Promoting Homosexuality: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 text;

     I came across an article, questioning tongue in cheek whether Pope Francis would be guilty of ‘Promotion of Homosexuality’ in Uganda.

Knowing how broadly Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is written, it made sense. Would Pope Francis’ embrace of kuchus (LGBTQ+) individuals be ‘promotion of homosexuality’?

In the context of Africa and homosexuality, the question is not theoretical. Archbishop Welby of the Church of England was accused by the GAFCON Primate of

 

“becoming a spokesperson and advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights..”

 

Archbishop Welby’s apparent crime was writing this letter to the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda. It reminds all that Anglicans are supposed to be committed to ‘pastoral care’ of the homosexuals and non-criminalisation of homosexuality.
Archbishop Welby was emphatically told to ‘repent’; apparently of the crime of LGBTQIA advocacy. From my reading of the text of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 (below), for being a ‘spokesperson and advocate’ for LGBTQIA+ rights, Archbishop Welby is ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in Uganda.

As for Pope Francis, lets examine the text before we condemn or exonerate the old gentleman.

 

11.   Promotion of homosexuality

(1)    A Person who promotes homosexuality commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.

(2)    A person promotes homosexuality where the person—

(b)    knowingly advertises, publishes, prints, broadcasts, distributes or causes the advertisement, publication, broadcasting or distribution  by any means, including the use of a computer, information system or the internet, of any material promoting or encouraging homosexuality or the commission of an offence under this Act;

 

(The blog is Promotion of homosexuality. Of course!)

 

(c)    provides financial support, whether in kind or cash, to facilitate activities that encourage homosexuality or the observance or normalisation of conduct prohibited under this Act;

 

(Funding for Kuchu (LGBTQ+) organisations is prohibited. Funders (finance, in kind) are targeted here. Should also mean UNAIDS and PEPFAR and Global Fund…, they support Kuchu HIV clinics…!)

 

(d)    knowingly leases or subleases, uses or allows another person to use any house, building or establishment for the purpose of undertaking activities that encourage homosexualities or any other offence under this Act

 

(Criminalising our landlords is a low blow indeed)

 

(e)     operates an organisation which promotes or encourages homosexuality or the observance or normalisation of conduct prohibited under this Act.

 

Yes. That takes care of LGBTQ+ organisations in Uganda.

[What about our kuchu clinics for HIV/AIDS?
No wonder the American ambassador was adamant to get the President’s word. The Americans refused to announce grants until the Ambassador met the President who then publically announced the HIV programming was not going to be targeted. It was only then that they released funds.
I don’t think USAID is going to be accused of ‘promotion’ … They are guilty ‘promotion of homosexuality’, according to the letter of the law. But, oh well. Good they did step in when they did.]

Continuing on Pope Francis’ guilt or not- from the text of the law above, Pope Francis is guilty…
Not the Catholic Church in Uganda. They are not guilty of ‘normalisation of conduct’. But Pope Francis is very guilty of ‘normalisation of homosexuality’. I can even cite page and verse. I would add the Catholic Catechism, but it is very apparent from the Catholic Fathers’ silence that the document gives a lot of leeway for action. They are not guilty of ‘promoting homosexuality.
Pope Francis is Guilty of ‘Promotion of Homosexuality’ in Uganda. Just like the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

A broad, comprehensive attack on the Kuchu, (LGBTQ+) in Uganda.
The individual Kuchu,  our organisations, our allies are under attack, directly and indirectly. Even our landlords are targeted. How the poor landlords should be liable for our activities is beyond imagination…, but that would be in a sane and rational world. Not Uganda

 And the sentences?

 

11.   Promotion of homosexuality

(3)    Where an offence prescribed under this section is committed by a legal entity, the court may—

(a)    impose a fine not exceeding fifty thousand currency points for breach of any of the provisions of this section;

(b)    suspend the licence of the entity for a period of ten years; or

(c)    cancel the licence granted to the entity.

 

The sentences are prison (custodial, up to 20 years, (11; (1) above); fines, and suspension of operating licences and de-registration of offending organisations.

 

gug

Calling out the Ugandan Catholic Church’s Hypocritical Silence…

 

And, it is not poor old gug. Someone else, some other people noted the deafening silence from the Uganda Catholic Church Fathers who are still ‘waiting for the entire bill’ to be presented to them.

Here are Archbishop Ssemogerere’s own parsed words…

 

“the Catholic Church in Uganda will come up with one position after analysing and discussing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023, which Parliament passed on March 21.
“Regarding what has come out of Parliament once we have the entire Bill, as Fathers of the Catholic Church we will come together to discuss that Bill and give the position of the Catholic Church in Uganda.””

 

Let me check that time line. February to March 21^st 2023 was the whole brouhaha in the country. The Catholic Bishops were silent…
The Bill was sent to the President. The President sent it back with comments two months later. The bill was revised and sent back to the President. The President signed it.

Ahem, the bill became an Act, without the powerful Catholic Church’s input? 5 good months of this year, 2023 of our lord in silence?
Hypocrisy…, dear Holy Fathers. But that would be lying hypocrisy, isn’t it?

I noted it.

But, some more influential and much more knowledgeable people have also noted the glaring, deafening silence, over the last 5 months. The Catholic Church in Uganda has been Deaf. Dumb. and Blind.

How powerful is the Catholic Church in Uganda?
Oh, it actually is very, very powerful. And, it is Catholic faithful that have been at the helm of passing the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023. Speaker Anita Among, and MP Charles Ochen, a former Catholic priest was one of the movers on the bill at first reading…
But, how really powerful is the powerful Catholic Church in Uganda? Someone pointedly points that out.

 

“the Catholic Church’s influential role in Uganda, with nearly 40% of Ugandans identifying as Catholic. Catholic bishops, considered moral leaders by millions, hold a unique position of influence and could potentially shift the narrative around this inhumane legislation. . .”

 

And, another nexus of power, were the Catholic Bishops to come out against the Anti-Homosexuality Act, they would have the reigning Pontiff at their back. Pope Francis is solidly against the criminalisation of sexuality. He has said so, repeatedly. Last time as recently as February 2023 on a trip to DRC and South Sudan.
And, for reasons that I fail to understand, Pope Francis has sway with the populace in Uganda, the lay Catholics. At least that is my poor observation. But, I am not a believer, and I am not a Catholic, so I might be really mistaken.

And, Why the F*** would the Catholic Church come out against the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023?
Because it is against their teaching in quite a number of things. The Death Penalty. Criminalising behaviour that they see as just sin. Teaching to nurture and not to punish…., apparently it is spelt out in the Catechism or something like that.

 

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church denounces both the death penalty (n. 2306) and “unjust discrimination” against people with lesbian and gay people (n.2358).”

 

That is the kind of page and verse that I wouldn’t be able to quote.
Now, with an institution as centralised as the Catholic Church, having the Pope and the Church’s teaching in my corner would mean that I am on solid ground..,

But, in reading around, I have come to understand the apparent constraints on the power of the Pope. He has some powerful enemies. Particularly in the US. Conservatives, they are apparently called. So, the pressure on the Catholic Bishops in Uganda is not clear cut, nor is it going to bring a powerful sermon from Rubaga Cathedral, wonder of wonders, condemning the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.
But, it is intriguing, that Catholic Dogma and the Pontiff are on this side of the question.

It is even interesting that an American Catholic Bishop (anti-Biden.., and Conservative apparently, Americans are really weird…) took a swipe at President Biden, but wouldn’t go as far as going against Catholic doctrine.

 

“the Church’s teaching against the death penalty is clear. The Church also clearly teaches that, while homosexual acts are gravely sinful, homosexual people must be ‘accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity’ and that ‘Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.'””

 

So, even Uganda’s Catholic Bishops conservative pals in America have a line beyond which Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 has strayed?!

Very interesting.
But, ultimately, the Catholic Bishops of Uganda unreservedly support the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023. They are not going to come out and challenge it. Not at all. The silence serves their purpose. They are as homophobic as most Ugandans and to hell with the Catechism’s specific teaching. (Hey, why shouldn’t I also indulge my honest anger a little bit? Just a tiny little bit, like calling out their hypocrisy!)That is the language they understand and I am unamused enough to tell truth unadorned.

Without parsing language at all, this quote below is the essence of what the Catholic Bishops of Uganda believe about homosexuality. This was not a slip of the tongue, a problem with language. This was a reflection of what most if not all Ugandans believe is the Uganda Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality.  This is the truth, unadorned.

 

“Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok of Lira, Uganda, called homosexuality “not human” in an Ash Wednesday homily”

 

How would that square with the Catholic Church Catechism…, this unbeliever wonders.
Yeah, we do have great examples of ‘Un-Christ-like Christians’.

 

gug

The Hypocrisy of Uganda’s Catholic Church’s Silence and Non-Action

 

Been thinking about this for some time. A columnist in the Monitor newspaper commented that the Catholic Church in Uganda was manifesting wisdom in not contributing to the ‘debate on homosexuality’ in the country. The ‘debate’ is rather one sided, and is more of a diatribe on the evil of homosexuality…, my sexual orientation. Is the Catholic Church in Uganda’s silence one of wisdom? Maybe. And maybe not.

I have compared their silence to playing deaf, dumb and blind. I have also compared them to Pope Pius the XII (so called the Nazi Pope, or Hitler’s Pope). And no, am not shy about calling them out. Hypocrites; the silence serves their purpose well.

Reminds me of one of the Nazarene’s teaching parables.
A traveller was ambushed on the road by robbers. They beat and left him for dead. Other travellers passed the robbers’ victim on the side of the road. They noticed him, but left him…, for some very logical reasons. Maybe the Levite didn’t want to be ‘polluted’, and maybe one of the others was hurrying to a wedding…, whatever. Till the ‘Good Samaritan’ stopped and helped the victim of robbery…, silence prevailed.

Cogent reasons not to speak out and act. Very logical and good, maybe.

The country is on fire, ready to lynch the homosexuals. Would the very powerful Catholic Church please stand up and say something? Well, the Moslems have had their say. The Anglicans have had their say. The Pentecostals have also had their say. What of the Catholics? Are they leaving everything to the politicians? It is supposedly a ‘moral’ debate.

Why is the Catholic Church in Uganda silent?
Have they released a statement? They were waiting for the ‘entire bill’. Still on its way to Rubaga?
I must have been asleep. I didn’t hear…! Or they are yet to say anything?

Maybe the reasons are political. The Pontiff, Pope Francis, has not been silent. Homosexuality is a sin. He is definite. And, criminalising it is not okay. Unequivocal, and vocal, repeatedly. How can the Catholic Church in Uganda go against the Pontiff when he has made his mind known? Bad politics, at the very least.

What if the Pontiff is wrong? These are sinners, the homosexuals. Isn’t the mighty Catholic Church of a mind to reserve them for hell on earth, life in prison, and Death? Or are they against the death penalty? [In principle, as the head of the Church of Uganda hurries to admit. In principle, reality is different.]

Could it be that the mighty Catholic Church in Uganda dare not admit that these are sinners, just like the ones Christ used to associate with?

Or, is it that the popularity of rabid condemnation of the minority homosexuals in Uganda is not good to go against, for the moral power and popularity of the Church, Christ’s Church? One needs to remind ones’ self that it does matter, popularity. It takes guts to champion homosexuals in Uganda in anyway… That is brutal matter of fact.

Or could it be that the homosexuals are such bad sinners that no hand need be lifted to help or aid them in their plight.
Leave them to die on the side of the road, I would judge. Good riddance, to bad evil. Why waste time, energy, prestige and even thinking about them?

Yes, I am strongly reminded of the stance of Pope Pious XII.
He was strangely silent through the Holocaust of the Third Reich. So much that he was branded ‘Hitler’s Pope’, and a silent Nazi sympathiser to the genocide of Jews. And, yes, those with the pink triangles were homosexuals. Gassed in gas chambers by Hitler too, they haven’t improved in the popularity context since, apparently!

Oh, I am certain that the mighty and powerful Catholic Church in Uganda is silent because they totally agree and support Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.
That is why I am poking at them…, it is good fun!

 

gug

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