Conflicting orthodoxies; The Kuchu’s Right to Faith and Belief (2)

One of the most challenging and spine chilling thing for the kuchu of faith in Africa is the apparent ‘orthodoxy’ of beliefs…, that the religious in Uganda Ghana and Africa, the main religions apparently down right frown about our sexuality. The frowning, the condemnation, the hell and brimstone, spit, thorns and faeces throwing condemnation…, it is held up as unchallenged orthodoxy in much of the African setting.

Yet this is not true…, this is not true at all.

This observation can be surprising for any kuchu on the ground. We live in our bubbles of poverty and circumstances enforced. What we know is what is in the country, the capital and economic big cities, at most. We are not exposed to the wider world, bigger than ‘Uganda the Village’.

And what we see is near universal condemnation.
When the Mufti of Uganda wants us exiled on an island in Lake Victoria so that we can ‘die out there’, that is what we hear. When the Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda espouses his anti-gay views at the pulpit day after day, which is what we hear. That is what is reported in the country, on the ubiquitous radios and televisions airwaves. When Pastor Aloysius Bujjingo, the SALT media mogul, gay bashes in public Pastor Kayanja, televangelist of ‘Miracle Center Cathedral’ and Kayanja ministries, poor Pastor Kayanja (powerful man as is) can barely push back, because the charge is homosexuality.
Homosexuality is the worst of stigmatisation, in Uganda.

Yet this religious ‘orthodoxy’ is a sham. In the major religions believed in most of Africa, there is serious dissension on the subject of homosexuality. And, many in those same religions embrace homosexuals, in various different ways, a sharp contrast to the supreme anti-gay bashers who actually embarrass some of their friends with their fanaticism (like the gay porn showing Pastor Martin Ssempa).

Take the Catholic Church in Uganda.
Oh yes, they frankly bear no love for the African Kuchu, confessing Catholic or not. And they will not preach so, the good Catholic Fathers of Uganda.
Yet, in the face of the reigning Pontiffs parsing of anti-LGBTQ+ feeling, they couldn’t openly air their distaste. Pope Francis is welcoming of LGBTQ+ people, (which is a shock, shock, shock, to any Ugandan Kuchu who happens to be Catholic in faith.) Pope Francis believes, and teaches that singling out the ‘sin’ of homosexuality from other sins is hypocritical. And further, he encourages outreach to Kuchu Catholics; the love of Christ is apparently for Kuchus too.

I repeat, this view would be shocking news to most Catholics in Uganda, to kuchu Catholics most.
The Catholic Fathers of Uganda disagree with Pope Francis. And, faced with actually having to preach an inclusive love by Christ, or going against their popular homophobic prejudice, they chose the coward’s way out. Silence. A resounding silence.
They chose not to comment on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023 in Uganda. They then opted to inform the world that they were waiting for the text of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 before they commented…, and, I am personally to hear any comment from the revered fathers of the Catholic Church in Uganda.

But, it is important to remember that their silence has been very effective as a vehicle for anti-kuchu, anti-gay sentiment. They are the biggest denomination in the country, Uganda. Knowledge that their revered leader, the Pontiff was openly anti-criminalisation of homosexuality would have been a shock and set back to the anti-gay forces in Uganda. They were silent…, it was not reported. And Pope Francis chose not to comment openly on a subject that his Bishops in the country supported covertly.

In Ghana, legislator Amidu Chinnia Issahaku relies on this false orthodoxy in this article, claiming religious and spiritual support for his anti-gay views, in this oped. Of course he doesn’t mention that the reigning Pope of Catholics disagrees with him. Nor that the Archbishop of Canterbury also disagrees with the Bishop of Accra…,

The shism of the Anglican Communion.
Instructive.., that a crucial part of Anglicanism disagrees with fanatical anti-gay attitudes.
Again the dispute has been of long standing. But, the Kuchu in Uganda, and in much of Africa, who happens to be Anglican is more than likely not in the know. When Archbishop Welby wrote his letter to the Archbishop Kaziimba of the Church of Uganda, that was the first that many got to know that there were actually Anglicans who had a parsing on the whole homosexuality debate. A parsed outlook, fractured…, but not the orthodoxy which apparently includes supporting the death penalty for the homosexual, in practice, if not in principle.

Of course this is not suprising. ‘Orthodoxy’ in a religion and unity of thought is an impossible aim. We are human beings. We joy and rejoice in our differences.., and thought orthodoxy is sheer lunacy (personal POV).
That is a matter of fact…, yet for the African LGBTQ+ individual, the kuchu, is led to believe that they are so evil and such sinners that they cannot believe, are not welcome spiritually before their God. That its either their spirituality or their faiths. An impossible choice.

It is not often that Kuchus are even exposed to the fact that the major religions actively disagree with that point of view.
That, in a way, is profound insight that was partly gifted to me when I was searching for answers for myself.
I became disgusted with the lies and obfuscation and lack of common decency with our leaders of mosque and church. Way long ago in the evolution of my spirituality. It is still quite relevant today, to the Kuchu on the streets of Kampala, Nairobi or Accra, and anywhere in Africa.

We are, people of faith. And though some reject us, there are others who affirm us. Our humanity, our sexualities, our loves.
And, it is our humanity’s right to have a faith and knowledge of faith, that might or might not contrast with the ‘orthodoxy’ of anti-kuchu sentiment forced upon us.

We are Kuchu. We are human beings. We can be people of faith. It is an intensely personal decision.., and it is ours to make, personally.

 

gug

The Kuchu’s Right to Faith and Belief (1)

We Africans are a spiritual people.
The reasons for that might be myriad, and frankly un-understandable to me as an individual, but, it is an enduring fact of social existence on the continent. Growing up and living here, one cant help but be impressed at the depth and breadth of spirituality and beliefs.
Kuchus, (LGBTQ+) Africans, are also deeply spiritual people, like other Africans.
That is also matter of fact. These are our people, we cannot reject our people, even when the leaders disdain and attack us. We are, for all our putative crimes, we are African. With the blessings and curses that come with that identity.

Most, Africans, in Africa, strongly and vigorously prescribe to an inalienable right to faith, belief and religions, as a strongly held convictions.
An apparent paradox to that is that many of my fellow Africans would seek to deny the Kuchu, the (LGBTQ+ African) the right to belief, on account of their sexuality. Indeed, many fellow Africans fervently seek to convert the Kuchu to their own interpretation of faiths and scriptures.

I am African. I reverently and fully embrace my identity as African. And yes, poke my finger in the metaphorical eye of any who would seek to deny my identity as African.

My inalienable right to faith and belief I also embrace.
Oh yes, I do. I do not believe. And, I strongly believe that as strong as your right to believe what you believe is, that is as strong as my right not to believe in what I don’t believe in.
Oh and yeah, it started off being cheeky…, ended up…, well, an earned scepticism.

Quite a number of fellow Africans have interpreted my lack of a confirmed faith as a result of my sexual orientation. That is not accurate. The vast majority of kuchus that I know are people of faith. They believe, and are members of the major faiths and religions.
And, Kuchu believers have a right to faith, as inalienable as that of any other African’s.

Logical, isn’t it?
Yet I have sat across a table from and listened in wonder as prominent ‘believers’ sought to impress on me how faithless it was to be kuchu. That because I am kuchu, that definition totally defines my spirituality as godless, demon possessed, anti-god, anti-morality, anti-humanity. Anti-gay rhetoric in Uganda, and quite a bit of Africa denies our humanity, and much of the semblance of what, in our African eyes, marks a human being. Check out this, a report on the debate on an anti-homosexuality bill in the parliament of Ghana on 5^th of July.

 

“Minister ..,Dan Botwe, who described as “madness” the activities of lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, and transgender (LGBT) humans.. a Satanic force that should not be allowed to fester.., For him, “eternal vigilance” should be exercised by the country”

 

It is the rhetoric of dehumanisation, embraced by the prominent influencers, and firmly believed by leaders, political, religious and spiritual in a lot of Africa.
We inhale all that toxicity, and we kuchus also tend to believe it, till we stand up and assert that, hell on earth, we are still demonstrably human, and our spirituality, an inherent part of our humanity, cannot be taken away from us. Simply because we are as human as those who are throwing the stones, the anti-gay.

After the debate on the anti-homosexuality bill in the Ghanaian parliament this month, it was time for Ghanaian politicians to go all out and preach and articulate their hate of the Ghanaian Kuchu.
Hey, I am a Ugandan. The cycles of hate are becoming quite predictable, in Uganda and outside.
Hon. Amidu Chinnia Issahaku (MP for Sissala East) of Ghana is apparently cashing in. He was hitting the airwaves, and took the time to pen titled Ghanaian Culture and the Gay Menace. Ironically regurgitating the talking points of the American Far Right in American Cultural Wars. The originality was…, distinct, is the word.

But, Hon Issahaku first had to impress on his Ghanaian audience how much against scriptures the kuchu is.
He quotes Christian scripture, and Islamic scripture. He hints that African religion, pre-colonial, was anti-homosexual (that assertion is suspect to say the least)
Preaching to the converts, as most anti-gay activists in Africa do, and love to do. The aim is to shower up their credentials as upright and moral human beings, prominent members of society.

A distinct fact they ignore, as Amidu Chinnia Issahaku did ignore, is that Kuchu (LGBTQ+) Ghanaians exist.
And, they believe. They are human beings, and have a spirituality that is undeniable as human beings. And, of course they have come to a reconciliation of their faiths and beliefs, and their sexualities.

Amidu Chinnia Issahaku believes that because he interpretes religion as unwelcoming to Kuchu Ghanaians, that there are none that welcome them. Thankfully, we do have alternative communities that welcome us. And, the Rt Honourable member would be quite flabbergasted that the reigning Pontiff of the Catholic Church actually welcomes us. And there are quite a number of alternates to his apocalyptic vision of our evilness.

Of course, there are some like me…, ahem, ahem, ahem.
I sincerely don’t believe, even though I believe in your right as a human being to believe.
But, I have come across ‘believers’ who insist on quoting their scriptures in my surprised face…, and I ask myself, what part of ‘I don’t believe’, don’t they understand? I get them.., I am an African, a human being. Surely I must believe…,
Those discussions have evolved my thinking, but I sincerely don’t appreciate being informed of how bad I am supposed to be according to your scriptures, however holy you believe them to be. I just don’t believe.

In all his fervency, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku and other anti-gay people in Uganda, like Martin Ssempa and Stephen Kaziimba, fail to grasp something important. Which is quite frustrating, to them, I imagine. They can use their powers to silence us, but, because we are, and we are human just like them, we will always claim and embrace our basic humanity.
Their counter is dehumanising and objectifying us; classic pathways of prejudice, still balking at the basic fact challenge. Our humanity; we are human.

We are Kuchu. Our right, as human beings, and as Africans to faith and belief is a pragmatic matter of fact. We are. And, we are human beings. And, we are spiritual.
Faith is a personal thing…, and we will always embrace our own spirituality and spiritualties. Dehumanising rhetoric, however holy and righteous it sounds runs counter to our experience of humanity. Its like the struggle one has to impress another that a rock is bread. Reality wins out.

Or at least so we hope.

 

gug

Ghana, Kenya, Uganda: With love from America ( : the Far Right)

We, African Kuchus (LGBTQ+) have the dubious honour of being constantly termed not only un-African because of our sexuality, but also some kind of super agents for the nefarious west intent on corrupting pure African morals. They (the bad, bad West), are the ones that supposedly fund our ‘recruitment’ and ‘promotion of homosexuality’.

Now, I don’t have any shame embracing, with great pleasure and passion, my Kuchu (LGBTQ+) brethren in the west. They understand me, much better than my puttated African brothers and sisters who are currently celebrating and rejoicing how they can legally put me in prison for life, and also to death.
I must admit not yet having seen the monies for ‘recruitment’, I must need a harem.., (of course I do. The anti-gay people say I do.)  and when I get that money that the anti-gay forces tell me should be on the way, I will set up my harem of nubile men aplenty.

But, besides accusing me and my kuchu brethren of being agents of the west, it is these very people who are lapping, nice lapdogs, the ideologies of the American Far Right. They are bringing the American cultural wars to Uganda, and Kenya, and Ghana…, and the proof is actually blinding.

In Ghana, after the second reading of their anti-homosexuality bill, an anti-gay member of parliament, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku (MP for Sissala East), had an oped published, on the LGBTQ+ Menace threatening God’s Holy Ghana. Here is an extract

After trying to convince why he has the support of (colonial) religions, he asserts-

 

“LOOMING DANGERS:

We have witnessed how Western countries, particularly the USA, champion LGBTQ+ rights and move beyond boundaries, imposing dehumanizing practices on their citizens. These countries have started providing gender-affirming care for minors, allowing them to change their gender without parental consent. These practices in Western countries have diminished the positive influence parents have on their children. Gender-affirming care for minors can be considered child abuse and child sexual mutilation.”

 

Looming danger indeed. I am sure any American would identify with that language currently inflaming politics in the US, the 2024 election cycle.

Matter of fact, in Africa, most of my transgendered (ADULT) friends have no access to drugs. No, they don’t.
In Uganda, even our HIV meds are paid for by those big bad Americans, gods bless them mightily, and we have 1.2 million Ugandans on the life-saving medicines. I doubt the challenges differ in Ghana…, ‘Gender affirming care for minors’? Oh gracious goodness, what a fear to wave and scare the ignorant of!

But, that ‘copy and paste’ direct from the Far Right talking points of the American Cultural Wars was part of the persuasive arguments from an African, a Ghanaian legislator.

Amidu Chinnia Issahaku   continues…, apparently speaking from the heart, of clear and present dangers, that are stalking and soon snaring, good old Ghana and the Ghanaians.

 

Through the LGBTQ+ agenda, the nuclear family's role in promoting positive education is undermined. The distinct differences between men and women are ignored, and society is forced to recognize non-existing genders. It is no longer limited to men and women or boys and girls; children in these Western pro-LGBTQ+ societies are made to believe that they could be trapped in the wrong body, resulting in body mutilation to achieve their "proper" gender.”

 

Again ‘copy and paste’ with no analysis, no further input, from the American Far Right.

Clearly I would want access to this kind of education and care for my transgendered kuchu brothers and sisters. It simply doesn’t exist. We lack the very basics of education in sexuality. Drugs for transgendered individuals? Not in much of Africa (oh yes, South Africa), but not in much of the rest of Africa.

This African leader, suckling on the breast of the American Far Right, came up with lots of ideological ‘points’, and undigested, reproduces them to justify his support for the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ Africans, Ghanaians.

And, I bet you, he doesn’t see the irony of what he is doing.
I have the excuse that I am actually a Kuchu, an LGBTQ+ African.., for embracing my Kuchu brothers and sisters outside Africa.
What excuse would this good Ghanaian, African legislator have for parroting, and believing American Far Right talking points, over and above the American citizens themselves? Who said colonialism ended years ago? Neo-colonialism, indeed.

Indeed, eyes, but they don’t see.

Oh, the phenomenon is not uniquely Ghanaian. FWI has been proselytising across Africa.

Ugandan legislators were hobnobbing and sharing with American Far Right Activists from the group Family Watch International as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 was passed.

And, the Kenyan legislator, Peter Kaluma, empowered by the same Americans, was quick to introduce another bill in the Parliament of Kenya, with similar language… again, to the American Far Right’s talking points. Please follow that link. It is quite educative. And sad.

This would be very funny, if it was not deadly serious.
African legislators, taking American Far Right talking points and crafting bills in their national parliaments that are a direct evolution, regurgitated from the US Far Right. The very country that they accuse of ‘interfering’ with their ‘sovereignty’, …

Sigh…,

I am an African. And yes, the irony and shame is palpable.

But, that is what it is. Cry, beloved Continent.

 

gug