Homosexuality, A Differing Point of View

 

When one is deep in Uganda the Village, and one’s world is awash in homophobia, it is very difficult to imagine that there are others out there in the world who have a differing point of view.
A point of view that is not homophobic, and frank peddling of homophobia.
Of course we are aware of our siblings, LGBTQ+ peoples of the world. And, we are happy to have their distant support. But.., in our minds and eyes, they are far, far away, and their views, though welcome, are tainted, because we think ourselves tainted, just because we are kuchu. LGBTQ+ human beings.

It is very important with regards to religion.

Our people are religious. Deeply, deeply religious. So are we, kuchus.
Personally I am not, and I have to remind myself all the time because the tide of faith and religious beliefs around me is suffocating and overwhelming.
And, almost all the ‘good’ religious people in our environment are utterly convinced of our ‘badness’. We are evil incarnate, say the believers in Uganda. Christian. Moslem. Even animists, it seems.

Actual understanding that the ‘orthodoxy’ in Uganda is challenged, challengeable by other believers, outside ‘Uganda the Village’, is amazing. It is very lonely out here, imbibing the homophobia from birth…, internalising it. A simple declaration that the pastor might be wrong is amazing.

So, Pope Francis actually believes that to be LGBTQ+ is not that bad?
Simply amazing. How many of the faithful, Catholics, know that? A vanishing few. For Kuchus who are catholic, that can literally be life saving knowledge.
I know the nuances of his ‘support’. I have been forced to know. That support, actually going to the point of washing sinners’ feet, a powerful Catholic ritual, speaks volumes.

You can read even more volumes from the resounding silence of the Catholic Bishops in Uganda, on the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.
I must have missed their communication…, though I didn’t miss this columnist actually praising them for the silence. How…, odd?!

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter to the Church of Uganda and the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda did make some waves. Not as much as those that were made by Archbishop Kaziira’s intemperate answer. That did grab attention.
Again, the issue was, someone was willing to go the length of actually calling out the hate and homophobia that the ‘Man of God’ was airing in his ungentle gratitude.., gratitude that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 was law of Uganda.

Yet another group, the Church of England Evangelical Council, has surprisingly differed with Archbishop Kaziira.
I don’t know much about the group, but, from what I am working out, they seem to believe a bit similar to Kaziira.. with regards to opposition to gay marriage.., BUT, they object, clearly and forcefully, to the extent Kaziira’s hate and homophobia is manifest. His apparently natural allies against Canterbury, also calling him out on his excesses.

“"We oppose the criminalization of consensual homosexual behavior, especially when combined with severe penalties and requirements to report people for their behavior," the Church of England Evangelical Council said. "We believe such laws encourage victimization of those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or same-sex attracted and make the church's commitment to listen to, care for, and disciple all people, regardless of sexual orientation, much more difficult to live out.””

My take?
Another opinion, differing from the apparent cement thick religious orthodoxy in Uganda the Village. Very welcome, in challenging the orthodoxy of scriptural hate from the scripture thumping GAFCON primates.

Nope. I don’t think of them as allies.
But, as people who I might not have to fight for my life and liberty, simply because of my sexuality. And, they do put a significant dent in the halo that ‘St’ Kaziira is building around himself in Uganda the Village.

 

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