two practices are banned by the Ugandan constitution, they are widely practiced. Kiwewesi a prominent Kampala pastor was recently accused of sodomy.

 

Bwanika told journalists at the PDP headquarters in Kampala yesterday that parents should advocate for the revision of the Uganda schooling system to encourage, the setting up of mixed schools and abolishment of single schools because they encourage the immoral practices.

 

He says parents should also stop taking their children to boarding primary schools, where most learn the immoral behaviours from. He says keeping children in day schools will help parents impart moral values to their children and to constantly monitor their behaviours.

 

The PDP president appealed to doctors, who operate many of the victims of homosexuality to report such cases to the police so that the culprits can be punished.

 

Bwanika also appealed to the government to priotise the fight against the practice of homosexuality through increased funding to the Ethics ministry, the police and increased sensitisation programmes on the dangers of the practices.

 

Wow, the guy has the whole thing. Cause, Effect, Solution. And he wants to be President of the Republic!

 

Some more hilarious views from Ugandan papers

 

Stop plaiting hair, men told  

Sadly, the Communist is no longer posting. How he would hate to be mistaken for me!!!!

 

MEN should shun the feminine practice of plaiting their hair to avoid being misunderstood, an archdeacon has advised. “A man with plaited hair can easily send a signal that he has homosexual tendencies.

 

It is absurd that we hurry to copy foreign culture without analysing the implications,” Canon Ezekiel Nyende said. He was delivering a sermon at All Saints CMS Church on Sunday.


Wonder why I am posting these homophobic articles here? The gay agenda is in part, a huge part, a reaction to the hate we experience. It has been quiet, for a long while. Seems as if the 'phobes have decided to push back.

Check the next post, Monday Morning. And, pray for this tiny country and our gay friends.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

What happened in Burundi- according to IGLHRC


It was something special. In recent months, the push has been towards greater homophobia. Especially in legislature. Not less. And this is interesting.

 

Burundi: Senate Upholds Human Rights Principles

 

In an overwhelmingly positive vote for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Central African nation of Burundi, the country's Senate has rejected a provision that would have criminalized consensual same-sex activity. Legislation to revise the Penal Code was introduced in the Burundian Senate in November 2009 after having first been passed the National Assembly. The revision had a number of key advances for human rights, including the abolition of the death penalty, and the rendering of torture and genocide as crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law. However, the revision also included a penalty of up to 2 years in jail for “anyone who has sexual intercourse with a person of his/her own sex.”1

 

The provision criminalizing consensual same-sex activity survived various revisions to the overall Code and was included in the final version of the bill that was submitted to the Burundian Senate on February 6, 2009. On February 17, 2009, however, 36 out of 43 Senators voted to strike it from the bill.

 

Burundian parliamentarians received appeals from throughout the world to reconsider the legislation. Civic leaders in Burundi and internationally argued that the provision would violate basic commitments to privacy and non-discrimination that are part of international human rights treaties and the Burundian constitution. Opponents also argued that a new sodomy law would accelerate the spread of HIV, by preventing men who have sex with men (MSM) and other sexual minorities from accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care. Burundi is one of few countries in Africa receiving funds from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to expand their HIV intervention to include men who have sex with men (MSM).

 

After the National Assembly passed the provision criminalizing consensual same-sex activity, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the Association pour le Respect et les Droits des Homosexuels (ARDHO) issued an appeal to the entire membership of Burundi's Senate asking them to vote against the legislation. IGLHRC also worked with international and inter-governmental organizations to ensure that there would be a general condemnation of the proposed legislation. IGLHRC wrote to President Nkurunziza, asking him to veto the legislation if it reached his desk, and launched a petition against the bill that was widely signed by participants at the International AIDS and STI conference in Africa (ICASA).

 

The bill to revise the penal code now returns to the National Assembly. Both chambers are required to form a commission to reconcile competing versions of the bill before it is sent to the president for promulgation. Any reconciliation could, potentially, reinstate the provision criminalizing same-sex conduct.

 

Whatever the outcome, the fact that the majority of senators voted against the provision shows a growing recognition that all citizens are entitled to the full enjoyment of human rights irrespective of their sexual orientation.

 

In recent years governments in several African countries, including Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Uganda, have threatened to strengthen their laws against homosexuality. Burundi itself added an amendment to its constitution to criminalize same-sex marriage in 2005.

 

1- French translation for “quiconque fait des relations sexuelles avec la personne de même sexe est puni d'une servitude pénale de trios mois à deux ans et d'une amende de cinquante mille francs à cent mille francs ou d'une de ces peines seulement”.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Good news from Burundi

 

Burundi rejects proposal to criminalise homosexual relations

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • February 17, 2009 - 18:16


Gay sex remains legal in Burundi

 

The Senate of Burundi today rejected a proposed amendment to the new draft of the criminal code that would have criminalised homosexual conduct for the first time.

 

Human rights groups had brought pressure on the government and highlighted the issue internationally.

 

Activists wrote to the African nation's President and the Senate pointing out that the provision would violate the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Burundi is a party.

 

The new criminal code was drafted over a period of nearly two years, with the assistance of Burundian and international legal experts, after elections in 2005 restored a democratic system in Burundi and required the revision of legal texts.

 

However, in October 2008, at the end of the discussion on the bill, the Human Rights and Justice Commission in the National Assembly inserted a provision criminalising "anyone who engages in sexual relations with a person of the same sex."

 

The provision would have been the first law criminalising gays and lesbians in the country’s history.

 

The bill was approved by the National Assembly on November 22nd with little debate.

 

On February 6th the Senate Justice Commission completed a series of amendments to the National Assembly version, but it did not amend the provision on homosexuality.

 

Human Rights Watch had claimed that a number of Senators told them they were personally opposed to the provision, but were wavering under pressure from certain political figures and religious groups

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Burundi urged not to criminalise same-sex acts


By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • February 16, 2009 - 14:58

 

The Senate of Burundi is to vote on a new draft of the criminal code this week that would criminalise homosexual conduct for the first time.

 

Human rights activists have written to the African nation's President and the Senate pointing out that the provision would violate the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Burundi is a party.

 

"We are deeply discouraged that the Senate is on the verge of passing a provision that violates basic human rights," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch.

 

"Senators should not yield to pressure to enshrine injustice into law."

 

The new criminal code was drafted over a period of nearly two years, with the assistance of Burundian and international legal experts, after elections in 2005 restored a democratic system in Burundi and required the revision of legal texts.

 

However, in October 2008, at the end of the discussion on the bill, the Human Rights and Justice Commission in the National Assembly inserted a provision criminalising "anyone who engages in sexual relations with a person of the same sex."

 

The provision would be the first law criminalising gays and lesbians in the country’s history.

 

The bill was approved by the National Assembly on November 22nd with little debate.

 

On February 6th the Senate Justice Commission completed a series of amendments to the National Assembly version, but it did not amend the provision on homosexuality.

 

Human Rights Watch claim that a number of Senators told them they were personally opposed to the provision, but were wavering under pressure from certain political figures and religious groups.

 

If the Senate passes the law, the president can challenge it by demanding a second reading or submitting it to the Constitutional Court for evaluation.

 

"The enforcement of a prohibition of homosexual conduct is likely to undermine attempts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS," according to HRW.

 

"Persons stigmatised for their sexual conduct may shun treatment for fear of being identified as homosexual.

 

"Civil society groups that educate gay men about HIV fear they will find it more difficult to carry on their work.

 

"Self-identified gay Burundians interviewed by Human Rights Watch expressed fears that gays would be more likely to be beaten and mistreated by police or ordinary citizens if the code provision is passed.

 

"The president of the National Assembly's Human Rights Commission, Fidele Mbunde, a proponent of the amendment, told Human Rights Watch that he did not intend for arrests to be made under the law, but for it to "send a message" about Burundian values."

 

Sodomites in Uganda's Prisons

Sternly. There will be no Sodomites in Ugandas Prisons.

So, when we are asked, we shall say truthfully, that there are no sodomites. Period.

Prison authorities hunt sodomites

First published: 20090216 8:22:52 AM EST

 

The Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons, Joseph Byabashaija has launched an operation to identify and punish inmates engaged in sodomising others. This follows increasing reports that many oprisoners are sodomised by their fellow prisoners.

 

Byabashaija has directed all Luzira Prison waders to pin up posters on all the prison corridors warning inmates that sodomy is illegal and the culprits will be dealt with once found.

 

The posters signed by Byabashaija also warn prisoners that sodomy spreads HIV/AIDS and calls upon prisoners to report any incidents of sodomy.

 

Byabashaija's directive follows a communication to him from Mulago hospital doctors who have worked on sodomy victims from Luzira. The hospital wrote to Byabashaija last month asking him to stamp out the bad vice in prisons.

 

Most of the victims, according to some Luzira prison waders, are poor inmates who want to receive freebies from the rich prisoners.

 

Byabashaija has also directed innocent inmates to secretly report to him all prisoners they suspect are practicing homosexuality.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Hard to Believe. True?

We've No Gay Nor Lesbian Group, Says Chief Ojo Madueke

 

 

LAGOS - Nigeria appeared at the United Nations in Geneva before the UN Human Rights Council to defend its human rights record during the week.

 

Under its universal periodic review mechanism proceedure, in a session lasting three hours Chief Ojo Madueke presented an overview of Nigeria's human rights situation, addressing issues raised by members of the Council on the rights of women, death penalty and Nigeria's criminal justice system, the Niger Delta, extra-judicial killing and the state of prisons in Nigeria.

 

His presentation caused a stir when he informed members of the council that the government of Nigeria had been unable to locate persons of gay and sexual orientation, despite concerted efforts by his ministry to include this category of persons in the consultations on the human rights situation in Nigeria.

 

He further informed the audience that his ministry located only one woman of lesbian orientation and when invited to participate in a discussion on the rights of gay and lesbian persons, the lady informed his Ministry that she was pregnant.

---

 

 

Well, well, well,

very, very hard to believe. And Nigeria has a total population in excess of 90 million.

But, come to think of it, Nigeria was mulling a law to outlaw gay marriage. Why?

And what is Akinola always shouting about? Sorry, Archbishop. You just want to become primate of primates. Doesnt mean there are gay nigerians, does it?

What about the 18 guys they arrested in Kano, Nigeria for attending a gay marriage? Maybe the man should have just gone to the court.

 All, they could have asked Jide's dad. He seems ready to testify...!

Jide, believe it or not, you just dont exist. Not officially anyway. What arrogance!

Come to think of it, I have written too much about gay Nigerians. The ones that the Chief failed to find.

Maybe all that is a lie- official position is, No Gay Nigerians.

Upside, there shouldnt be any laws against gay nigerians. But the MPs are a hard working lot. So, they must make the laws. Just in case gay nigerians start existing. What with all this contact with the decadent west.

 

Now, now, now, guys- defend yourself. Do you exist, or don’t you?

 

[Tongue in cheek; thanks be that even Nsaba Buturo would never dare to utter such a lie in Uganda…!] No gay Nigerians indeed!!! Ha ha ha ha ha…..!


gug

Saturday, February 14, 2009

He is



He is

a fast talker-

 

where I

with silence

an armor I

clothe myself;

 

he litters the air

with flak,

decoys,

noise-

 

and lo, behold

he’s past my defenses

deep,

down into

my fastnesses,

holding his own-

 

I cannot not

be in love

with him.

 

©GayUganda 11 Feb. 09

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Untitled

They think me
cold,
un-natural,
shy-

when all I do
is hide,
mask my heat
pain, desire-

all I do is
stay alive

Is a hostile world
this
thorns and stones
my mates believe
are my natural wage-
death, despair
my only fruit
reward on earth.

I’m gay-
that’s it,
fault of faults
deserving death-
shame, despair

so I hide
in broad daylight.



(c)GayUganda 11 Feb. 09

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Lawyers from across Africa gather to discuss LGBT rights


By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • February 9, 2009 - 13:51

 

Gay rights activists and lawyers who have worked on LGBT human rights cases met in South Africa last week.

 

The four-day workshop on legal strategies for promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in Africa was attended by 45 participants from 11 countries— Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

 

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), Global Rights, Interights and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists were among those taking part.

 

It was the first meeting between lawyers who have worked on litigation related to LGBT rights and African LGBT leaders.

 

Participants reviewed key pieces of litigation to document lessons learned.

 

These cases included an unsuccessful challenge to Botswana's sodomy laws in 2003 (Kanane v. Botswana), the prosecutions of 11 gay men in Cameroon in 2006, the arrests of two women in Rwanda on charges related to sexual orientation in 2008, and the ongoing trial of 18 young men in Northern Nigerian on charges of cross-dressing and homosexuality.

 

A high point of the meeting was the discussion of Ooyo and Mukasa v. Attorney General of Uganda, a case settled in December 2008, in which two transgender activists successfully challenged the unconstitutional invasion of their home and their mistreatment by local police and elected officials. One of the litigants, as well as the lead counsel, key donors, and local organizers from Uganda were present at the meeting.

 

Lawyers, activist leaders and donors attending the meeting acknowledged the importance of impact litigation for repealing sodomy laws and challenging other discriminatory statutes and policies.

 

Such litigation however needs to be situated within the context of local, national and regional LGBT groups.

 

Participants discussed the need for security for lawyers defending LGBT clients and causes. Many of the lawyers at the meeting had faced attacks on their reputations, attempts at disbarment, and even physical violence.

 

The event concluded with a call to create a multi-faceted LGBT legal fund for Africa and a training and support network for African lawyers working on sexual rights cases.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Who is South Africa’s First Lady to be?

Polygamy. The invisible elephant in the room.

I loved this article when I saw it. We are all very nice hypocrites, (forgive me fellow Africans), and I love to observe us squirming in this hypocrisy.

I grew up in a huge (err, moderately big), polygamous family. While being taught that ‘monogamy’ was the way, I was having all this sensory overload with the reality of polygamy. Fact.

I have always been amused at the things which are out there in the open- which are un-mentionable. Case in point, my sexuality at the moment. Seems my father knows, but he insists that I must have at least one child. Doesn’t mind whether boy or girl. I was incredulous- he was demanding a football team before, to ‘make the clan big’, just like he had done, so why one child now?

But that is digressing. A tale from the South of Africa…. and, for my anonymous self, forgive me if I will laugh my head off.
Why the hell don’t we embrace our heritage of polygamy? Just read here, of South Africa’s big men…


RW Johnson: The South African President's harem

Posted: February 06, 2009, 11:00 AM by NP Editor
RW Johnson, South Africa

The ongoing row in the South African press over President Kgalema Motlanthe’s complicated love life has brought out into the open a subject that much of the country’s ruling black elite would rather keep hidden. Motlanthe, 59, is estranged from his wife, has a steady 45-year-old mistress and a 24-year-old, now heavily pregnant, lover. The African National Congress (ANC) spokesman, Carl Niehaus, insists that media attention is an invasion of privacy, but South African journalists have proven underwhelmed by this response.

Only a few weeks ago, Niehaus issued a statement denouncing as “lies” reports that the ANC leader (and, doubtless, South Africa’s future president), Jacob Zuma, was about to marry a fifth wife. When the reports were quickly proved true, Niehaus hurriedly insisted that Zuma’s behaviour, though “in line with African custom and tradition,” was a private matter. Still, South African journalists want to know: Who exactly is our First Lady? In particular, which of Zuma’s five wives (he is currently courting a sixth) will be the First Lady at his presidential inauguration in April?

“What you’re really looking at here is a collision of cultures which has been going on ever since the first missionaries landed at the Cape,” says sociologist Laurence Schlemmer. “To an extraordinary extent, the missionaries managed to associate the Christian ideal of monogamy with high social status and modernity.”

Indeed, Zuma is unusual in his frank acknowledgement of his own polygamy. In the eyes of many educated Africans, this is a shameful sign of his cultural backwardness — that, as former president Thabo Mbeki put it, Zuma is still a traditional Zulu peasant at heart. All educated Africans publicly deplore the ever-expanding harems maintained by the Swazi and Zulu kings. But among less-educated Africans — Zuma’s natural followers — polygamy is far more easily accepted.

Stanley Mogoba, former president of the Pan Africanist Congress, has said that “virtually none of the African National Congress leadership have normal and stable family lives. There are multiple but hidden wives and mistresses, ex-wives, unacknowledged and hidden children, every imaginable sort of arrangement. Sometimes, they seem almost to turn themselves inside out trying to be or appear what they are really not.”

Thus, officially, Nelson Mandela has been serially monogamous with three consecutive wives. But it is no secret that, at least when he was young, he was a philanderer on a large scale, and there are persistent rumours of illegitimate children. Mbeki was also known to be a ladies man on an almost industrial scale. The accusation could hardly be denied, but drawing attention to it was impermissible, especially since Mbeki was haunted by notions that the AIDS epidemic had confirmed stereotypes of lustful and sexually irresponsible African male behaviour. Similarly, neither Motlanthe nor Zuma welcomes questions about, or even attention being paid to, their marital lives.

This anomalous situation is compounded by the fact that although polygamy is legal in South Africa and homophobia common, the South African constitution is one of the world’s most progressive in its acknowledgement and championing of gay rights and gender equality. Feminists have won legal battles over inheriting property — even though in African customary law a widow and all her chattels belong to her late husband’s family — and have angrily denounced polygamy as a form of female subordination.

But even such feminist advances have their own contradictions: When Joe Modise, the notoriously corrupt former defence minister, died, his wife asserted her right to inherit his considerable wealth. The trouble was that so did his regular mistress. A battle royal ensued.

It is hardly surprising, then, that the black elite are trying to keep the subject of polygamy out of the press. It brings to light too much embarrassment and anxiety about what constitutes “respectable” behaviour.

Still, the question remains: Who is South Africa’s First Lady?

Friday, February 6, 2009

Cameroon: Fighting to free those found 'guilty' of homosexuality


 

 

Cape Town (South Africa) — In 2003, Alice Nkom made a decision that has put her on a collision course with the police, prosecutors and judges of Cameroon. Nkom, who has been a barrister at the Cameroonian Bar for 40 years, was chatting with some young men whom she considers her own children.

 

By Inter Press Service (IPS) | 02.05.2009

 

She realised they were gay. Not only that, having gone after school to France to study and only ever living there as out gay men, they were oblivious to the extent of the persecution they faced for expressing their sexuality in Cameroon. Extortion and unfair prosecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are common occurrences in the Francophone west African state.

 

They were handsome and full of life, talking passionately about their plans. She was struck by the injustice of their situation and felt she had a duty to do something, otherwise "coming back to Cameroon means having to choose to go to jail for who you are, to have one's dignity trampled upon all the time, to be a victim of the police".

 

She founded the Association for the Defence of Homosexuals and has ever since been acting as defence lawyer for LGBT people in Cameroon. Christi van der Westhuizen spoke to her when she attended a recent workshop of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) in Cape Town, South Africa. The meeting, which gathered LGBT activists from across Africa, was held to strategise around litigating against the myriad laws that still discriminate against LGBT people on the continent. IGLHRC is an international non-governmental organisation.

 

IPS: What is the legal status of LGBT people in Cameroon?

 

Alice Nkom: On Sep. 28, 1972, article 347 was introduced into the Cameroonian penal code which prescribes penalties of up to five years for anyone, whether man or woman, who is caught having sex with someone of the same sex. (The situation recently became worse) when, on December 25, 2005, the archbishop of Yaoundé made LGBT people the theme of his Christmas sermon. This caused a witch hunt with LGBT people accused of being the root cause of all social ills, the root of unemployment and corruption, in Cameroon.

 

The archbishop said that high-profile people who were "homosexuals" forced other Cameroonians into same-sex activities in return for jobs. This launched a media frenzy where journalists abandoned their codes of ethics and published lists of names of people who were supposedly gay. Tabloids suddenly started selling. Photocopies were sold even more expensively than the originals. This went on until Feb. 10, 2006 when the president of Cameroon told people to stop speculating about the vices and virtues of one another while trampling on people's fundamental rights. He said the publications should cease because freedom of expression stops where people's right to privacy starts. This ended the frenzy.

 

It had consequences as children (whose parents' names were published in the newspapers) were attacked by their friends at school. Some (threatened) suicide if their parents could not "prove" that they were not gay or lesbian.

 

What is the reality of LGBT people's lives today in Cameroon?

 

Every day I hear about extortion here and there. It is not healthy for young people who are trying to enjoy their lives. There is a close relationship between one's happiness and enjoyment of one's sexuality. They are unhappy because at any given time they can be subjected to arrest or blackmail - even when the law does not provide the police with the power to do so.

 

There is a criminal procedure code which is continuously violated when it comes to gay and lesbian people. The code does not provide the prosecutor the power to arraign somebody unless the person was caught in flagrante delicto (caught in the act). A police officer does not have the right to come to your house or to bars to arrest you for homosexuality. But what happens is that people are just thought to be gay... (which) catches the attention of greedy police officers who are looking for someone to blackmail.

 

So people are being arrested on suspicion, even if they were not caught in the act?

 

In none of the cases of homosexuality which I have defended was the person ever caught in flagrante delicto. I raise this concern every time but the judges never respond.

 

Have you had successes in defending people?

 

Not the kind of successes that I would have wanted. In one case, nine people were charged. The judge wanted them to go for forensic anal tests, which means that not only were they spending seven months in jail (pending the case) but the judge wanted to force them to undergo a humiliating test to show that they were actually gay. Medical doctors refused to carry out the tests.

 

He released two of the men for unknown reasons. The remaining seven were sentenced to seven months in jail and then released for time served. In all, they spent 12 months and 12 days in jail. How did the judge manage to find them homosexual, given that he did not get the proof he was looking for? They were found guilty on the basis of personal beliefs.

 

In another case two people (tried to steal from someone at whose house they were staying). He called the police. The two thieves got the idea to say the complainant wanted to sleep with them. It turned into a "gay case". The prosecutor charged all three with homosexuality and they were sentenced to six months.

 

Are lesbians affected?

 

In 2006, the principal of a private high school expelled 12 students on the eve of the final exams. He had been told that one had said to the other "whatever she did, she would belong to her". She was arrested. She had to say who her girlfriend was. Each person had to reveal another name and so they got a list of students. The head of the school went on a media campaign to encourage all principals to eradicate homosexuality in their schools.

 

The grandmother of one of the girls accused another girl of "misleading" her granddaughter. They laid a charge with the police. The police arrested the granddaughter and her friend and another two girls who were mentioned during the discussions. They were sent to jail, four girls (all under 18).

 

As in all the other cases, it was not on the basis of in flagrante delicto - it was based on what other people had alleged. The prosecutor coerced them to not accept me as their advocate. A month later they received suspended sentences of three months each.

 

You were also locked up once.

 

This was in 2006. I paid a visit to my clients in jail to prepare them psychologically for the court. I was in the meeting room taking pictures of them with my mobile phone. I was arrested. I told the prison boss, you can't just take my mobile - it's my mobile and those are their images, which they own.

I spoke to the attorney general and said to him you are here to do your job and I'll do mine. You can't arrest me without showing which law I violated. (She was released a few hours later and her phone was returned.)

 

How do your peers respond to your work?

 

Many of them are very homophobic. Others are indifferent. I receive little support. It's very important to me that kids are taught from early to be tolerant, to respect difference. They can land in a place (abroad) where they are in the minority and where they need other people to respect them. Diversity is a good thing - it enriches our lives. If we don't embrace it we will have terrorism, racism.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/index.asp