Without a doubt, for a Kuchu
(LGBTQ+) individual living in Uganda, and pretty much of Africa, the
environment is quite toxic.
We discount it.., a matter of personal safety, physical and personal mental
health. We have to grow calluses to our sensitivity. We have to have skin the thickness
of crocodile hide to weather the hate and toxicity around. When the state and
its politicians, church and mosque, and every influencer of note preach firmly
the belief that we kuchus are horrible people, it is simply a wonder if and
when we don’t start believing the same.
Of course we are human beings. We, kuchus inhale the poison and toxicity. We are insane in our sanity. We internalise the homophobia. That is a matter of fact.
Stephen Fry, prominent British
comedian, had reason to visit Uganda during the hysteria surrounding the
Anti-Homosexual Act 2014. He met and talked to Simon Lokodo in 2012, then
Uganda’s Minister for ‘Ethics and Integrity’, and prominent, official anti-gay
activist..., and Stephen Fry went back to his hotel room and attempted to commit
suicide.
An adult LGBTQ+ individual, from a country and environment that accepts people
of differing sexualities. Fry just had a whiff of the air in Uganda…, and he
was lucky he survived. True, he leaves with bipolar disorder, which most likely
made our daily lived reality precipitate, for him. It
was reported
“he was prompted to attempt suicide after conducting a television interview with Uganda’s minister for Ethics and Integrity, Simon Lokodo, in 2012. “[He] was a foaming, frothing homophobe of the worst kind [and] behind the bill in Uganda that was supposed to make homosexuality a capital offence, in other words a death sentence,” says Fry”
And the ‘foaming, frothing homophobe’ is a literal and accurate description of many of Uganda’s anti-gay activists, including the churchmen Martin Ssempa and Stephen Kaziira, and the politicians of course.
Wonder how damaged we kuchus on
the ground are, in comparison?
Oh yes. We are damaged individuals. We wouldn’t be human, to live in this toxic
environment and come out sparkling. We are simply human.
Wonder what effect that reality
has on the children, teens
questioning, discovering their sexuality?
Well, we are damaged…, But, that is life. We have to bear with it. Yeah, quite
a few die, by suicide and otherwise. And of course we hide, however we can.
That is the basic of survival, as and when one can.
Why the introspection?
An article in the Monitor newspaper. A guest writer, Reverend Gideon Byamugisha. He is a churchman. And, as a person living with HIV, he shattered perceptions when he came out positive, saying he had HIV. Put a face to the virus, confronted the prejudice, in and out of the church… And apparently he remembered. And remembers.
The
article.
Yes, it has a lot of issues…, Reverend Gideon Byamugisha happens to be a
Ugandan, and he believes quite a number of myths and prejudices that are taken
as truth in Uganda. But, he also comes from a time and space that is intimately
conversant with the might and cruelty of majority prejudice.
A simple breath of less polluted
air, in the toxicity of ‘debate’ in Uganda about my sexuality.
It is not enough. We need a cleansing wind to remove the fog and smog. But, we
don’t have winds in the foulness of air in Uganda. We only can celebrate this
little breeze.
To contrast, the Archbishop of the
Church of Uganda is calling
for a Crusade, Africans to ‘evangelise’ the world.., presumably with the
gospel against homosexuality. Should we be thankful he is not yet calling for a
pogrom?
The Moslems think us beneath the notice of a Jihad, thankfully. At least that
is what I hope. The President of the Republic believes Uganda should lead
Africa to save
the world from homosexuality.
How astonishing, and embracing, for a churchman, a Ugandan, living in Uganda, to come out and assert that “Anti-gay anger is neither Christian nor African”.
Breath of fresh air, in a toxic smog indeed.
gug
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