Martyr's day in Uganda.

The Malawi couple have been shown on TV thanking the President for pardoning them. So would I, 14 years in jail is something. Hey, I am no Mandela....!

Yet it bugs me, why would I have to thank someone for pardoning me when I am sure I have done no wrong? I make a ceremony with my lover and someone then goes ahead to throw me in prison for that? After due process of course....! Sigh. It sure gals.

3rd of June. Dont remember why the day was made a National holiday, but it was. Most of the time I have been thinking about the blackmail letter. Decided to go with GayNairobiMan's advice. Tell them to go throw themselves in the lake.

I guess Blackmail will always be there. As long as we do need to live in the closet, there will be those who want to take advantage of our condition. Whether it is for money, or some obscure cause, etc. But, as and when we can, we should tell them to go dunk their heads in the toilet..... gives them a much needed wash.

Martyrs' day. A commemoration of the day that one of the kings of Buganda was so incesed at some of his pages refusing him sex that he went ahead and killed them. Some former lovers by his own hand. Funny thing is that, that inconvenient fact had been forgotten when history was being dressed up. It would have been too easy to show that homosexuality in Uganda predated the Christian religion....! Thanks to the raging anti-gay fires, this has been forced to the fore. And then, we are being painted as the villains..... simply because we take after one of our precolonial forbearers.... Oh well, there is no satisfying these guys.
I am glad of one thing. Ssempa had boasted that around this time, there would be an International Anti-Homosexuality Conference in Kampala....! Wish I could remind him of that. He had promised a 'Million Man March' on Kampala (to support passage of the bill), the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill as an Easter 'present' to the country, and then the conference on 3rd June, to carry the anti-gay campaign to the world. Sigh....!

But, let us not forget that the 'anti-homosexuality bill' is in parliament. And, it has support from the vast majority of Ugandans. So, as it is election year in 2011, (and the govt desperately needs a whipping boy to detract from corruption in official cycles etc and deflect attention), the Pres took advantage to the full. It was Martys' day... The story in the government owned New Vision

Museveni warns on dangers of sodomy

Thursday, 3rd June, 2010     

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has commended the Church for its strong stand against homosexuality.

He asked the clergy and African leaders to guard against Western culture, warning that the continent will end up eaten by homosexuality if they relax.

“The African Church is the only one that is still standing against homosexuality. The Europeans are finished. If we follow them, we shall end up in Sodom and Gomorrah,” Museveni warned.

The two cities were burnt by God over their wickedness, according to the Old Testament of the Bible.

Citing his parents who joined Christianity 50 years after it had been introduced in Ankole region, the President said it is unwise for people to embrace new cultures just for the sake of it.

Museveni made the remarks while addressing thousands of pilgrims who paid homage to the Christian martyrs at the Church of Uganda shrine in Namugongo near Kampala yesterday.

The function, organised by West Ankole and Namirembe dioceses, was attended by Anglican bishops and clergy from across the country.

The function marked 124 years since 45 Christian converts, 22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans, were killed on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga II, for refusing to denounce their faith.

The majority of the martyrs were burnt to death while others were beheaded and castrated in 1886. The 22 Catholic martyrs were canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

Applauding the martyrs for acting bravely against “immorality in Mwanga’s palace”, the President urged the congregation to emulate them to develop the country.

“These young men (martyrs) stood for cleanliness, truth and righteousness,” he noted.

“I hear there was homosexuality in Mwanga’s palace. This was not part of our culture. I hear he learnt it from the Arabs. But the martyrs refused these falsehoods and went for the truth, which is why we are honouring them today.”

He commended the martyrs for rejecting the “dehumanisation of people through homosexuality” and advised gay rights activists that Africa’s resistance against homosexuality is historical.

“When they hear us fighting homosexuality, they think we do so because of religion. No. Even before religion came, we were against it and many other vices,” he stressed.

Earlier, the guest preacher, the Bishop of Harare Church of the Province of Central Africa, Dr. Chad Gandiya, had condemned “the rapidly increasing” homosexuality in the world and asked the faithful to fight it.

“We are living in a world which is upside down. Some people talk about wicked things as if they are good. We need people to stand up for the truth and reject homosexuality,” Gandiya said.

And, the same from the Monitor.

“The church in Africa is very strong and has been at the fore in fighting homosexuality and moral decadence. We must look for modern ways of instilling discipline in society. The Europeans are finished and if we follow their western culture, we shall be headed for Sodom and Gomorrah (the two places which God destroyed because of sexuality),” he said

Well, it was Martyrs' day in Uganda yesterday. So, a bit of gay bashing was just in order...!

BUT. The major takeaway lesson is, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 of the Parliament of Uganda is not entirely dead.

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