Yes, We are...

Good morning!

Grey skies, bright morning, I am awake and refreshed, and he seems determined to go on sleeping....! And I promised to tell you more about the fact that we are. We kuchus are.

But, first a word of explanation.
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Very early this morning, I felt I needed to post this alarming post. Why?

I am like a child playing, jumping in a busy street. Cars are wheezing past me in both directions, I am seemingly oblivious, jumping, dancing, laughing. I seem to lead a charmed life, a gifted existence. Indeed, I am.
But, I have to remember that I am playing with fire. If even one of those speeding cars deals me a glancing blow, my fragile body will be severely injured. Or even dead.
I am tweaking Ministers, Members of Parliament, the government. I am laughing out in the world at some pretty big people in Uganda. I know that. It is not safe, not at all. Recently, a Minister in the government accused me of receiving humongous amounts of money to 'spread homosexuality'. Of course I laughed at such  open lies. Why shouldnt I? But, I have to remember that, inside the country, most of my countrymates believe that I, as a gay man, am the worst kind of demon. They believe him. And even my plea that he is lying will not be heard.

So, when I see a headline like this- 'MP Bahati fears as Cousin vanishes', I am apprehensive. I am one of those big, bad homosexuals. My voice is out there in the world. I am supposed to have lots of money, some billions of shillings in Ugandan terms. In the atmosphere that Uganda is at the moment, an accusation that I have threatened the Member of Parliament can have me lynched. Swiftly.

So, I have to be careful. And, I have to shore up my defences. One of them is the fact that I can speak out. Fragile, but, it is part of my defenses.

So, what happened to MP Bahati's cousin? Me, I dont know. But, here is the story.

MP Bahati in fear as cousin vanishes

By John Tugume & Ismail M. Ladu  (email the author)

Posted Friday, December 25 2009 at 00:00

IN SUMMARY

Mr Bahati had in an October 29 letter requested the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Mr Matia Kasaija, to provide him with personal security saying “since I moved the private Bill on Anti-Homosexuality, I have received threats against my life”.

Kampala

Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, who has sparked a worldwide debate after tabling his Private Member’s Bill criminalising homosexuality, now fears for his life following the disappearance of his cousin and alleged death threats against him.

Mr Bahati says his cousin, Emmanuel Mabonga, working with Shore Associates, disappeared from their home in Upper Konge Makindye Division, a Kampala suburb, on Sunday.

Police alerted

“I reported the case at Central Police Station - Kampala but hopefully the boy is in safe hands,” Mr Bahati told Daily Monitor yesterday.

The Kampala Metropolitan CID boss, Mr Paul Kato, confirmed that Mr Bahati had reported the case but refused to delve into the details referring this reporter to the Police spokesperson.

Although Ms Judith Nabakooba was reportedly out of office, her deputy, Mr Henry Kalulu, told Daily Monitor: “We have circulated the message of the missing person to all our units across the country. We are carrying out inquiries and we want to appeal to anyone who knows of his whereabouts to report to us.”

Mr Bahati had in an October 29 letter requested the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Mr Matia Kasaija, to provide him with personal security saying “since I moved the private Bill on Anti-Homosexuality, I have received threats against my life”.

Pressed to describe the kind of threats he was getting, Mr Bahati quoted one anonymous SMS saying: “You [Bahati] moved the Bill for the first reading but the second reading might be post-human.”

When contacted yesterday, Mr Kasaija said he was sorry for delaying to provide the special security and added that he would follow it up with his personal assistant whom he tasked to sort out the matter.

“I am terribly sorry, I must apologise to him for the delay,” Mr Kasaija said. “I am right now away for a short leave.”

Though he did not give the exact date as to when he will resume office and have the matter sorted out personally, the minister promised “swift action”, adding that special protection is a right that can be extended to any Ugandan who feels their life is being threatened.

Humongous.... My lover comments that the guy is threatening judicial death for many other Ugandans because they are gay. And, the state has to protect him, and not us...! Of course, I maybe terribly mistaken and paranoid. The full article is here, again.

[By the way, I am wondering what it is with the Daily Monitor? I mean, the links keep on being shifted, and the stories disappearing. Of late. Before it wasnt like that. For example, I looked for that MP Bahati cousin story, searched and failed to get it. Now, well, I have got it from somewhere else, but, I am wondering about the vanishing acts of these Monitor stories...]

So, is the MP's life in danger?

I am unqualified to make that assesment. Of course, we are fighting a losing battle, us gay Ugandans. It is a guerrila war fare. ?Assymetric warfare? Our enemies are huge, big and strong. And, we have literally no voice. Not in the country. What we are sure of is the fact that we are in danger. Is the other side in danger? Maybe. I mean, in Uganda, a gay Ugandan MUST be hidden. Closeted. The MP may be angering and condemning some people close to him who may be murderously angry. Hey, that was one of the reasons I started this blog. To siphon off my personal anger. Sadly, it still boils over, once in a while.

Dont know whether the MP is really in danger. Dont know whether it is simply a gimmick to make sure that we gay Ugandans continue being demonised in the country. All that I know is that, that kind of accusation may bring the police knocking on my door in the middle of the night. After all, threatening an MP with violence is a serious thing. Especially when the accused is a homosexual.

To gay Ugandans out there, if you are reading this post- no. That is not our way. Dont do it. [Shrug], Personally, I think we can do without violence. It will not solve anything.
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Now, back to we are.

The Saturday Monitor reports that most of the Christmas sermons in Uganda were about homosexuality. The news headline is 'Homosexuality draws the bulk of Christmas sermons'. And, of course, all were condemnatory. Lashing out at the 'donors' and outside forces that dare to interfere with Uganda's legisaltive effort. And, they were very popular. Very popular.
Here is one excerpt from the article.

At St. Paul Cathedral, Namirembe, Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira urged the faithful to oppose all external forces seeking to promote homosexuality in the country, adding that it is against the order of nature.

“We know what we want as Ugandans and we shall not be intimidated to accept homosexuality because it is against the order of nature,” he said, drawing a standing ovation from the congregation that included Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi.

That needs more looking into. No, not the standing ovation. We homosexuals are the worst of the worst. The Churches in Uganda are fighting us, and, the populace, this Christmas season, is whole heartedly behind the governments efforts to fight homosexuality. That is fact.

But, it is true. We are. Yes we are.

So, you can imagine, most people do go to Church on Christmas. And, they did yesterday. Despite the rain, the low skies. It was Christmas. And that was that.
The kuchus listened to those depressing sermons. And came back to ruminate in privacy at home.

Yesterday in the evening, we decided to go to a bar where we expected kuchus to be. He was reluctant, I was adamant. I find that the accusations and proclamations of our badness makes me more defiant. I am what I am, and I am not going to cower and vanish. I will not hide because others think I am bad.

There were not so many kuchus at the place, as I expected. But, we were many.
And, we are always gay. We are happy people.

We talked, laughed, danced. Flirted, touched one another up... (homosexual touches galore, life imprisonment in the Bahati 'Anti-homosexuality' bill), and, my mind was happy.
We cannot deny what we are. The world, our community is currently in the grips of a 'gay panic'. But, we continue to meet and have fun. Meet even strangers, have fun, connect. It makes me feel good, being together with other kuchus.
Of course, they are human beings. Some just want fun. Others, sex and disappear. Most of us are personally very immature, and uncertain of our sexuality. We are in hiding. It is a bad situation.
But, we are gay people. And, we are gay when we meet one another. And, we are very happy.

It was fun.

Came back late, tired, drunk. We were at barely talking terms.... Oh, jealous, you know. I was talking to kuchus, he was not too happy about that. Usual problem. And of course, he was ready to leave much earlier than I was. So, I insisted on staying...! Hey, it was Christmas day!

But, I did realise that, despite everything, we are. We kuchus, we gay Ugandans are.

It is a realisation that belies reality here. We do exist. We are. And, we are in Uganda.

Hope your day was fantastic. Hope today is good for you as you recover from yesterday's excesses.

Have a good day


gug