US Funding, for HIV Programs in Uganda

When the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 was signed into law in Uganda, the heads of Uganda’s international partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, PEPFAR, Global Fund) came out with a statement telling Uganda that was a bad move.
UNAIDS and its partners have always advocated for decriminalisation of same sex sexuality one of the major ways of HIV prevention. That is historical fact, so the statement should not have been a surprise.

In Uganda, the public sphere went amok.
‘The Americans’ were threatening to kill poor innocent Ugandans simply to spread and promote homosexuality. Cries of ‘blackmail’ and ‘bring it on’ were heard from Ugandan leaders, influencers and other concerned Ugandans. Our ‘sovereignty’ was defined under attack, our dependency on foreign aid decried and lambasted. Quite a lot was said-, quite a lot which should not have been said.

So, why should the HIV prevention efforts of Uganda be affected?

Simply because of the law. The Anti-Homosexuality Act; 2023.

The US spends almost half a billion dollars annually on a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and care programme in Uganda. This is distinctly different from the military aid that is also under attack. These monies go on HIV/AIDS prevention and care, including some 1,2 Million Ugandans on life saving and life prolonging drugs.

Inevitably, since LGBTQ+ individuals are a key vulnerable population in HIV, there are programmes and clinics that focus on the LGBTQ+ population for prevention and care.

According to the text of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 as written; there is a Reporting mandate, and more that would impact HIV/AIDS programming.

·         HIV/AIDS prevention and care for ‘homosexuals’ is ‘Promotion of Homosexuality’, and was clearly defined in the law as such.

·         In that case, funders for the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ were criminalised.
Since USAID and PEPFAR (the American government) fund those clinics and organisations, USAID, PEPFAR and the American Government are clearly breaking the law of Uganda, and ‘promoting homosexuality’ by funding HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Uganda.

·         Organisations that work with homosexuals in HIV/AIDS are also very clearly ‘promoting homosexuality’ and are criminalised in Uganda, according to the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

·         Landlords who house the above organisations are also quite clearly criminalised in the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 of Uganda.

·         In another part of the Act, good Ugandans are encouraged to report the known ‘homosexual’ to Police.
The reporting mandate excluded lawyers, but it doesn’t exclude health care workers who include HIV/AIDS care workers, doctors to other extension workers.

Clearly, the law was a problem.
The American Ambassador to Uganda took it upon herself to have some discussions with relevant government people. Besides the real investment in funding over multiple decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a lot of people could die, simply because there is a law against the ‘promotion of homosexuality’.

In the flying accusations of blackmail, telling the Americans to fuck off, with the Ministry of Health denying a problem as per its spokesperson, and other medics coming out and seeing nefarious reasons, aka, ‘promotion of homosexuality, the head of Uganda AIDS Commission had a blunt assessment

 

““they are just taking precautions and saying for communities that may be discriminated, ‘What steps do we want to put in place to ensure that they continue accessing treatment to ensure that they continue to access treatment?’”

 

Apparently, the Minister of Health, A medical doctor, was unhelpful on the concerns of ‘the Americans’, to the point that the American envoy’s assessment of her was brutal and blunt. Maybe she is more concerned for the spiritual safety of Ugandans than their physical health…, am just saying. Here is the American envoy’s assessment of Minister of Health Dr Ruth Aceng;

 

“She reportedly took issue with Health Minister Jane Aceng, who was not in the meeting, saying her disposition on the matter of homosexuality was likely to reverse years of gains in healthcare and particularly HIV/Aids treatment, largely supported by development partners.”

 

The American envoy then took it up with the President. Apparently the discussions were a little more fruitful.
The President made an announcement, medics and health care workers were not going to have to report known homosexuals. And of course it was a tacit green light to continue HIV/AIDS programming with the evil and dastardly, bad homosexuals, who happen to be citizens of Uganda.

So, the whole fracas ended up being partly resolved.
The US government and its organisations are not going to be hauled to Ugandan courts for ‘promotion of homosexuality’. The partner organisations in Uganda are not going to be defunded, nor are they going to be prosecuted, nor will they be forced to report their homosexual clients.

Turns out ‘the Americans’ were actually looking out for our people, Ugandans…!

What a shame? Err, we are fanatics and zealots in Uganda, on matters of homosexuality. We don’t get ashamed. We don’t even feel it, nor admit to that nefarious emotion. We are fighters, and winners, against homosexuals and homosexuality.

I doubt that that saga ends there. This is Uganda. Keep tuned in!

 

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Kuchus and HIV in Africa; The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (2)

 

We esteem our doctors, medical and other health care workers tremendously in Africa. We should. In a continent with a dire lack of education, they are our educated elite. They also struggle to work under some pretty tough conditions, because of a lack of funds, lack of necessary instruments of care, and lack of political and other support.

With knowledge comes power, socially.

Medicine and the health sciences have a very rich background of study of my sexuality, because we are different from the common heterosexuality. It is not a new thing.
 I mean, we Kuchus (LGBTQ+) human beings, have been under study since life immemorial. We are a uniquely different part of humanity that persists in life to the contrary of expectations.

So, why are our African medical and health care professionals so clueless with regards to sexuality and other sexualities?
The excuse that it is not taught in African medical schools is not a good one. This is the internet age.
But our doctors have failed to explain issues. Yeah, Museveni asked twice, but I don’t think he wants a real answer… But his questions reflect a lot of the ignorance in Uganda. He is not wrong to ask our in-house docs. Even while he doesn’t listen.

Even lay people can educate themselves about a subject as interesting as homosexuality, and of course human sexuality.

The words of a Seniour psychologist and professor in Ghana pulled me down this line of reflection. I posted on it: - Kuchu Mental Health in Africa; The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (1)

But, there is an even more immediate and urgent example of medics in Africa failing Kuchus as individuals and our nations collectively  because they are prejudiced on homosexuality. The case of HIV/AIDS.

When the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 was signed into law by the President of Uganda, UNAIDS/PEPFAR/Global Fund released a cautionary statement on the possible impact of the law.

 

“.., are deeply concerned about the harmful impact of the Ugandan Anti- Homosexuality Act 2023 on the health of its citizens and its impact on the AIDS response that has been so successful up to now.”

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“Progress has been made thanks to the implementation of large-scale prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care programs, all provided on the principle of access to health care for all who need it, without stigma or discrimination. This approach has saved lives. The strong health systems built to support the AIDS response serve the entire population of Uganda.”

--

“Uganda’s progress on its HIV response is now in grave jeopardy. The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 will obstruct health education and the outreach that can help end AIDS as a public health threat.”

 

The resulting media storm was quite embarrassing. Shouts of ‘imperialism’, ‘colonialism,’ ‘promotion of homosexuality’, ‘blackmail’.
Winnie Byanyima, a Ugandan our country woman, currently Director General of UNAIDS was vilified and shamed in the papers and the people of her old constituency in Mbarara.

And why blame Uganda’s medics?

The issue was HIV/AIDS. Ugandan trained medical workers have a good grasp of HIV/AIDS. When UNAIDS, literally the World’s Most Important Specialist Doctor on HIV/AIDS comes out with such a statement, It was reasonable to expect Uganda’s HIV specialists to explain why UNAIDS was concerned. What was wrong? Why was there a problem? Why would PEPFAR, UNAIDS and Global Fund gang up on poor, homophobic Uganda?

And where were Uganda’s specialists to explain the problem?

They did. Medics say no to UN, US claims on gay Aids was the title headline in the Monitor.
The text revealed tremendous ignorance and our under current of homophobia. Of course these, our Ugandan medics, were much more believable than UNAIDS, even headed by Winnie Byanyima.

 

says Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the head of public health affairs at the Ministry of Health

““Americans are trying to frame it as if we are against certain groups. I don’t know why they are attaching the Anti-homosexuality Act to the Ministry of Health. It has nothing to do with health,””

 

Sorry Dr Daniel Kyabayinze for calling you out, but that statement is really…, out there ignorant. That the Head of Public Health Affairs at the Ministry of Health of Uganda can actually state that legislation that criminalises Kuchus (LGBTQ+ individuals) has nothing to do with health and HIV/AIDS programming reveals considerable ignorance, and prejudice.
Blaming the Americans for our ignorance is not okay. HIV/AIDS has been about LGBTQ+ individuals and communities for the last 40 years of the pandemic. Why don’t you know it?

In Dr Kyabayinze’s defence, not many medics in Africa equate HIV/AIDS to homosexual sex. Heterosexual sex, yes. But Dr Kyabayinze is the Head of Public Health Affairs of the Ministry of Health. He is not ‘all doctors’.

If the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 doesn’t concern the Ministry of Health, why is it a long time policy of UNAIDS to strongly advocate for decriminalisation (removal of laws that criminalise homosexuals)?
This is a long standing policy of UNAIDS, the ‘Americans’ are not to blame...

As Head of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Kyabayinze should have been explaining to the Parliament of Uganda and the President, this long standing HIV prevention measure, and why it is important.

Another influential medic, and person living with HIV, also couldn’t help but reveal his ignorance. And his bias.

 

Dr Stephen Watiti, a person living with HIV/Aids (PLHIV), and chairman of the National Forum of People Living with HIV/Aids
““I know some of them who have HIV. [But] the majority of those people are not even HIV positive. Many LGBTQ members also get their medicines from abroad. The majority of those who are speaking here don’t even have HIV,””

 

The chairman of the National Forum of PLHIV should be aware of the actual issues. To him the problem was the politics, not the science. As a heterosexual person living with HIV, he doesnt understand. He has no understanding of the DOUBLE STIGMA of HIV and homosexuality.
Rev. Gideon Byamugisha also showed this lack of understanding even though he is also a PLWHIV. It is a reality of our kuchu lives.

And Dr Watiti, according to the statistics, I most kuchus living with HIV are actually Ugandans living in Uganda.

It was a crucial point in time.
At that time, the hype making the rounds was all about the big and bad and dirty, extremely evil Americans who were daring to caution that there was a problem with the very beautiful and lovely Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.
In these cringe worth moments, when fellow Ugandans are puffing out their chests and loudly shouting how tough they are in standing up to ‘the Americans’, proof of their holy aims…,

And, our doctors, who should be in the know, failed us. Spectacularly.

 

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A Question of Consenting to Sex: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 the Text

 

Two or more adults meet, like each other, and decide to have sex. Seems like a very normal thing.

Not if they are Kuchus in Uganda. The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 stands in the way.
Reading through the text of the Bill 2023 and the Act 2023 can impress one on the depths of ignorance that Ugandan heterosexuals have about gay sex. A good dose of high school education on sex and sexuality should cure ignorance.
Unfortunately, the real problem is prejudice.

One is never adult enough to consent to ‘Homosexual’ sex, according to the text of Anti-Homosexuality Bill and Act 2023.
The underlying sense is that in homosexual sex, BECAUSE it is homosexual sex, there is an aggressor (the offender) and there is a victim. ALWAYS. That is why the preamble admits, all same sex sex is supposed to be outlawed in God’s Holy Land, Uganda.
The sense of ‘victimhood’ and victimising is also very strong.
We are normal human beings, with normal emotions, engaging in an act of intimacy that we willingly consent too (with or without the consent of the State. And why should the State be involved, for goodness’ sake?)

Consent (to sex) is not a defence.
What does that statement mean?
And why does the State even have to come into our mutual deal to have some fun together? The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 of Uganda baldly states;

~~~

6.    Consent to sexual act is no defence

The consent of a person to commit a sexual act shall not constitute a defence to a charge under this Act.

~~~

The Anti-Homosexual Act, 2023 also strips certain adults of the right to have sex. They cannot consent to having sex with me, as adult human beings.

Under the ‘Aggravated Homosexuality’ part of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023; which already entitles me the Death Penalty as a Serial Offender the following embellishments  would earn me the Death Penalty.

~~~

 

 (e)   the offender is a person in authority over the person against whom the offence is committed;

“person in authority” means a person who is charged with the duty or responsibility for the health, welfare or supervision of a person

~~~

Does it mean that being ‘in authority’ robs them of ability to consent to sex is permanently?

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(f)    the person against whom the offence is committed is a person with a disability or suffers a disability as a result of the sexual act

Helpfully, in the preliminaries, “disability” is helpfully defined.

 

“disability” means a substantial limitation of daily life activities caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment and environment barriers resulting in limited participation;

~~~

A very broad, all encompassing definition. If I am caught having sex with a ‘disabled’ person, I get the Death Penalty. I am the offender, they are the ‘victim’.

Questions:

·         Does a ‘person with disability’ (in Uganda,) have no ability to have sex?

·         Or the ‘person with disability’ has no ability to consent to sex?

·         Or the ‘person with disability’ cannot be LGBTQ+ or homosexual? That seems to be the underlying assumption. They are disabled, they have no sexuality.

          ~~~

(g)    the person against whom the offence is committed is a person with mental illness, …

~~~

Mentally challenged adults cannot consent to have sex? Or the state permanently reserves the right of the mentally challenged adult to sex? Or is it that the mentally challenged adult should first petition the State for the right to have sex consensually? ‘Mental illness’ is a very broad category.
The law is a wonderful ass.

          ~~~

(h)    the person against whom the offence is committed is of advanced age;

‘advanced age’ as defined in the Act;

Adults older than 75 years of age

~~~

Apparently, our MPs believe advanced age robs one of the ability to have or consent to sex, or even be gay!

The psychology of victimhood demands a victim, (above are all examples of ‘victims’) of my heinous person, me the homosexual who did the victimisation. The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 even defines the victim of homosexuality…

~~~

“victim of the offence” means—

(b) a person suffering from mental illness or any other form of disability against whom the offence of aggravated homosexuality has been committed

~~~

(a) is the child victim, (b) is the victim of rape…, at least as commonly defined.

Ugandans have a unique take of the English language, especially with regard to what they call ‘homosexuality’.
It is all a bit of madness. Ignorance, a heavy dose of disinformation, misinformation and sheer big headed prejudice is the colour of that legislation.

Ugandan kuchus are in a hopeless legal hell.

 

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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.

 

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Toxic Environment: Kuchu in Uganda, Africa.

 

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.

 

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