Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Homophobia, is informed by Ignorance

That has been like a light bulb jumping on in my head.

I was working on the previous post, and my conclusion that the Catholic church in Uganda was caught between its ignorance of things homosexual, [even relative to the official Catholic doctrine], and the belief that informing their minds to the contrary would be ‘promoting homosexuality’.

But, that is surely true for a lot of what has been happening. Those who shout most about gays, [excluding Ssempa], are actually supremely ignorant of what they are talking about. Of course they have amazed the world with regards to their ignorance. But, more than that, they have entrenched their ignorance by the contention that any information to the contrary would be ‘promoting homosexuality’.

So, of course the Archbishop of York, and Cantebury, were derisively dismissed for ‘promoting homosexuality’. And, so was Rick Warren. No voice of reason fails to excite that remarkable charge.

To highlight the pits of ignorance, just check out this article from one of the MPs of Uganda. Obua Denis Hamson.
No, he is not the Benson Obua-Ogwal, the co-sponsor of the Anti-Homosexuality bill. The friend who calls me a gay pervert. Simply because I am gay.

The title is all informative. We need to fight the unnatural gay vice.

Then, this man of god… Errrr, excuse me! This is not a ‘man of god’. This is a legislator who is citing the bible as the supreme authority. And, this is in the secular parliament of the Republic of Uganda. Now, he didn’t get that particular memo.

Now, I think the best thing to do is to send the honourable MP the Desmond Tutu article. And, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda’s latest statement. [oh, they have been many!.] But, does the Rt Honourable Member want to be informed of other than things that strengthen his prejudices? I doubt. But, of course I have to try.

From quoting the bible for legislation, he then goes on to show the examples that Africa should take as good, for cases of homosexuality. He cites the Malawi case. And, Yahya Jammwee of Gambia. The guy who wants the heads of homosexuals cut off. [of course, he is also a traditional juju man who cures HIV, but maybe Africans should NOT follow that example?]

These are examples that should be emulated by all African countries to forthwith stop the moral vice that is invading our society. I cannot imagine how a man can kiss and sleep with a fellow man! This is extremely satanic!
He doesn’t quote the Quoran. He is a good Christian? Maybe, the MP is!

Now, this rant is extremely interesting. Sad, and interesting. That a leader of the people of Uganda should expose their [ahem, ahem, ahem, should I use that word? I fail to find one less inflammatory.] stupidity and ignorance….

But, he is excused. After all, he is doing what Ssempa feels is justifiable. Showing off his anti-gay credentials. Never mind that it is akin to showing porn in church!

Now, should I blame the Churches, which have grandly rejected the bill?
It is very tempting. Very. To blame the church, because of course they are not blameless. And, like true hypocrites, they keep insisting that their position has not changed. That they still love us homosexuals, even when they started off by calling for our death, then ‘moderated’ in love to life imprisonment, till they were embarrassed by the world to now come almost totally around.

But, the MP, a leader of the people, for showing this kind of stupidity and ignorance, shows very clearly what the church in Uganda has sown in hate. And, for being an incompetent thinking ignoramus, why, there is none but himself to blame. Because, I don’t believe that a person of the MPs blessings, should articulate so fully such a stupid position. But then, I have mentioned stupid too many times.

As a Ugandan legislator, I support the criminalisation of homosexuality because it is unnatural, non-christian [or non-Islamic] and a moral and social evil. As a Parliament, we may consider revising the proposed bill to limit the maximum penalty for offenders to life imprisonment rather than execution because it gives room for offenders to be rehabilitated.
I call upon other Members of Parliament to support this proposed bill for the moral good of our society and Uganda’s young generation.

What I love about the gentleman, who once sat with Bahati on NTV and defended the bill, is the fact that he does not go in for the lies that Bahati and Ssempa have been spewing…. You remember that death was only for ‘defilement’? The guy is blunt, and true to his hatred.
As a Parliament, we may consider revising the proposed bill to limit the maximum penalty for offenders to life imprisonment rather than execution because it gives room for offenders to be rehabilitated.

And, talking of Christian love, the kind that Obua Denis Hamson articulates with flair above, Here is an interesting headline. 
The Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) today decided to take strong punitive action, including ex-communication, against homosexual members.
The assembly of the BCM, the highest decision-making body of the powerful church in the state next only to the Presbyterian Church, resolved that homosexuality should be outlawed, church sources said.
Jesus is turning in his grave. Sacrilege, sacrilege, sacrilege.
Where is all that talk about eating with sinners, bringing them closer, refusing stones to be thrown. Jesus!

But, the MP is not alone in his thought. Scott Lively. The guy has a healthy hate of the gay human being. And, he has the intelligence to clothe that hate in something akin to love. A very dangerous man. 

Lesson, hate is very easy. Matter of fact, hating is too easily done. So learning to avoid that pitfall is something that should happen. Actively.

I am gay. And, I admit that I once took for granted the hate which Ugandans have for us, but, I have come to the conclusion that one cannot just justify this reeking hatred without thought. it is appaling, it is unconscionable. One cannot blame everything on the preacher, on religion, on things that are outside one’s thinking capacity.

No. Hate is hate. However palatably clothed.

Have a great day.


gug

8 comments:

Jean-Paul, Canada said...

How anyone can read comments made by Rev. Desmond Tutu ...and Uganda's own Christopher...and prefer stewing in their ignorance and hatred is really far, far beyond me.

Then again, how Ssempa and his blind followers can pretend to be passionately defending family values while expecting family members to betray one another staggers my imagination.

I agree that homophobia is fed by ignorance, but to prefer ignorance while refusing the light of scientific documentation concerning human sexuality borders on the kind of idiocy that may end in the self-destruction typical of pathological behaviour.

In the meantime, the beat goes on; Ssempa is no longer making headlines as more important issues rise to the surface, e.g. Daily Monitor, Observer; and the kill-the-gays Bill may never see a second reading.

To compensate for this the media's lack of attention to him, Martin Ssempa has increased the photo of himself on the main page of his cyberspace blog so that it now takes up an entire half of the screen, and he is not retaining any of the comments made by readers, if indeed anyone is reading his drivel.

Again I would like to express my concern for Mrs. Ssempa and the children.

marlon mulumba said...

While we in Uganda accept that we can never understand the level of social acceptance of homosexuality that the western world largely embraces and wants to impose on us, we also acknowledge our right of refusal.
We have long been the unwilling pawns of colonial abuse and now globalization. I say to all (and only) you overbearing and insensitive people, we in Uganda have about had it. We don't prescribe to you what is or should be acceptable to you in your countries. You obviously still want to do that to us! HEY STOP! I would like to hear you say incest is now not criminal! Then move on to bestiality. Don't leave out multiple marriage partners or even pedophilia! However messed up you get in your own cage, well, we'll bemusedly look on and even applaud your social sophistication if it makes you happy. But don't try selling such lightly disguised evil here. We don't care how you dress it. The outer garb doesn't alter the inner foul. Your rhetoric and classical spin won't hit traction in Uganda. Please go away from this. Let Ugandans decide what’s good for them. If this means you play your sanctions card against us, hey good luck to you and your mama. Uganda is the food basket of the world. We prefer to keep our God given values, defend our sovereignty and be heterosexually anchored than to have spittle and crumbs from you haters. Besides, show me one ass-kissing country that ever benefited by betraying its people to the western world!
Whatever you say, you have to contextualize. Stop hating on us Ugandans because we want to keep our house as clean as we can. Let up on your interference! There is a limit to how warped we can be to dance to your financial tunes! We don’t want to have gays and we are setting a pre-emptive barrier to the inundation of twisted values you and Hollywood are bombarding Africa and Uganda with. Why do you have prisons and laws in your countries? Who taught Uganda how to structure governance, how to generate laws, religion etc, etc? You guys! However, we paid (and continue to pay) a steep price for your selfish wanderlust and greed. We have been fed on the thin ice theory that the west has the moral authority to deliver prescription for the cultural constitution and tolerance of our societies just because you steal our wealth and hoodwink our leaders with pittance handouts. Hey, you make your bed, you sleep in it. You taught us that too. Live in your socially liberal societies where you can gracefully massage your collective conscious with devilish rhetoric about right or wrong. Leave Uganda to the Ugandans and keep your blood money if that’s your only leverage. One day, we shall demand that you repay the wealth you stole from Africa, afterall, you have also taught us that crimes do not expire! History is littered with examples of people making matters worse by being involved in something they don t really understand.
Oh common guys, Now we are “the nation that kills gays”? Ok let’s join the name calling in a moment. First though, let me supplement your education. Deterrents. That’s what we are trying to establish after the realization that there is a real danger of our youth being balled over by Hollywood hype and sponsored sexual re-orientation from the west. Don’t deny, you all know what Western TV is doing to Africa. We don’t want to end up a secular, unhinged state like several I can name in the west! I can quote several of your leaders who no longer know if "bad" exists. Everything is placed on a scale of relativity – and thus your permissive, warped values.

marlon mulumba said...

Africa on the other hand, has been economically and politically raped with the mainstream engineering of the west. Now you wish to extend the battle to a front we are not willing to engage let alone humour you on. We shall stand firm. Go ahead and encourage your offspring to even explore more bizarre behaviour. We shall not stop you. But dare not to export your social decadence. Please. You are bad enough for the whole world. We do not have nuclear weapons, you do. You have even used them. Do you hear us calling you mass murderers? The “democratic free nations of indiscriminate mass killers”?
You don’t even know why you are in Iraq. How can you know that same sex relating is evil? I try to understand and tolerate you at arms length. Do the same for us. We do not need homosexuality acceptance! Be cool!
What’s with the bragging and name calling? You see, a lot of your problems have come about because of a lack of respect for the sovereignty and dignity of other nations and people. America (USA) is a nation of conquering immigrants whose wealth and prosperity status would not be the same without having ridden on the back of slavery and theft. Great Britain’s Queen, God save her, presides over a kingdom groomed and nurtured on blood money. To date, the leaders of that little island still practice open colonialism! I know, it’s unbelievable but so true! I have not heard your hullabaloo over the source of your wealth! Nor over the dubious standards when creating wars-for-profit off your shores. When you continue to oppress young nations, deploy your superior coercive strength to extract outcomes that only benefit your selfish objectives no matter the cost to others and try to impose cultures and values that are abhorrent and insensitive to your targets, how can you possibly stand tall and look yourselves in the mirror? What is your moral locus? Prosperity? Freedom? Democracy? Equal Rights? What face can you put to this abomination that lets you eat without retching?
That said, let’s move the debate to where it should be. Deterrent punishment for homosexual offenders and the drive against universal social acceptance of the homosexual act in Uganda. I say this. We in Uganda understand our situation slightly better than you our brothers. We shall never accept a society characterized by blatant disregard for the order of nature nor by such a disrespectful use of the gift of sexuality! We have enough of our own home-grown serious problems I assure you. Please do not try to run us over with yours! Enough is enough surely!
First you came with guns and killed us for fun. Then you raped our women, pillaged our lands. Did you stop? No, you chained up our energetic youth, caged them in treacherous ships and whipped the survivors into slavery to drive your economies. Then you forced us to grow crops to feed your industries and coffers, never mind that it cost us nutritionally and economically. You forced us to pay allegiance and taxes to your monarchs. You ruled us, confused us and abused us. You made us pay dearly for daring to ask for self rule. Then you launched us into self-doubt by imposing your form of governance on our young leaders without training them. Net result, disaster that gave you more leverage and the moral high ground. Applause, Very clever! Well, all this was not exactly you, but your forefathers. Point is, why are you not dressed in mourning? Where are the sackcloths and ashes, O you of high moral fibre? We hear not a whimper! If we have buried all that, and now break bread with you without condemnation, it doesn’t mean we have forgotten. Nor does it mean that we’ll turn around and bend over!

Beware you mass-hypnotists, I am soon to be president of Uganda!! Long live clean Uganda! Long live Africa!

Leonard said...

We don't prescribe to you what is or should be acceptable to you in your countries. You obviously still want to do that to us!¨ Marlon

Dear Marlon,

Just because you can type and use spell-check doesn´t excuse you from stating REAL FACT! I will address only one section of your tirade against TRUTH because it quickly points out your spoiled, overpuffed, positioning of yourself as exclusive victim (again).

As you apparently don´t know Archbishop Orombi of Ugandas Anglican Province has been ¨squatting¨ on properties of the Episcopal Church in The United States of America...he´s cultivated bigots and thieves to do his unholy dirty work as he preaches moral purity and practices sins against God and Man (the Ten Commandments come to mind)...Orombi and his white thug followers have been directed by the Supreme Court in both the U.S. States of Georgia and California to ABANDON the buildings they have stolen from TEC...furthermore Orombi and accomplices have been DENYED appeal at the United States Supreme Court...they are unwelcome to take the property of others no matter how justified they believe themselves to be...for many years Henry Orombi (as long as he has been Primate of Uganda) has been sneaking around cultivating the associations of those with hatred against LGBT people (at Church) in the United States...the man and his white handlers work in ¨cooperation¨ with one another to initiate outcasting of LGBT citizens which results in most countries in exclusion and crimes of hate...yes, please start gaining on personal responsibility and accountability for what YOU and OROMBI and others do...it is YOU that have become the very disturbed individual who wishes your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, coworkers, friends and everyday fellow citizens DEATH! Look quickly into your own damaged SOUL (clearly you´ve got some sick thinking/beliving to sort out) Marlon. STOP engendering fear and hate and try and seek some professional help because you are way past emotionally and spiritually healthy...you are oozing FEAR, IRRATIONALITY and HATE.

Repent by taking responsibility for your own insanity and evil deeds against your fellow citizens and other human beings worldwide.

There is no place to hide from who you really are.

Jean-Paul, Canada said...

As I said, how anyone can read comments made by Rev. Desmond Tutu ...and Uganda's own Christopher...and prefer stewing in their ignorance and hatred is really far, far beyond me.

Fortunately, Martin Ssempa is not recognized as part of the mainstream churches in Uganda, and christian homophobia evaporates in the light of scientific discoveries.

gayuganda said...

Hmmmm,

I had come to welcome Marlon Mulumba.

But, the lady seems to have been welcomed.

Margaret, it is funny but these homosexuals here will kind of shame hate speech.

And, playing the race cards etc is kind of old. I dont like their significance that we Africans dont seem to have any new cards to play. Including the old colonial card....

Err, it is just because, as you guessed, am gay. And, I am Ugandan. Kind of gives me a real different perspective.

Instead of ranting... stay. Ask questions. Learn.

You do need lots to learn.

Ever heard the one about 'empty tins'????

unused said...

And for who does Marlon speak? I am Ugandan, Anglican and heterosexual and I stand against this bill. And the mainstream faiths are now squarely against it. You, Marlon and your fellow extremists amount to an insignificant minority. The inter religious council which by the way accounts for over 90% of Ugandans by faith has come out belatedly against the bill. You have been left to hang dry, it must irk you so. And get your facts right, we inherited homophobia from our colonial masters, and the law currently on the books is a holdover from the British colonial code, but that can not be said for homosexuality which predated colonialism! Your revisionist history should be spewed to the gullible or the uninformed. Try Ssempa's blog, he'll most certainly publish your trash. And as for becoming president of Uganda, think again, H.E has no immediate plans to leave just as yet!

Jean-Paul, Canada said...

What is M.M. talking about, and why here?

This entire mess was caused by Risk Warren's promoting his "Driven-Nation' nonsense, even though he did express his tremendous surprise when the 'kill-the-gays' Bill was formulated.

In fact, I distinctly recall Warren, last December, publicly pleading with Martin Ssempa and the Ugandan Parliament to reject this ignoble attempt to murder human beings because of their sexual orientation.

I hasten to add that "The Family" has backed away from Uganda, as has Richard Cohen, Scott Lively and other religious nutters out to make money from gullible believers stuck in the Old Testament.

So M.M., blow it out your ear!

We are not all as kind as gug when confronted with a bully like you.

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