A Ugandan Christian Stands Up

To be counted...


Ironic, this is what I was blogging about. No, I am not anti-Christian. I just know a little bit too much of what Christianity is supposed to be. So, when I as a gay person am persecuted by supposed Christian leaders, I cry wolf. Hard. My life, as the Bahati Bill proves, my life and my well being depends on it.


It is curious that Christian ideals should be the protection that I look to. Look at the article below. The Catholic Church's official dogma on homosexuality should be all the protection that I should have as a homosexual in Uganda. The church should be vigorously defending me.

But, how many times has the Catholic church defended gay Ugandans as other Ugandans planned to kill us? Ironically, Ssempa's Inter-Faith Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality in Uganda must contain a Catholic. They will not stand up to defend this pariah, this evil, this bad homosexual human being, even when their teaching says I exist, and that I am a human being. Why shouldn't I cry wolf, hypocrite, liars, and such?


Lil-big sis has done me proud. Here is the article, as I proudly lift it....

We would do best accommodating gays                 

Written by Princess Ikatekit    

Sunday, 25 October 2009 19:04

We believe in different things, you and me. Or perhaps we believe in the same things. Our viewpoints and our life philosophies very often define who we are. I believe in God, for example. And I also believe that gay persons are our brothers and sisters, deserving our love and respect.

Are the two contradictions of each other?

According to Catholic teachings (I choose this because I am Catholic), “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex…Homosexual acts are ‘intrinsically disordered.’

They are contrary to the natural law…Under no circumstances must they be approved.” But the Church continues to state; “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.

They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” Finally, the Church calls homosexual persons to lifelong chastity as a means of, “gradually and resolutely approaching Christian perfection.”

 I, for one, consider the last teaching to be impractical and even idealistic. How many adults can be expected to go an entire lifetime without genital intimacy after-all? You, of course, may believe otherwise—but most likely we will agree (if you are Christian at least), that we must extend the tenets of Christian teaching: compassion, respect, and sensitivity to all human beings, whether they are gay or not.

David Bahati (MP, Ndorwa County West, Kabale) has proposed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 which includes a provision for the death penalty for gay men and women in Uganda. According to the Bill, an individual caught having ‘gay sex’ with a disabled person or anyone under 18, would be subject to an HIV-test, and if found positive would be liable to face the death sentence.

The “promotion of homosexuality” which means the “production, trafficking, procuring, marketing, broadcasting, disseminating, and publishing of homosexual materials” would also be criminal under this law.

“A person who keeps a house, or a place of any kind for purposes of homosexuality commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for seven years,” the Bill states.

Failure to report a violation (by friends and family of gay and lesbian persons) would constitute a criminal offence.  This Bill is extreme, to put it mildly. And in a country where the stigma attached to homosexuality or being seen as ‘Pro-Gay’ is bigger even than charges of government-level corruption, I am not surprised by the silence of the general public.

I am not surprised, but I am disappointed that our religious leaders too have been noticeably silent on this issue. They are as silent on the issue of the death penalty for gay persons as they are in situations where gay persons are forced to undergo ‘correctional’ rape. Why?

Does the definition of ‘immoral’ blur between heterosexuals and homosexuals? Must we apply a different understanding to each? If Bahati is as concerned with “protecting the health of Ugandan citizens from the negative effects of immoral behaviour,” as he makes it out, why has he not extended the death penalty to prostitutes, rapists, adulterers, liars and cheats? Reports of sexual molestation in Uganda are attributed more to heterosexual criminals anyway.

And liars and cheats do harm our minds when they scam us of our life savings. Homosexuality is not a disease. You do not ‘catch’ it by associating with gay people. Gays do not “recruit straights.” We seem to forget conveniently that sex, for the most part, is consensual, and when it isn’t, victims do not hold out for repeat performances of these terrible episodes in their lives.

There is no underlying conspiracy by gay people to take over the world as our Minister of Ethics and Integrity insists; there is no need to be urgently afraid of the extinction of the human race because gays cannot reproduce. What is there to fear then from our gay brothers and sisters?

We live together, you and I, because we acknowledge our differences and still manage to find a common ground. We do not summarily shoot anyone who disagrees with us; therefore we cannot simply do away with a fraction of our community because they make us ‘uncomfortable.’

The question here is not whether you believe homosexuality to be a repulsive disease or not, but rather: are you willing to allow us to become a nation that prosecutes some of its people merely because they do not ‘fit in’? Protest the Bill!

The author is a Ugandan student of Actuarial Science at St. John’s University, New York.

ikatekit@yahoo.com