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Seems like I have been away for years…

Not really away. But, I decided to take a break and a breather. To relax and rewind. But, did I succeed in that?

Truth is, am not very good at the personal discipline of rest. So, dogged by exhaustion. This time, I figure it is in a good cause. But then, I always do. So, I went to rest and hide from the internet, and still found myself sneaking back now and then to post. But, I did try not to read the mail, and most of the news….!

So, first I will tackle the long line of mail that I have to.

First letter to tackle, a Ugandan calls out to me for help. Help which might mean 'outing' myself. Here is his letter to me. And why me? Well, because, he most likely can get access to the internet, and when he googles the words 'gay uganda', he lands on this blog.

Here is his letter.

Hi, I am …. I think am a gay because am attracted to people of my sex but i dont know where to start from I need help from you guys thanks

Well, been there. Struggled with that. Done that. And, I am happy I do know a person that I can refer him to. With a warning. It is a jungle out there.

What are the chances that it is someone trying to flush me out? And, ask yourself, in a country like Uganda, what help will there be for a person like this? If I help him, I will be 'promoting homosexuality'. I should see him, and report him within 24 hours to the police. According to Bahati's Bill.

No, I will not. Maybe because I am a human being, who doesnt aspire to be perfect. I will risk, and risk others to help a stranger.

[Sigh, I was supposed to be cured of this!]

Someone writes from Scotland, unhappy and appalled about the bill, and asks what they could do to help. My reply is below...

Thanks a lot for the good wishes.

At the moment, we can only rely on the pressure, both political and otherwise from outside the country. Your political leaders and church leaders and others can put lots of pressure on the Ugandan leaders to stop this dastardly bill.

Please continue doing that. It has already borne fruit, but, the bill still is, and is most likely to pass. Please continue the work.

As someone commented on the blog, seems we Ugandans throw logic right out of the window when it comes to discussing gay issues. We are under attack, by the world, which wants us to accept the gay agenda. If I believed in anything, I would call this a demon. A spirit of confusion which has hit the majority of Ugandans. Someone in Uganda will understand. We live in 'Biblical times' and the time to change the country is now. So, they support the genocidal bill. Here is the guy's take on what is happening in Uganda

I have had many intellectual debates with my friends over the years, some so intense but always logical ideas were expressed. But when I bring up the issue about the logic behind this law, lets just say, it would be funny if it wasn't so sad! Sadly logic seems to leave the building as soon as this topic comes up. It's no secret we Africans have an inherent or acquired negative bias to gays, but it has always been reflected in an indifference at best and a passive stigma to gays, but rarely violence. The truth be told, many Ugandans know atleast one gay, but have never reported to the police the individual(s) despite there being a law against. In just one year, that has changed, I've seen a side of my church/fellow christians/friends, I was blind to or had never surfaced till now. Reverends preaching with conspicuous disgust, hate(one even confessed that he felt like strangling Ugandan gays for embarassing their parents!). I just don't know why logic, even faith seems to be inconsistent with a discussion on gay issues, it's like we Africans are hot-wired with a failsafe fuse, which allows logic to be sidestepped at the trigger of the gay topic! 

Well, at least I dont have to be gay to be confused by the logic of my countrymen and women! Hey, I notice icearc is as anonymous as gug.

Now, found the next letter. A friend e-mailed an alert. Rick Warren at last releases a damning letter to pastors in Uganda. Well, religious leaders in Uganda.

I am noting the most important things, here. Rick Warren is actually condemning the bill as non Christian. And, he goes on to say why, in very clear, Christian terms. Ok. And he quotes Burke. He cant keep silent, he says.

But, BUT, BUT....

I will note, very strongly, that to get to this point Rick Warren has been under intense pressure in the US. Not in Uganda. The people, the Christian leaders who he is writing to are the very ones who are wholly in support of the bill. Through and through.

Dear Rick has been silent. Very silent. Apart from dissociating himself from Ssempa. And now, he releases a video, and a letter. Thanks Rick. Better to speak out now, than to keep silent, like a certain Archbishop.

Well, most likely the video is for the consumption of those outside Africa. But, I am doing something. Just as soon as this. I am sending the letter to Buturo, Ssempa, and the ilk. Yes, that is what to do. Wish I could send it to others...! I am doing it now...! Here is the full letter. Of course, the bulk is addressed to the American audience.

The subject line (of my letter to Bahati) reads, 'Rick Warren Condemns Anti-Homosexuality Bill as Un-Christian.' Think that will get Ssempa to read it? Or, does he have default delete for mail from gug? I have been trying to send him only the relevant mail....!

Bahati says that we are mistaking what he says. The link is to a BBC Focus on Africa programme. Listen. Well, who can mistake what Bahati says when it is all put, very nicely, in the bill, which you can read for yourself here. Certainly, it doesnt take a lawyer to see that the bill wants to kill poor old gay uganda for being a serial offender. [well, first, life imprisonment for having sex with my lover, then, death penalty, when we are caught making love, in  prison. What can be more clear than the text of the bill, which is public?

Poor Bahati. I almost feel like pitying him. I will. When he withdraws the bill.

Is the government reconsidering? I am looking for the original article. And, I am failing to get it at the Media Centre. Anyway, Box Turtle Bulletin has the highlights here.

Hey, the last comment notes that the article has dissapeared from the media center website. So, of course us watchers of the tea leaves will know who is in the lead....! Continue the pressure.

Religious dispatches has some interesting take on why Rick Warren spoke out. And, an analysis about what is  going to happen. Note, Cantebury and York. From some PR specialists, you are sinking yourselves. But then, you are all damned h......! I am gay, and Ugandan, and I am pissed off, though I do see some movement. So, forgive my language.

Ha ha ha...!

this post is in danger of being longer than too long, so I will post, and start another... But, this story is worth the while.

The late-November afternoon sun bore down on the park in downtown Kampala, and all along the benches, Ugandan office workers took their siestas. There could have been no less likely setting for criminal conspiracies to topple an East African state. Still, the doctor's voice dropped a notch when an office worker in a brown suit settled in close by. The medic shifted a battered fedora over his eyes. "I am the gay doctor," the physician whispered to me, making sure nobody around heard.

It is actually in Time. Here. Seems to have been a bit overtaken by events, but, we are in the mainstream media. At long last!

gug

PS. I have a new heroine. Rachel Maddow. Before this, I never knew naught about her. Now, well, a very grateful gay Ugandan acknowledges that you have the scalp of the famed Rick Warren. You have forced him to recant, (in my biased view, of course), and, thanks for your efforts on behalf of this anonymous, gay Ugandan

gug