Congratulations, India

Yes, they are due this. A belated congratulations

We share the same colonial past, so, until Nsaba Buturo changes the law against us to make it more 'biting' of us, we share the same law, the one that has been striken down in the Indian state of Delhi. Oh, sorry, the penalty in Uganda was strengthened since colonial times.

Congratulations, on having had this done, Gay Indians. Still a long way to go. But you are on the road to self realisation. Your Stonewall indeed. Congratulations.

Gay sex decriminalised in India

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.

The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence".

Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.

Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.

The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal, was an "antithesis of the right to equality".

'India's Stonewall'

The ruling is historic in a country where homosexuals face discrimination and persecution on a daily basis but it is likely to be challenged, says the BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi.


It also promises to change the discourse on sexuality in a largely conservative country, where even talking about sex is largely taboo, our correspondent says.

Gay rights activists all over the country welcomed the ruling and said it was "India's Stonewall".

New York's Stonewall riot in 1969 is credited with launching the gay rights movement.

"It [the ruling] is India's Stonewall. We are elated. I think what now happens is that a lot of our fundamental rights and civic rights which were denied to us can now be reclaimed by us," activist and lawyer Aditya Bandopadhyay told the BBC.

"It is a fabulously written judgement, and it restores our faith in the judiciary," he said.

Leading gay rights activist and the editor of India's first gay magazine Ashok Row Kavi welcomed the judgement but said the stigma against homosexuals will persist.


"The social stigma will remain. It is [still] a long struggle. But the ruling will help in HIV prevention. Gay men can now visit doctors and talk about their problems. It will help in preventing harassment at police stations," Mr Kavi told the BBC.

But the decision was greeted with unease by other groups.

Father Dominic Emanuel of India's Catholic Bishop Council said the church did not "approve" of homosexual behaviour.

"Our stand has always been very clear. The church has no serious objection to decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults, the church has never considered homosexuals as criminals," said Father Emanuel.

"But the church does not approve of this behaviour. It doesn't consider it natural, ethical, or moral," he said.


The head cleric of Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, criticised the ruling.

"This is absolutely wrong. We will not accept any such law," Ahmed Bukhari told the AFP news agency.

In 2004, the Indian government opposed a legal petition that sought to legalise homosexuality - a petition the high court in Delhi dismissed.

But rights groups and the Indian government's HIV/Aids control body have demanded that homosexuality be legalised.

The National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has said that infected people were being driven underground and efforts to curb the virus were being hampered.

According to one estimate, more than 8% of homosexual men in India were infected with HIV, compared to fewer than 1% in the general population.

Reflections

I am a private person.

Except on the blog, where I come and air all my thoughts to irritate people!

Well, I am a private person, with regards to my sexuality. Comes with the territory, I am gay in a country that is homophobic. I am very used to not talking about my sexuality. It is something that (I hope), only a select few know about. And I discuss it with a measured minority.

You can imagine my discomfort at the level of exposure that Ssempa and Co has given us this last few months.

On the radios, homosexuality, sodomy is always on the fm stations. In the news, the more sensational arrests. In the talk shows, people vie with each other to tell the most sensational ‘truths’. I have just had a peep at a Saturday teenagers show on WBS television. Ssempa is the chief guest. Homosexuality is the topic. Talk about an obsession.

It is fantastic how quickly the general public kind of grows weary of a topic. For Ssempa and co, it is a crusade. An obsession. So they are going on and on and on. We kuchus have shut them out. We have to hide better, select lovers more circumspectly, but otherwise, life goes on.

Of course we hope that what happens does not come home to us. There are many who are very willing to jump on the bandwagon and abuse us. And our community is saturated with awareness of our sexuality. But they are blind. They just do not see us. A ‘homo’, the kind that Ssempa and Co talk about, has horns, a tail wrapped behind dark black, light-eating robes, wicked eyes and eye teeth, ready to bite and suck blood and ‘recruit’.

That serves us very well. We are too human to approximate to the stereotypes.

But it kind of hurts, the things which people say about us. Recently I was chatting to a mother about her kid, and she detailed how she was ‘sodomy proofing’ him. I listened, and felt sad.

I wouldn’t like her child to fall prey to a paedophile, but the fact that I am gay… It was kind of weird to hear of what should have been done so that I never become homosexual!

Sad, true.

But this is a funny country. Beautiful, wonderful in its own right.

Kind of have to look at it from the point of view that the beauty is counterbalanced by ugliness. Though I would the beauty would stand out on its own.

I have been thinking of love, and the privilege of love.

I don’t believe in abstinence. Not at all. Seems stupid to restrict one’s happiness, and enjoyment on the basis of some future blessings. Being gay in Uganda kind of emphasizes that. I mean, it is such a fragile happiness to find a man that you love and be able to share life with him. The fears and dangers are very real. And the bubble of happiness is fragile. True, I can choose to deny myself. Many do.

But why should I?

Ok, you guessed it. I am in love.

And aint it just the bomb!

Thanks to the Anti-gay Conference

The Homosexual. Fall guy and gal for the worlds ills. Fall out from the anti-gay conference.

Pastors Call for Probe Over Sodomy

Josephine Maseruka17 March 2009  

Kampala — A GROUP of Born-again pastors yesterday called upon the Government to set up a commission of inquiry into allegations of sodomy and homosexuality in various churches.

The National Committee on False Teaching Awareness comprising pastors from Pentecostal churches yesterday told the media at the Nomo Gallery in Kampala that although the war against sodomy would be long and challenging, it must be fought.

Moses Solomon Male, the group's spokesperson, in a statement said: "This evil has infiltrated and is deeply entrenched into the core and fibre of morality of the nation, which is the Church leadership."

Male, who is also the executive director of Arising for Christ, added: "For those who think that the Church is the safest place to be in, think twice as some are now safe havens for homosexuals."

Flanked by pastors Michael Kyazze and Noah Sserunjoji, Male named some senior Pentecostal church leaders in the sodomy racket.

They said the main challenge in the fight against the vice was the wealthy culprits who used their money to block exposure and had powerful politicians and security contacts on their pay roll.

 

Sodomites in Uganda's Prisons

Sternly. There will be no Sodomites in Ugandas Prisons.

So, when we are asked, we shall say truthfully, that there are no sodomites. Period.

Prison authorities hunt sodomites

First published: 20090216 8:22:52 AM EST

 

The Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons, Joseph Byabashaija has launched an operation to identify and punish inmates engaged in sodomising others. This follows increasing reports that many oprisoners are sodomised by their fellow prisoners.

 

Byabashaija has directed all Luzira Prison waders to pin up posters on all the prison corridors warning inmates that sodomy is illegal and the culprits will be dealt with once found.

 

The posters signed by Byabashaija also warn prisoners that sodomy spreads HIV/AIDS and calls upon prisoners to report any incidents of sodomy.

 

Byabashaija's directive follows a communication to him from Mulago hospital doctors who have worked on sodomy victims from Luzira. The hospital wrote to Byabashaija last month asking him to stamp out the bad vice in prisons.

 

Most of the victims, according to some Luzira prison waders, are poor inmates who want to receive freebies from the rich prisoners.

 

Byabashaija has also directed innocent inmates to secretly report to him all prisoners they suspect are practicing homosexuality.

Sodomy Laws.

The gay community is striking back. Remember the argument that ‘Homosexuality is not African’? Well, gay scholars (ahem, ahem) are coming out to attack this fallacy.

Its false. Of course. But for some reason, it is one of those popular falsehoods. Taken as 'truths', like being gay is 'un-natural'

Homosexuality in Uganda preceded the coming of Christianity. Kabaka Mwanga and the Uganda Martryrs, a very good example. Historical and otherwise.

But, and this is interesting, gay scholars are coming up with the counter argument that, actually, our people were pretty gay friendly… [Imagine being in Kabaka Mwanga’s court], that is, until the coming of the colonialists. So, what the colonialists actually brought, was homophobia!

The facts do line up! Here is a discussion that links Sodomy Laws in all previous British Colonies (French colonies didn’t have them, until now if I am not mistaken.)

Good reading.

This Alien Legacy: The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism: I. Introduction

by Alok Gupta

GayUganda

A Matter of Interpretation?

Debate is ongoing in India. The sodomy law, introduced by the British during the days as a colony is being challenged. LGBTI activists (and Public Health Proffessionals) argue that criminalisation of homosexuality is one of the key factors that has is important in the spread of HIV.

They argue that criminalisation should be repealed, so that HIV is tackled frankly and openly.

So, they have taken the state to court. And it seems to be a very interesting , the debate that is. But here is a point which the government is pushing vigorously.

Homosexuality needs to be curbed as it spreads HIV/AIDS: Centre to HC

7 Dec 2008, 1114 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Justifying criminalisation of homosexuality in the country, the Centre has pleaded before the Delhi High that it is one of the main reasons for spread of HIV/AIDS

and needs to be curbed.

In a written submission filed by Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, the Centre said that legalising Men having sex with Men (MSM), as pleaded by gay rights activists, would lead to spread of the dreaded disease and placed reports of various countries to substantiate its stand.

"In Zambia, one in three (33%) surveyed men who have sex with men tested HIV-positive. In the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, 43% of men who said they had sex only with other men were found to be living with HIV," the government said, quoting the United Nations report on Global AIDS Epidemic, 2008.

"In Bangkok, HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men rose from 17% in 2003 to 28% in 2005 and it is estimated that as many as 21% new HIV infections in Thailand in 2005 were attributable to unprotected sex between men," the Centre said.

The 100-page written submission was filed by the Centre as the court, while reserving the order, had allowed the government to file any additional submission in a written form.

Centre's response came on a PIL filed by gay rights activists seeking the court's direction to decriminalise gay sex among consenting adults in private.

At present, homosexuality is an offence in the country and Section 377 of Indian Penal Code provides punishment for up to life imprisonment for engaging in such acts.

Its so easy to refute this point that I wonder at how someone can still bring this up!

Uganda: Sodomy in Boarding Schools

It would be unfair if I insisted on putting only the 'good articles' about gay life in Uganda on this blog, wouldnt it? So, I have to put this one.

And qualify with this statement. I went to one of these boarding schools. Yeah. And was never 'forced'. But I am biasing you already. Bad reading...

Uganda: Sodomy in Boarding Schools

The Monitor (Kampala)

The Monitor (Kampala)

21 June 2008

Posted to the web 20 June 2008

Rodney Muhumuza & Richard Wanambwa

In accounts that indict school administrators and illustrate the darker side of life in boarding schools, some parents have spoken out to reveal the depth of sexual abuse in single-sex schools.

At least three parents have told Saturday Monitor that they were forced to move their children to other schools after learning of the risks at the schools they went to.

And another parent, who has suggested that she may soon have to find a new school for her child, has already complained to the Ministry of Education that her teenage son may have been sodomised at the prestigious school he attends.

The risks involved, according to the accounts, range from sodomy to indulgence in other forms of crass sexual behaviour.

Their courageous testimonies spoke of students being forced to indulge in unnatural sexual practices at schools where administrators do not encourage students to report cases of sexual abuse.

The parents we spoke to, even though they did so on condition of anonymity because they did not want to bring stigma to themselves or their children, admitted that even transferring their children to new schools provided no immediate guarantees that they were now in safe hands.

One parent transferred her son from Busoga College Mwiri to Kisubi High School; another moved her son from Kiira College Butiki to Kyambogo College School; and the third, if it were not for concerns over hefty fees elsewhere, wanted to move her daughter from Wanyange Girls' School.

Another parent told Saturday Monitor that her "brilliant daughter" has vowed not to return for her A'levels at one of the leading girls' schools in Kampala due to the growing problem of lesbianism at the school.

Mr Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry of Education publicist, said that one case had been brought to their attention.

A woman, responding to complaints from her child who attends St Mary's College Kisubi (Smack), complained to the ministry that her son is sleep-deprived at school because he has to worry about the possibility of being sodomised at night.

The boy, the woman alleged in a separate email to the Saturday Monitor, may have already been sexually abused.

Mr Kibenge confirmed that the ministry was investigating alleged homosexual behaviour at Smack, but he also said that it may be difficult to establish the truth because of the absence of willing complainants.

"They investigated [the case] and said there was no evidence. The headmaster [of Smack] said it cannot be possible that sodomy happens at the school," Mr Kibenge said on Thursday.

"It's a matter that one needs to follow through and get testimonies. But the investigators have to fight with the administrators."

Mr Fagil Mandy, an education consultant who once worked as the Ministry of Education's top inspector of schools, said that homosexual behaviour, while it has long been reported in some Ugandan schools, is now driven by a global culture that is increasingly less hostile towards homosexuals.

"We now have lobbyists who are campaigning and winning over people," Mr Mandy said on Thursday. "First of all it is curiosity [among students], and then there is the element of money [provided by foreigners who wish to popularise gay culture in Uganda]."

Homosexuality is a crime in Uganda, and the Penal Code Act prescribes life imprisonment for a convict. But while there have been some arrests of openly gay people, nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted.

And because most Ugandan homosexuals are decidedly secretive, there are no reliable estimates of their numbers in a country where, like in most of Africa, all cultural orientations condemn gay behaviour. "The people don't report the cases.

If there is no complainant, then who will testify against the accused?" asked Ms Judith Nabakoooba, the police publicist. In recent times, homosexuals and their sympathisers have been campaigning for public acceptance; three of them were yesterday in court to face tresspass charges resulting from a public event called by the pressure group Sexual Minorities Uganda.

According to the accounts of the parents who spoke to us, gay life is thriving in single-sex boarding schools because most administrators do not have the guts to punish the offenders.

What has happened is that while administrators may have every reason to suspect some students of engaging in inappropriate sexual behaviour, they are unlikely to take the firm step to punish or dismiss them.

"The feeling I was given was that the administrators did not encourage reports of that nature," Mr Kibenge said of the investigation into sodomy at Smack. "It's something we need to keep a watchful eye on."

The question of whether sodomy happens at Smack has been the subject of an online debate started by old boys and parents who say they are concerned about the safety of the new generation of students at the prominent school, founded by Catholic missionaries.

In an email to one of the old boys, a copy of which we have seen, Mr Edward Bukenya, the Smack headmaster, was adamant that his school was beyond suspicion.

"I am in receipt of your email against our school Smack. First of all, I thank you for your concern for your alma mater, and as an old boy you are enjoined to always promote the good image of Smack," Mr Bukenya said in the April 26 email to Mr Timothy Gaburungi. "It's quite unfortunate that the enemies of the school tend to discredit the school in such a negative image.

Smack, being always on the top of other schools in the country, especially in academic performance, attracts a lot of envy and jealousy from some people..."

Mr Bukenya was reluctant to speak to Saturday Monitor on alleged sodomy in his school. The authorities at Butiki and Mwiri said the allegations were unfair. It was not possible to reach the Wanyange headmistress for a comment.

Mr James Kubeketerya, the Bunya East MP who is the outgoing chairman of Parliament's Social Services Committee, said he was aware that poor students attending different schools were being lured with money to promote gay culture at single-sex schools.

Without providing details, Mr Kubeketerya, a former teacher at Mwiri, said older students are promised financial rewards for "luring the small ones" into homosexuality.

"The important thing is [to say] that sodomy goes on in some schools," Mr Kubeketerya said. "The administrators should openly speak out."

According to the parents who spoke to us, their children asked to be taken to new schools. But they may have been sexually abused by the time they asked for change, the parents said.

"He told me that it was an attempt, three attempts actually, to sodomise him," said the mother of the boy who left Mwiri for Kyambogo. "He changed behaviour and I got concerned. He told me that he did not want to go back to that school."

Mr Martin Sempa, a Kampala pastor who is interested in youth affairs, said in an interview on Thursday that he had interacted with at least 20 students who were sodomised at the schools they attended.

"I think that this is the biggest tragedy in our education system. I swear that will never take my child to a boarding school," Mr Sempa said, naming at least three people known to him who have witnessed sodomy "from close quarters". One of the witnesses he named, a former Smack student who left the school in 2004, said homosexuality there was engendered by "the big boys" in the school's rugby team.

"I was not a victim, but I know that sodomy used to happen during night time, when we were watching movies," he said, requesting anonymity because he did not want to bring attention to himself. "It was done by the big boys in the rugby team, the big, big guys. They are the ones who were sodomising the young ones."

The accounts of two other witnesses (whose identities we have withheld in order to respect of their privacy), even though they attended different schools, were tragically similar to the story told by the Smack old boy. They all spoke of older students leading their younger counterparts in relationships that started innocently, sometimes with just a simple request to "lay my bed today".

In some cases, according to the accounts, sodomy was perpetrated by prefects and other seemingly responsible students, making it even more difficult for the victims to consider speaking out against their tormentors.

"You saw kids walking in all sorts of ways. They were in pain--it was very, very bad," the Smack old boy said.

This is terrible. Which right thinking person would dare believe that being gay is a good thing after this sort of article. I am realy terrible because I am gay, arent I?

Am I really guilty as charged above?

Of the many things that I cant write about.

Just a by the way. My MP was arrested. 4 or 5 charges of sedition. And she was released on bail. Another opposition MP was released on bail. He was arrested on Friday, beaten during the arrest, (am not sure whether it was filmed). Man-handled badly, before he was escorted to jail.

It is funny how the police has this habit of arresting opposition figures on Friday afternoons. Just when the courts have closed. Means a night in jail. A weekend in jail, since the courts do not work on the weekend.

The crazy world of politics. A semblance of democracy, a hypocrisy to the creed of ideals, that is all that is necessary in our democracies.

--

Another of those things which I find hard to blog about. The thing that made me face my own reluctance to write on certain things.

The New Vision on Saturday was playing tabloid paper. Front paged testimonies of Ugandan truck drivers who had been raped in Kenya during the unrest.

It is a horrible thing to happen. Somehow, the idea of rape makes me go cold. No, contrary to what Ssempa goes around saying, I have never been raped. Not by any ‘sodomites’. Though I must admit to an assault once which had me on the cold edge of murder, once. Made me realise that I can kill. In anger, as well as in cold blood. Not a good bit of insight.

Yet rape is very common in my country. Marital rape is not rape. Not in Uganda. The man, after paying bride price, has the right to sex whenever and wheresoever he demands it. Culture stands firm on that.

The idea of a woman raped is ‘normal’. It happens, especially in times of war.

Rape of a man is a terrible thing to contemplate. In Uganda. There is no victim. The victim is judged guilty too. Harsh realities.

So, the New Vision played tabloid. Black headlines. Ugandan Drivers Sodomised.

I did not want to read what was underneath. I am a gay man. I know, or thought I knew the scapegoating which would be in the article. I did not read the paper.

Then I realised a curious fact.

The newspaper vendors put the papers on the sidewalks. Face up. Advertising.

the more lurid the headlines, the better. Attract the attention of the passer bys. You can imagine what the red rug’s headlines do.

Yet, on Saturday, the word ‘sodomised’ was more likely than not to be covered. By a stone or stick or anything playing paper weight. The poor vendors, and particularly women, were embarrassed by the headline.

I found it curious, and funny. And very much in character.

In the conscious of most Ugandans, a man raped was a very shameful piece of news. Yet Bukedde, and other local language dailies are always full of stories of women raped, girls ‘defiled’ and other heinous acts. And some of the most despicable photographs in New Vision have included hacked human beings, the red gore of cut throats and dismembered bodies.

What am I doing?

Trying to reconcile myself to the world that I live in.

I write of the beauty of my country. I tell of the beautiful things that happen to me. But that is not real life.

Life is a tough, harsh reality which daily faces me, us, as human beings. Cannot run away from it in the beauty of language. Have to balance.

Life is a rose bush. Blooms and thorns balance.

Though sometimes the thorns shade the blossoms.

On a lighter note, today’s New Vision had a hilarious cartoon. Our nemesis as gay Ugandans are two gentlemen. Nsaba Buturo (Minister of Ethics and Integrity) and Pastor Ssempa, gods ordained moralist and anti-homosexuality campaigner.

Well, the cartoonist kindly reminded them to take their crusade across the border to Kenya. Apparently, it is very necessary amongst those, er, heathens.

GayUganda