The (Much Maligned) ‘Americans’

 

Ask someone on the streets of Kampala about the premier foreign supporters of homosexuality and the most probable answer will be ‘the Americans’.

Who are these dastardly ‘Americans’?
That answer has lots of nuances which a poor Ugandan will most likely not even understand. They just know that the name of ‘the enemy’ is ‘the Americans’; -that was no slip of the tongue from the doctor.
And, it is not only in Uganda. In Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, it is ‘the Americans’ who are reportedly eager to press the poor African to embrace homosexuality.
It bothers me, a lot. . We are invisible! We kuchus, we the African LGBTQ+ individuals,  are not even counted as ‘promoting homosexuality’, except as agents of ‘The Americans’.  We are just the proximal cancer, the ‘cancer’ that is already here and has to be removed…, tut tut tut!

The question is also nuanced, because it is Americans who have come to Africa and told us that ‘the Americans’ are pushing a ‘homosexual agenda’.
Oh yes, the American Far Right is also American! (Check out the reporting on one such conference in Uganda)

For some reason, maybe because they come in with Bibles and talk about ‘African Sovereignty’ and talk about ‘the Americans’, we simply don’t equate those Americans with ‘the Americans’. Quite confusing…

The dastardly, bad and evil ‘Americans’ supposedly control the world, the UN system, and promote homosexuality. They are apparently characterised by President Biden and Vice-President Kamara Harris. The current administration of course.
So, who are the others, the ‘good Americans’, intent on telling us poor, ignorant Africans about the dangers from the ‘bad Americans?’

Trying to figure out the ins and outs of America’s Cultural Wars as exported to Africa…,
I am really laughing and crying and kind of feeling deeply ashamed. We are literally pawns in a forever war. We are a battle on the side, our leaders colluding in something they don’t understand at all, but are passionate and very, very willing front line warriors.

No, I am not, and I will not be apologising to my people.

I am one individual, a very poor person. I don’t have the facilities of the State. I just have an internet connection, and I read what is publicly available on the internet.
Why shouldn’t the President of the Republic of Uganda have good intelligence of what is happening in his backyard? Why doesn’t he know of what is happening with his allies the US government? Why should President Museveni be a pawn in a game that he should be very, very aware that it has been ongoing for years?

The Presidency, the State of Uganda is not one person. It is a pool of the intelligence of the nation, of all those working there.
And then of course there is the Parliament of Uganda. The MPs; Asumani Basalirwa and the others, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda are all willing dupes and pawns, frontline soldiers in this war. The American Cultural Wars.

It is quite disturbing to realise that even if the State in Uganda is apparently clueless, the Church of Uganda, Anglican and its Archbishop (Stephen Kaziimba), is actually quite clued in. Archbishop Kaziimba is playing on the world stage, and he knows it. So are the very, very silent Catholic Bishops. They know, and have picked a side. How can the State of Uganda claim and act ignorance?

Why does the State and other public actors like Parliament in Uganda seem to be personally unaware of the body politic of the whole wide world?
Why are they playing into the stereotype of the poor, ‘put-upon-on’, ignorant African? This is not ‘rocket science’. This is knowledge of the world.
Asuumani Basalirwa claimed to the BBC that he didn’t know because he was a Moslem, and the missionaries are Christians. Lies, on top of the bullshit. He should be even more ashamed because he is playing pawn for ‘Christian Fundamentalists’, from his point of view.

Truly, truly, Uganda is a Village.
It doesn’t help that Ghana is also acting clueless, Ugandan style. And of course so are the other nations of Africa. Believing that ‘some Americans’ come to Africa to teach us about our own ‘Sovereignty’ to fight their own government, simply for the good of old Africa.

 

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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?

~~~

(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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Lynching the suspected Kuchu in Africa, How real is the risk?

 

This is a post that I should have written long ago. But I am reluctant to do it. Because I am an African, a Ugandan, and I am a kuchu living in Uganda.
It is true. I as a kuchu in Uganda, and in Africa, I can be killed, by a mob of enraged Ugandans and Africans, if and because I am suspected to be kuchu.

There. I have written the cursed words.

Why the reluctance?
I am a human being. I am conflicted, knowing the potential for fatal violence of my lived reality, even as I block it out. Of course I block it. I am a human being, and that is how we treat unpleasant realities. Denial.
It works. But it also means that I am reluctant to pen an article that will strip away my blinders, make me look at the nakedness of danger I flaunt every single day.

Yeah, I am at risk of being killed by a mob of people who come to know and suspect that I am kuchu. An LGBTQ individual.
Plain fact.

So, why write the post now?

Started with a twitter post. Someone was killed in Kakuma refugee settlement in Kenya.
Kakuma is known amongst kuchus in Uganda. If you dare take the risk of getting out of Uganda, seeking asylum on the strength of persecution for our sexuality,  that is where you will end up. But, it is also a violent place. One report quotes:

 

“the "extreme discrimination and violence" faced by "several hundred" LGBTQ+ people living in the camp, which hosts 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers in north western Kenya.
They find themselves victims of "hate crimes, acts of violence, including rape, and other serious human rights abuses",”

 

One might argue that those are special circumstances. Displaced people in a camp. I am a kuchu living in my community, in my village and hood, so to say. Am I at risk?
Unfortunately the answer is yes.

Violence targeted at people’s perceived sexuality is a world wide phenomenon. Widespread and quite severe, in South Africa, and Brazil. In much of Africa, it is the vigilante attack by a mob of mobilized citizenry that is the danger hanging over our coming out.
Here is a reminder and note from the recent debate of an anti-homosexuality bill in the Parliament of Ghana (July 2023). The person quoted was on a television broadcast.

 

“"I don't accept that when someone is caught in the act, they should be beaten to death. No! We are against their acts but it doesn't mean they are not humans," he said”

Dr. Benjamin Otchere Ankrah has sounded caution to Ghanaians not to inflict bodily harm on any person suspected of or caught in the act of homosexuality. According to him, though he strongly supports the anti-gay bill before Parliament, he however cautions the citizenry not to take matters into their own hands.”

 

That is a very real possibility for an Kuchu in Africa to consider. And be aware. And move circumspectly.
(Never mind the condescension in that opinion. Benjamin Otchere Ankrah above doesn’t want us kuchus ‘bodily harmed’, but strongly supports the bill. Parse the difference…, he is a very upright and moral human being, whose love for sinners like us is..!)

The updated US travel advisory alluded to the risk of vigilante violance.
Thing is, however incensed Ugandans might feel that the US gave the advisory in revenge for them passing the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, the concerns of the US state department are specific and pretty spot on. The updated travel advisory states:

 

“LGBTQI+ persons, and those perceived to be LGBTQI+, … could face harassment or attacks by vigilantes.””

 

Remember the lesbian couple in Jinja, arrested in March 2023 and in prison over the Easter period? A mob of parents in fear of the contagion of homosexuality went to the school where one of them was teaching. They would have lynched her, if she wasn’t in custody at that particular point.

True, the judge in her case then denied her bail for some time, reasoning to protect her from her community… I think that was bullshit. The judge just wanted the ‘suspected homosexuals’ in jail…, even without being convicted. And indeed, they both got bail.
We are kuchus. We know how to negotiate our safety. We have several years’ practical experience doing exactly that. Not perfectly, but believe me, we would rather risk death by mob outside prison than the mercies of the state’s guests, thank you very much.

A more typical example was this report in another part of the country; Kamuli, Uganda. The report of the article was 13^th March 2023

 

“Rogers Wabuya and Derrick Wamwangu, both residents of Bukiabi sub-county were rounded up by residents from a lodge in Bumbo town council on Saturday.

Fred Timbwa, an eyewitness, says that residents stormed the guest house following a tip-off from one of the workers. Mathew Nabiswa, a paternal uncle to Wamwangu, says that the residents stormed the guest house armed with machetes, axes, stones, bricks, and sticks to lynch the duo but were saved by the Bumbo town council LC III chairperson, Joseph Kamuli.”

 

Take good note of those few very relevant details. A couple went to a hotel, presumably seeking some privacy to have sex. Consensual sex. A worker at the hotel noted them. The worker then went out of their way to tip off others. A mob mobilised. They stormed the ‘guest house’, armed with ‘machetes, axes, stones, bricks and sticks’
From the eye witness account, it was luck that there was a noted leader who prevented a mob killing at that particular moment in time. Most likely they were beaten.

Sadly, that is the reality of what can happen to any of us kuchus in Africa. It was the same scenario that that commentator in Ghana was thinking about in the quote above.

Two countries, miles and miles apart; one in East Africa, the other in West Africa. And the same kind of ‘spontaneous violence’ to lynch the suspected homosexual is a risk that is understood as part of what is possible.

Why is this so? Why would this be so?

 

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2 Popular Ugandan, and African Parsing of Homophobia

 

This is a 3 part reply to an article written by one, Mathew Otieno, a Kenyan, published on a mecatornet.com . This is Part 2.

 

Mr Otieno also commented on the various ‘threats’ supposedly made by the US.

I am a Ugandan, living and working in Uganda. Over the last 5 months, news has been rife with so-called threats. Most were not threats but assessments of possible results of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023. It is politically expedient by Ugandan politicos to label them ‘threats’.

For example, the US is spending millions of US dollars annually in the HIV program for research, prevention and treatment. This is at risk, because of the broad provisions of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, with a reporting mandate of homosexuals to police, protecting ‘whistle-blowers’.
With Ugandan officials angrily denying any connection between the Anti-Homosexual legislation and Health programming, the US embassy had to, and did secure an assertion from President Museveni that health workers were not to report homosexuals to police. Only after that were funds released.
Shameful, yes. A comedy of errors, all self defeating, own goals scored by Uganda. Accusation of ‘blackmail’, ‘bullying’ by the US were bandied around. Our leaders were shamelessly claiming ignorance.., unfeigned.

Another instance of bullying and threats, as reported widely, embraced by politicos in Uganda was international companies pointing out that the legislation was bad for business.  Their concerns are valid. Facebook was banned in Uganda, after a tiff off, 2 years ago with Museveni’s government. Potentially falling foul of this law as ‘promotion of homosexuality’ is something the tech giants in ‘Open for Business’ have to consider seriously. That is, if they still want to do business in Uganda.

After the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 became law in Uganda, another widely reported instance of ‘bullying’ was noted in the Ugandan press and by Ugandan politicians and anti-gay advocates, an updated US travel advisory.
The responsible thing to do.., not a ‘threat’ or punishment, as conveniently assessed by Ugandan politicos. Of course it was totally predictable. The US has LGBTQ+ citizens, and it informs and admits responsibility to them.

And, it is stupid to think that Uganda, dependant on tourism, would attract LGBTQ+ visitors. That is not a threat. It is matter of fact logic and sense. Better, as Uganda Parliament’s public relations official smugly put it, ‘not to be gay in Uganda’.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 is the law in Uganda. Its possible and probable results to tourism, business investment and others are logical, until politicos feel the need to claim heroic resistance to racism and colonialism and run to media reporting being threatened, as MP Peter Kaluma is doing in Kenya.

 

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Ugandan Sleight of Hand.

 

Okay, I will be blunt. We Ugandans have mastered the trick of lying to your face…, and, it is so blunt and blatant that you have to go back and say, did I really hear what he or she said right?

Oh we know exactly what we are saying. But, as every politician knows, shout a lie loud enough, and it becomes fact. That was Hitler’s Goebbel on The Big Lie, I believe.

Case in point, you think you know that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 criminalises homosexuality in Uganda? Think again. It absolutely does not.
I have that piece of utter lie from a most esteemed source. The Rt. Reverand Stephen Kaziimba, Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda

“He (Webley) and many other Western leaders seem to think that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 criminalizes homosexuality. It does not. Homosexuality was already criminalized”

And, before you try to shade a little and claim that the poor African is having a problem with plain English language, a second language for him, I will point out that the Rt Rev. has a PhD from a private college in the US. No, he knows the language. He knows exactly what he is saying.

It serves him well to parse the language. After all, what will Webley do? The All England Primate has shown a decided distaste for the public fight…!

Ugandan leaders use that big lie a lot. No one will call them out…, except on an obscure blog like this. And of course I am handily breaking the Anti-Homosexuality Act, and quite a few other Ugandan laws…! But, since my life was already forfeit, I will not die more than once, will I?

Stephen Kaziimba goes on to utter some other naked lies. On what he believes the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 does. On how strigently the Church of Uganda opposes the Death Penalty (Maybe in whispered words, but not for homosexuals, of course),  an implication that kuchus in Uganda where already subject to the death penalty (new knowledge to me, suspect source). And that the only new thing in the Anti-Homosexuality Act is ‘promotion of homosexuality’. This is his statement, so help me deities.

“What is new is specifically outlawing the promotion of homosexuality and same sex relationships as a moral alternative to God’s natural design for marriage between one man and one woman.”

Very interesting. So, ‘promotion of homosexuality’ covers sending children to prison for sex acts, covers the Death Penalty for the homosexual, covers Life in Prison, no parole, covers the mandate to report Kuchus to police. Amazing, amazing, amazing indeed.

And, another lie above. LGBTQ+ marriage was already forbidden in the Constitution of Uganda.., A constitutional amendment signed on 1^st September 2005 (Clause 2a of Section 31).

Why lie so blatantly?

Well, somehow, I don’t think Stephen Kaziimba is going to be fact checked in Uganda. And, he cares very little with what the rest of the world believes. And, he is firm that his beliefs in his god are the only one to be questioned. Biblical. Scriptural. And who knows that he is lying? Well, the whole world…, but, it means something that lie? Not to him!

A very great example of the Big Lie in Uganda. He is a church person.., but, many politicians in Uganda subscribe to the Big Lie…! This is one of the reasons I insist on showing where you can pick up your copy of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023…,

 

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‘Christ-like’ and Un ‘Christ-like’ Christians

Uh, seems like, inspite of an avowed unbelief, I am kind of obsessed by this whole religion thing.
Why? Well, I am a Ugandan. And Ugandans seem completely obsessed by all things spiritual. I have to be specific, because most would want me to state that it is all things religious. But, my eyes are open, and I see many frequenting the spirit shrines [many of them having attended Church on Sunday and Saturday, and  of course Mosque on Friday.] Yeah, we are obsessed by the supernatural!

And it is the organised religions that are bashing us in an unrestrained glee, pointing to us as the most evil of evil.

So, un-christ-like Christians. And Christ-like Christians.
They are supposed to be named after the Christ, no? And what I hear about the Christ was the religion of love and understanding. Oh.., of course I am wrong. But, the Pope cannot be wrong, can he?

Is Pope Francis a Christian? I don’t know. Maybe he is not.
I don’t think Uganda’s Christians actually would think the old gentleman to be a Christian, and even Catholic at all!

Bear with me. The old man believes that LGBTQ+ individuals should not be jailed for being who they are. He says that homosexual sex is a sin, but so is sex outside marriage…, and that LGBTQ+ individuals should be treated with DIGNITY.
And, he actually went to a prison and shared a meal with LGBTQ+ prisoners…, Did he wash their feet?

Now, that was Pope Francis’ this past Easter 2023. Washing the feet of sinners.

Lets compare him with Uganda’s Christian leaders. The people who are the nearest examples of exemplary Christian conduct.

Christian leaders, the Bishops and Archbishop of the Church of Uganda of the Anglican Communion, The Catholic Bishops of Uganda, the Seventh Day Adventists.., this Easter season were exemplary in decrying and condemning the sin of homosexuality. They begged the President to please, please, please sign that Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 into an Act of Law.

All in the name of the very pious God. Of course.

Did I mention that the law they were demanding mandates life in prison for the sin of homosexuality [me being one of the people concerned, unbeliever as I am], and death, just in case I am caught a second time?

The Pentecostal pastors…, gosh. Besides engineering the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 with all glee, what of the chief anti-gay activist, the Most Pastor-ish Ssempa Martin, who showed gay porn in church in order to increase the homophobia to a seething max? Oh, he calls us ‘sodomites’, in his very Christian grace of graces.

Well, well, well. Who of the above is demonstrating Christ-like behaviour, oh Pharisees of this world?

 

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