Eid day. Up late, after all it is a public holiday. And bed is sweet with life and love in it.
Overcast, and the sound of children laughing and shouting all round us. A beautiful day.
I had not realized that I was not posting as frequently as I used to.
The business of being busy- with work and other demands. But I write because I love doing so, and, it is a therapy. The musings of my mind displayed for all and sundry to see.
Not much to write about, but I need to wish my muslim friends Eid Mubarak.
And, a night photo of the new mosque.
Eid Mubarak
An un-muslim thought which has cheered me up this morning. Google supports Gay Marriage in California. Good for them. Sometimes people and companies have to get off the fence.
Here is the notice. The comments are very interesting. Go Google, go!
I wish to commend Dr. Paul Semugoma for writing an objective article “Same sex attraction is not a disease” that appeared in The New Vision recently.
I’m happily married and a father of five. I have travelled and read scientific books that have made me to think objectively on homosexuality. Dr. Semugoma was very courageous to write about a topic that has diverted clergy from focusing on more important spiritual and development issues. T. S. Mugoya Kampala
Saw this at SGL's Universe, and I was not amused. I know Ssempa, and Orombi in Uganda preach the same kind of gospel, but wow! Kind of hits one in the face how much freedom to hate a person can claim in the name of religion.
A few names immediately spring to mind. Osama bin Laden being the most notorious one.
Just wonder whether this is where my poor country is headed.
Australian bumper sticker threatens gays with death
"Gay Rights? Under God's law the only rights gays have is the right to die." Lev 20:13
Did I hear you ask where Ssempa preaches the same gospel? Well, I will spring the quote.
"Our previous experience showed us that bringing homosexuals into campaigns against HIV only gives them a chance to propagate their illegal and unnatural acts."
In my book, thinking that I should get HIV in the name of your morality is not very far from thinking I should die, in the name of your morality. Sick Christians.
A prayer for those who hate me in the name of religion; May their gods help them. I as a homosexual have proven resilient over the years.
------
Is that reaction, err, too hate filled?
Bitter, defiant, in your face. And of course the all out challenge to Christians.
Reminds me of what I used to be. Bitter, angry, and lashing out at any chance I got. At Christians, and Christianity.
Anger has its purposes. Ingrained as homophobia can be, we learn to hate ourselves for what we are. The anger helps us to seize control of the moral upper ground. Even when it is not based on accurate facts. Helps to kind of flush out the venom.
But anger is not something to use so liberally. It corrodes and corrupts one's being.
Actually, those poor Christians, Ssempa, and the guy who believes my only right is to be stoned because I am gay, well, they are to be pitied.
They are in a house full of treasures. And their eyes are so closed to it that they can genuinely see none of the good things of love that that house has.
Poor Ssempa. And Orombi, and Nsaba Buturo. And of course, the sheep that follow them; Kimbowa, and all the others. Poor christians.
The weekend before last, two members of Uganda’s gay community were picked up from their own homes — “helpfully” identified by a neighbour.
They remained in detention in Kampala far over the time that is legally proscribed for detention without trial.
They were denied access to their advocate. They were, however, allowed access to a priest, who pressurised them to give up names of other members of the gay community.
It became clear that the Criminal Investigations Department had a list of 11 Ugandans known to be involved in organising against the discrimination and violence faced by the gay community.
The CID even went to the astonishing extent of visiting several banks in Kampala, in an apparent attempt to freeze the accounts of those on the list.
The two gay men were threatened during their detention with charges of “recruitment.” This, of course, is not currently a criminal offence articulated in Uganda’s penal code.
If it were, it would be (yet) another indication of how little understood issues of gender identity and sexual orientation are — nobody “chooses” their gender identity or sexual orientation and therefore nobody could be “recruited” into one other than the one innately theirs.
Even if there were a choice, what person, in the face of the extreme homophobia that obtain here, would consciously make such a difficult choice?
In fact, the very reverse is true — the homophobia actually forces many with different gender identities and sexual orientations to hide that fact for as long as they possibly can.
The news went out. Those in the human-rights and women’s movements in Uganda courageous enough to stand up in defence of the two gay men, together with Uganda’s fledging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex movement, did so.
But the point being made by the state was clear — and its warning was heard. The citizenship and equality rights due to Uganda’s LGBTI community will not only not be upheld—they will be deliberately trampled upon by the state. With the almost full support of the moral majority.
Two Ugandan lesbians on the CID list fled the country. The rest of the LGBTI community is now living in fear — simply because of who they are.
The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Take the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity, for example.
Originally established to deal, appropriately, with ethics in governance and having failed to do so, it is now venturing into areas where the state has absolutely no business. The minister’s latest proposal was to ban miniskirts on the spurious grounds that they cause road accidents by distracting drivers. Honestly!
Meanwhile, a debate has been raging in parliament and the executive around the legalisation of sex work. As usual, the focus is not on demand — the men who buy sex — but on supply — the women who, in response to that demand, sell sex.
And the focus on women has no regard for their safety and security — in terms of health as well as in terms of violence — but on their supposed lack of morality. Again. Honestly.
The obsession of any state with morality — conservatively and patriarchally defined — is the sign of a state in crisis.
It is the sign of a state ready to do anything to mobilise the moral majority at the expense of those who most need its protection. It is the sign of a state desperate to distract attention from the much more pressing and real needs of its population.
Paedophilia and violence against women are legitimate reasons for state intervention in the personal, on the basis that citizen’s safety and security are at stake. But consenting adults? Again, honestly.
Museveni must call off his storm troopers.
L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission
For some reason, I keep getting into problems, asking questions which I should not ask.
Anyway, it started with a letter in the Monitor Newspaper. Someone was giving advice about a disease called 'balanitis', an infection of the head of the penis, far as I could judge. [shhh, Princess, shut your eyes]
The gentleman giving the advice is an HIV/AIDS counselor, and, here is part of his advice.
A concerned man can ask how to prevent Balanitis. …
Heterosexual young boys and old ones visit a doctor to check whether you have thrush. The outcome can be good if you are diagnosed and treated early. …
Willy Bikokye Kafeero, HIV/Aids counsellor, Makerere University
So, me being gay, (that is, homosexual), I had a question. Luckily enough, the guy had left an email address on his letter to the newspaper.
So, I e-mailed him, and waited for an answer. Who would like to get an infection of the head of the penis? [Eyes shut, I said, put fingers in the ears, PRINCESS!]
Here is my (very polite) email
Dear Sir,
thanks for your good advice on preventing Balanitis. I noticed that you gave advice to heterosexual young boys and old ones,
'Heterosexual young boys and old ones visit a doctor to check whether you have thrush. '
I am homosexual, what about me? Am I not at risk of balanitis?
Gug Gay Uganda
The answer was not long in coming. Here
Greetings from William
I do not intend to advice some one who can't identify him self. Much as you're gay .
Pliz note that its 100% illegal before God and your nation Uganda in case your coming from Uganda .
Read the constitution of Uganda you have no room to exercise your business much as you call rights
NOTE But note that your rights are not absolute to the community
PLIZ READ THE BIBLE
PLIZ when God created a man called Adam , He created a wife called Eva but not Adams and Evas
Ok. So, I went ahead and read the bible. And the constitution, and all the other things he told me to read about balanitis. Maybe I got the spelling wrong. Seems as if there was no mention of this loathsome disease.
EDITORI am intrigued by the hypocritical silence of religious institutions regarding the crisis in Karamoja! I stand to be corrected but I have not heard a single voice regarding the suffering that has dehumanised our brothers and sisters in Karamoja.
When the land bill was being discussed, a bishop from one of the religious bodies came out strongly condemning the mistreatment of Buganda. it could lead to turmoil, he ventured. Enter Karamoja and all are quiet. Anyone remember the parable of the good Samaritan?
What is interesting is that the church especially took particular exception on the question of homosexuality. I do not support homosexuality at all but my point is that we have an equally critical problem when our brothers are starving to death when we can afford at least three square meals a day.
Our muslim brothers should also do something. Do all religions preach about all being the children of God? Are the Karimojong any less than we are? Isn’t it time we stood up for them! Shame! Shame! Shame!
The hypocrisy is deafening! Preaching about it being better give than to receive! Are we giving? parliament should declare a state of emergency in Karamoja! But they are all pretending to be saving this nation. What hogwash!
All part of the grand conspiracy, what in their well cut-out suits, fat allowances ad nauseum! While these great people waste away before our very eyes and we call ourselves a nation! Pity. Karamoja should be declared a disaster area. They badly need food and medicine.
The religious and civic organisations should mobilise where we (potential Samaritans) can donate items, including money for the Karimojong. It is time for us to be donors to our own brothers, our brothers’ keepers.
Any mass action like this must be regulated by government to avoid any mistrust but it should be tailored to avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy
Wake up people! We can make a change. It is time to stoke the fires of nationalism. We can bring hope to these people as a stopgap measure while government and other stakeholders design long-term solutions for the troubled region.
We have little time. If we all fasted for one day and handed the proceeds to our brothers, just imagine the fire that we would have lit in an attempt to unite a polarised nation!
EDITOR—I would like to comment on Dr. Paul Semugoma’s article “Same sex attraction is not a disease” published on September 17. Homosexuality may not be a disease but it certainly is a deviation or perversion. The culture of a society is there precisely to limit the deviations of individuals from the norm.
It is the social sanctions of societies that keep its members on the straight and narrow path against their natural desires.
Many people do have compulsive desires to pilfer other people’s properties even when they do not need those items. Others cannot simply keep to a single woman in their sexual life.
These people are simply wired to derive pleasure from these activities which our society condemns. Some have agonised and even contemplated suicide in their honest fight against these social deviations. But we can also argue like Semugoma, that they have failed because that is who they are.
Should we therefore not condemn pilferers, night dancers, philanderers because according to . Semugoma’s blueprint, these people are made like that? It is in their genes! Won’t we also use the same arguments to explain the behaviour of rapists, murderers, dictators, etc?
Semugoma should know that for most people, life is a struggle to control their inborn desires and conform to what the majority of society considers right! Some people succeed better than others but culture is there to ensure everyone tries.
