Politics and Real Life

Long day.

Not too much. Just that the sweltering heat out makes it seem like it is a bit longer than usual. Just put in lots of work. Satisfied. More to do. But, I can put it off, listen to music, and write. Relax.

The country is in the grip of election fever.

Its too much, too loud, too obscene. I mean, our corrupted version of democracy. I don't seem to want to follow it. Know the results already....! Oh well, too cynical. But, our version of democracy is cynical at best. Latest corruption scandal? The government has used lots of taxpayers money to fund incumbents.... LOL. Of course, we insist that we are highly democratic. And, so we are. When we want to kill our homosexuals, we kind of tend to justify it that more than 90% of the populace seems to be for it...!

Enough with politics. It does sour the day. Just that it seems to be unescapable wherever you go in Kampala, or Uganda these days. Even follows one on facebook, the last redoubt and free space.... I try to avoid it.

So, what offerings are there from the web?

I trawl because it is fascinating going outside myself, seeing the world as it is...

Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male and other anti-gay Ugandan pastors are supposed to be in court for the case of trying to tarnish another pastor, Robert Kayanja's name. They say he is gay. He says he is not. But, it is said they went a step further.... Well, that is according to the police that investigated the case. 

THE Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) is ready to prosecute four city pastors, who are accused of conspiracy to injure the reputation of Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre.

Frankly, I do not trust this thing. Why? Call it gut feeling. Course, I am very happy to be wrong.

Why don't I trust it? Call it an apparent lack of reason. Why is the police following it? Injuring Pastor Kayanja's name is kind of the least of things these gentlemen have done in a long while. So, am suspicious of the reason. Seeing none, I look under the bed for unpleasant suprises. I will follow it, the case in the papers of course.

Martin 'eat da poo poo' Ssempa will not stop the show man stunts....! Here is the gentleman at court. Praying. For lighting to come and strike Pastor Kayanja the sodomite?

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That was yesterday. When I penned, and didnt post the first potion of this.

I have been listening to a very depressing conversation. A neighbour is building, has in some workers. They were talking about the coming elections, and were split fine along tribal lines. But, the speech was more than politics. Hate speech. A desire, expressed frankly in another person's face, to take a gun and kill every one of their particular ethnic group. For some slights and wrongs done by one politician.

And, the talkers are voters, adult Ugandans. Of course it is those sentiments that drive politics in Uganda. Hate, tribal sentiment, slights and presumed and actual slights. Frank prejudice clothed as 'common knowledge'. No wonder I as a homosexual would have a hard time convincing people like this that we are also human beings. Actually, it is very depressing. These are adult men, expressing hate for another of their number, a workmate, who hears them out, and comments that even the politician they are blaming all the wrongs on is not of his ethnic group. And, the answer is that the wrongs of that politician must be visited on all of that particular ethnic group. Nauseating stuff.

Elections are coming. Our version of raped and twisted democracy. We do have far to go.

Going back to the web... (have just actually been forced to relocate. Some evangelists have come, and my partner has invited them inside! Gosh, I do not like being asked into religious conversations. So, I have, not very politely, moved out....!)

Going back to the web, I came across this. Our world is diverse, indeed. And, interesting things happen, even in countries like Zimbabwe.

Being a Woman, Gay and Africa

Skye Chirape is a Zimbabwean fashion designer, artist and gay rights campaigner. She speaks to New African Woman about being a homosexual African woman, how she learnt to speak out, to stand up for her rights and also those of many other voiceless Africans afraid of coming out as gay.

And, from the UK, a Ugandan Lesbian, identified as so, is being sent back to Uganda.

A lesbian whose asylum application has been rejected by the United Kingdom (UK) Home Office is to be deported to an East African country hostile homos and recently proposed a bill which would make homosexual acts punishable by execution.

Well, my Uganda, of all places. Nsaba Buturo once told us that they know all of us. Am sure the lists are getting longer, more comprehensive...., and, of course the lady must be on them....! Duh, don't worry, you are in privileged company... even gug must be on that list!

The sickening monstrosity of 'Corrective rape' in South Africa touches the heart. I know. South Africa is a very violent country. I am from Uganda, so maybe I am not so impressed by that reputation. I mean, Uganda IS a very violent country, by many measures. But, Corrective Rape for goodness' sake!

In South Africa, lesbians are often targeted for rape and violence in a phenomenon some perpetrators call corrective rape – indicating they believe a lesbian’s sexual orientation can be changed through rape and violence.

In April 2008, Eudy Simelane, star of Banyana Banyana, South Africa’s female national soccer squad, was gang raped, beaten and then stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. She died. Two perpetrators received lengthy jail terms for her murder, two suspects were acquitted. Simelane was attacked because she lived an openly lesbian life, the first woman to do so in Kwa-Thema, a township east of Johannesburg.

People do hate us. Yes, I do know that many assume, including my own brother, that me having sex with a woman would correct my sexuality in a shot. Or, getting married, maybe. Yes, I did tell him that I had applied the purported solution, sleeping with women. Didnt seem to make any difference, LOL.

I did it with mutual consent. Of course I didnt tell my lovers that I was attracted to men. But, gosh, if it had ever been non-consensual to any degree....!

From the same source-

"Andile raped Millicent last year in April, [Easter long weekend] for five hours,” Fundi said. “He strangled her, he threatened [to throw] her body in the river, he is going to make her pregnant and he hates the fact that she is a lesbian, and he is going to get his firstborn child from Millicent."

Maybe, to put my own persecution complex into perspective, I will quote this from the Guardian. Most likely you have heard of the story. A Christian couple demanded that a gay couple that had booked into their motel don't sleep in the same bed. Well, it went to the courts. The Christians lost, and, said that they were being persecuted, for their sincere beliefs.

Within the past three weeks, dozens of Christians have been murdered in acts of organised violence in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria. In Pakistan, Sudan and Indonesia hundreds of thousands more live in fear.

They might all have something to say about the fatuous suggestion that two British hotel owners, Peter and Hazelmary Bull, are also being "persecuted" for their faith. Last month, the Bulls' right to turn gay people away from their hotel was challenged. Thankfully, Bristol county court has found that the couple acted unlawfully.

If the Bulls had a sense of humour, something they don't seem God-blessed with, they might have spotted the irony of spending the Christmas season fighting for the entitlement to turn guests away from their inn.

During passage of the 2006 Equality Act, Stonewall fought hard to secure pioneering "goods and services" protections for lesbian and gay people, protecting them for the first time against discrimination in the delivery of public and commercial services. The preceding legal entitlement to deny gay people a service was every bit as offensive as the notorious signs outside guesthouses that once said: "No blacks. No Irish." And people certainly took advantage of it, as lesbians denied smear tests and gay men refused holiday bookings were well aware.

Perspective. It is a very useful thing, to forget about my perceived, and real slights. To put them into a perspective that considers what happens around the world. I liked the conclusion to that article. No doubt I agree with it, but, am no Christians. And, I am a gay person. (of course I am also black, but no Irish!)

The Bulls' shadowy supporter, the Christian Legal Centre, suggests it may turn to the law again. If so, it might reflect that, for the estimated £30,000 this court case has cost it, Oxfam or Save the Children could have vaccinated 100,000 people against meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa. Now that would have been a genuinely Christian way to spend its money.

In Uganda, the ruling party made today a public holiday dedicated to it. Enjoy the rest, those who are.

gug

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