On Anti-Gay Hate

Been thinking about anti-gay hate.

Yeah, partly sparked by Somizi Mhlongo's outburst, 'Your hate will not make me Straight'!!!

And, it is hate that we are speaking about. The hate is clothed in many things. Religion. Culture. Nationalism...., etc. But, it is hate. 

I remember Pastor Martin Ssempa holding rallies in Uganda for the anti-homosexuality bill, asking for it to be passed into law. Showing films of gay porn in churches and conferences..., to whip up disgust and hate of 'what we do behind closed doors'. Was it fear, a phobia driving this level of hatred against fellow human beings?

One gay activist strongly argues that the word is too light, and misdirecting. Don Kilhefner argues

The word “phobia,” meaning “fear,” belongs to the lexicon of clinical psychology, not sociopolitical discourse regarding social privilege and societal change. The word “homophobia” trivializes and obfuscates what is really happening to gay people in the United States and globally now and historically. It says nothing about the source of a system that breeds gay and lesbian genocide.

It certainly seems tame to me to label as a 'fear' an apparent system that systematically dehumanises a part of humanity. For, we have to fall back on that, that we are human beings, first and foremost. And, the need to make us less than human, and then be able to do things that are only justifiable because we are supposedly less than human is something that....

Is fear the motivation?

Hmmm, in his killing of gays in Europe in Nazi Germany, was Hitler motivated by fear? Somalia, Bangladesh, Iraq, the ISIS held territories, is fear the motivation to outright brutal murder of gay people?

Apparently recently, the 'National Organisation of Marriage' spread its wings to become 'International;'.  And the first conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Ironically the only country on the continent that allows Queer Africans to tie the knot...., and in the gayest city of all. Was it carrying the battle to the enemy? LOLEST

Anyway, Queer people are labelled anti-marriage....., a misnomer if there was one. Of course we are not against straight people getting married. And, when we do want to get married, it is usually for the simplest of things. Love.

Anyway, we are supposed to be demons...., so we have to have some horns and tails hidden somewhere.

At the conference, the envoy of Nigeria was lauded for laws that have made Nigeria a documented hell for the Queer Nigerian. And, besides being clueless as to the real effects of that law..., the honourable envoy was spouting the usual garbage. Okay, she was telling the frank lies and myths similar to the ones Ssempa and co used in Uganda to promote the anti-homosexuality bill.

The ambassador, who was part of Nigeria`s delegation to the Congress, said it had become necessary to educate Nigerian youths on the need to resist the temptation of being lured into homosexuality as a means of survival. 

“ The Congress is very important for our social and youth development in Nigeria. Our youths should be sensitised on the dangers of homosexuality. “ Many Nigerians youths, especially those involved in illegal economic migration, have fallen prey to homosexual practices. “Many Nigerian youths abroad are now becoming gay because of economic inducement, either to legalise their documents or to get jobs and they bring back diseases like HIV/AIDS back to the country,” she said.

Listening to this, one should come up in arms to protect the innocence of the said youths.......,

Sigh, is it fear that stops them from actually having a conversation with say, a single gay Nigerian to get their facts right? Or a real gay Nigerians too fearful of coming out in the state of terror induced by the anti-same sex marriage law?

Let me end by sharing this story from a Nigerian news site. A middle aged man was threatened by local youths because he was thought gay. He moved away from home. When his brother comes visiting their mother, he is mistaken for the supposedly gay brother..., and beaten to death.

Some youths in Durumi II, a slum in Gudu District, Abuja, have allegedly killed a middle aged man over his brother’s alleged homosexuality.

The deceased, Joy, was mistaken for his brother, Alex, who had fled the area since 2011 after the community’s youths threatened to deal with him over homosexuality. 

Sources said the youths intruded the deceased’s compound at about 8.00pm last Tuesday demanding for Alex, the alleged homosexual before they pounced on his younger brother who recently came to visit his mother from Lagos.
A source told City News that the youths used axe and many other objects to hack their victim in his father’s house.

His mother, Mrs Esther, said she was in the bedroom when she heard the youth shouting, “Where is Alex, we heard he has returned home. Someone saw him when he entered this house about five minutes ago. He must die.”

She added that the youths said it was their responsibility to stop all those who were homosexuals in the community. 
She said before she could rush out of the room, some of the youths had already pounced on her son striking him with different harmful objects that led to his death

Very disturbing. Very, very sad. And very horrible.

The Nigerian Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act which was lauded at that 'Marriage Conference' in Cape Town has put a noose round any person suspected of being gay in Nigeria. Vigilante groups have been doing what is reported here, and was documented in that Human Rights Watch report so thoroughly.

Now, that is more than fear of homosexuality. The words that are used in conferences like the one in Cape Town are the rhetoric which feeds such hideously horrible acts, summary injustice, in the name of protecting the youths and community from homosexuality.

I need a bath. A long shower to run off this grime, this hate, followed by a long soaking bath, in love. I need to wash this out of my mind. Now.

gug