Rumblings

It is not easy to be gay.

Not even in Britain! Just got to go through some of my stuff, and came across the case of David Laws…. a former British Cabinet Secretary. Though the problem was not really his sexuality. Or, maybe it was. The closet for gay men is a powerful influence on the things that we do, say, and are. 

Reminds me of the gay Republican California state senator. One day he was very straight and a gay basher. Then he became a repentant man, tearfully accepting that he was gay. And, now he is even acknowledging, in his fear of being outed, he did hurt people like himself. Fact of life. The closet does make us do funny, self hurting things. From suicide, to other self hating, self defeating things. Whether we are in the west, east, or in dear Uganda.

Can the church help here? Depends. On many things. But, in many cases, the Church, and religion is an institution which scares us deeper into closets. See what is happening in the Catholic church….  seeking to actively exclude gay people from a celibate priesthood! Ha ha ha ha…, and that laugh is one of bitter irony. Hypocrisy entrenched, institutionalised. Is that better than this bishop here? I guess my disappointment with all aspects of organised religion will continue. Man, human beings can be good. Nothing seems to bring out the evilness of man like good old organised religion. Especially in the hate of minorities, when religion has the gall to give absolution to those who hate.

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Woke up late,

a sunny day promised, summer sunny, little rain or cloud if any. I aim to do a prowl of the web, think, debate. Not the botched Israel raid on a peace flotilla- kind of over my head, though it is kind of interesting. The sheer hugeness of the PR machine, the spin even when spin is not working and makes everything just worse. The circling of the wagons mentality. I tend to think that this analysis is spot on with regards to the planning and actual events. 

The whole point of the "Gaza flotilla" was to get a reaction out of Israel and call international attention to the problem of the blockade of Gaza. Israeli officials described it as "a provocation" and I'm not sure that was entirely incorrect: like all other acts of civil disobedience it was designed to provoke a response. I'm shocked but not surprised that the Israeli military, which was determined to prevent those ships from reaching the Gaza port, managed to mishandle the situation so badly that, as present report stand, at least 10 flotilla participants were killed and 60 injured.

Maybe something has happened in Uganda, apart from the defeat of the ruling party (NRM) in a by-election. The MP elect, one Nambooze, is to be sworn in today. That has been a saga in its own right. Life does move on, and we do live history.

Have to move on. Have a good day.

gug