Uganda Catholic Church’s Silence

Uganda’s Catholic Church Fathers are playing Blind, Deaf and Dumb.., to the Anti-Homosexuality Death Bill…

Have I been too harsh judging their silence? 

No. I am not.
Ugandans, like a lot of African countries, are quite religious. Religious organisations are powerful here. Just look at how the Inter-religious Council actually initiated passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023.
But, apart from that power, these powerful men and women are highly hypocritical. The talk is just talk. What they do, how they behave would be scandalous, in any country other than Uganda. You remember Pastor Ssempa showing gay porn in church?   It is exposure in the foreign press that actually stopped him. In Uganda, he showed it multiple times in Churches and other public spaces, and it was only remarkable in the numbers who took the time to go ‘see for themselves’.
Someone took the trouble to list, without names, some of the ‘more recent’ Pastors scandals here. From bigamy, adultery, ‘homosexuality’ and others.

Calling out the Uganda Catholic Church’s deep, abiding hypocrisy, when I have the utterances of the Pope, the current, living, Pope to support me is just sense. 

I am [relatively] sure that when they comment on Uganda’s Homosexual Death bill, they will be the essential biblical Pharisee hypocrites, [in this story]  and they will throw up their hands and say, oh, we don’t agree with a few things, but the bill is law…!

In the AP interview on 25^th Jan 2023, Pope Francis noted that some Catholic Bishops advocated for criminalisation of homosexuality. He had just stated that homosexuality is a sin, just as much as a lack of ‘charity’ was also a sin… He stated.

“Acknowledging that some Catholic bishops nevertheless support criminalization, he said “these bishops have to have a process of conversion,” adding that they should apply “tenderness.””

Is the silence from the Catholic Church in Uganda the sort of ‘tenderness’ Pope Francis is talking about?

Or is it playing the Pope Pius XII handbook, hoping for exoneration later on?

 

gug

Mirroring the American Right

 

Kuchus (Gay Ugandans) are coming for your children!

Nonsense!
When I wrote and posted here , the title was a poke at innuendo overheard. I am gay in Uganda, I know it for nonsense. Pure, unbelievable nonsense, I thought.

Yet, on ‘balokole’ [born again Pentecostals] radio today, I heard the same nonsense presented as fact.
The message was clear. As Ugandans ‘sleep’, homosexuals are awake, coming for their children, in their schools. ‘Recruiting’ the children, preying on them. Tips were offered, to ‘homosexual proof’ the poor innocents and generally be aware.

The language was English, accent American. He was American.

The ranter informed listeners that he and others were working with pastors and religious leaders in Uganda, opening their eyes to the problem.

It reminded me of what is happening in the US in recent months, years. Florida. There is a ‘war against ‘Drag Queens’’. The rhetoric is eerily similar. The Drag Queens are coming for your children. They need to be protected.

“They” are coming for your children.
Powerful, viscerally emotional, evocative message. Rallying call, to ‘us’. The enemy a minority that cannot reply to the nonsense. A stigmatised minority.

Kenyan Kuchus, our eastern neighbours recently won an important court case. Their constitutional right to organise affirmed by the Kenya Supreme Court.

The expected backlash against Kuchus, [Gay Kenyans] had some unexpected aspects. Kenyan kuchus were accused of bringing books into the country for homosexual indoctrination.

WTF!!!

““Kenyan government intensified its restrictions on imported books with LGBT themes after public outcry. Parents and religious leaders in the country had demanded an audit of such books.””

In the US, so called challenges to school and public libraries are an ongoing issue. Parents complaining about books with ‘LGBT themes’.

Transplanting ideologies from one place to another, one environment to another is dangerous.
We have these stupid, stupid people to thank for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023?

Its no joke, or hyperbole. Hon Asumani Basalirwa who brought the Homosexuals Death Bill to the Ugandan parliament was talking on Deutch Wella and ranted.

“"Why are they invading our schools? Why are they invading our children? They are just being provocative. So, you want to invade our children and we look on? You want to invade our schools and we look on?"”

My people, including our leaders believe this nonsense.

The message is brought by American pastors. They are introduced by our pastors and religious leaders. Instant credibility.
They even state that they are ambassadors of truth from America to counter their government’s homosexual agenda, in Africa!

From America with Hate, indeed. We poor African kuchus are unwitting collateral damage.

 

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Gay Marriage in Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023

 

Gay Marriage. All caps: it is wildly exciting, on all sides of the ‘homosexual’ debate!

The average kuchu in Africa barely blinks. Why? What is ‘Gay Marriage’?
In Uganda, in Africa, gay relationships are pre-loaded with considerable risk of exposure and outing to a hostile populace. [This couple in Jinja, Uganda was actually prevented from leaving prison because the judge thought it was ‘safer’ to stay there, over Easter!!] . Tut, I am for the judge deciding to punish them, without actually having convicted them. 

Anti-gay activists in Africa are so excited by the mere possibility of gay marriage that it is a rallying call. Americans would say a ‘dog whistle’.
A rallying call to legislatures to enact anti-gay laws. Immediately! Even when Kuchus in Africa are too busy trying to survive to actually have gay marriage on the agenda. Yet.

The ‘traditional’ Churches, Anglican and Catholics have an agenda here. The debate is so fierce within their communions that they are forced to pre-empt it in Africa, by having a bill that tackles a problem that is not currently here, but is foreseen. Yes, there is debate in the Anglican communion [Church of Uganda], and in the Catholic Church.  Serious debate unlike in poor Uganda where it is pre-emptively upended, with criminal penalties for even dissenting from the conservative provisions [yeah, they are hypocritical that way.]

Honourable Basalirwa certainly had gay marriage on his mind. His draft of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023 was a Pre-Emptive Strike.

Stated in the Memorandum, Principles of the bill

The object of the Bill is to establish a comprehensive and enhanced legislation to protect the traditional family by-

a)    prohibiting any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex and the promotion or recognition of sexual relations between persons of the same sex.

In the justification, after listing the many defects in the current legislative instruments, Hon. Basalirwa declared that first, and foremost

The Bill seeks to:

a)    prohibit marriage between persons of the same sex.

And, in case we were ever in doubt, after a long and torturous listing of all the various ways Uganda is supposed to be protected from evil homosexuals, comes Clause 13 on gay marriage.

Same Sex Marriage

a)    A person who purports to contract a marriage with another person of the same sex commits the offence of homosexuality and shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for ten years.

b)   A person commits an offence if that person conducts a marriage ceremony between persons of the same sex and shall, on conviction, be liable  to imprisonment for a maximum of ten years for individuals.

There we have it. Gay marriage will be illegal in Uganda, with the stroke of the Presidential pen.

Am yet to see the final bill, as sent to the Presidential desk. Parliament was quite amazed at how ‘nice’ the Rt. Honourable Basalirwa was, with regards to penalties for the evil of homosexuality. It is quite likely that the penalties were upped [reflecting on the seriousness of the crime, of course]

Groom and groom, bride and bride, condemned. Plus the officiant.
Important not to forget possible other offences committed like the owner of the premises for the marriage [promotion of homosexuality], owner of the ‘brothel’ in which the marriage would be consummated [etc, etc] .., all such small details to fill in.

 

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Kuchus are African

 

As I stated before  our African identity is under continuous attack, as gay Africans. When there is any kind of debate in Uganda, we are heaped with abuse as gross, unnatural, un-African and evil.

A sad silver lining to the whole ‘homosexuality’ debate in Uganda is that even with the weight of negative information and frank myths damning homosexuals, a few nuggets of real information emerge.

Like when we are forced out of the closet. The dreaded ‘homosexuals’ are given local, known faces. The unreasoning fear might decrease and lead to some enlightment [‘Our Mothers’]

And Ugandans in the diaspora who have met and know unthreatening gay individuals might be persuaded to add an authoritative voice of reason. Here is an article in the Monitor from a long time columnist, a Ugandan-Canadian. Dr Muniini Mulera. He states;

“homosexual activities were common in precolonial and early colonial Africa. In Uganda’s case, the practice was well documented among the Langi (Driberg 1923), the Iteso (Laurence 1957), Abahima (Mushanga 1973), Abanyoro (Needham 1973), and Abaganda (Southwold 1973).”

I don’t have those references. They are certainly worth getting, however I can source them. Fascinating.

He continues

“colonial regimes, and the principal Christian religious sects, successfully suppressed public displays and engagement in homosexuality.

In their book “Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities” (London: MacMillan, 1998), Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe observe that “some say the colonialists did not introduce homosexuality to Africa but rather intolerance of it and systems of surveillance and regulation for suppressing it.””

Odd. Or not so odd. Homosexuality is not the import. The real ‘import’ is the rabid homophobia. Homosexuality was present, visible, tolerated. It is the import of religions [Christianity] that introduced the intolerance, plus ‘surveillance and regulation for suppression’.
Criminalisation of homosexuality was a direct import, as part of the British Empire Criminal code.

Truly, in history, the ‘winner’ writes the narrative. This was an aggressive rewriting of historical reality itself. 

By the 1960s, homophobia had taken root, and historical amnesia had relegated homosexuality to a misty past as though it had never existed.

Fact is, we homosexuals still existed. We went underground, were no longer visible, and mention of us was swept underneath the historical rug. We just became invisible. [All populations have minority sexualities. The African population is not that special!]

Oddly, Dr Muniini Mulera then argues that

“Africa is a culturally binary world, where sexual identity is perceived in reproductive terms. We are a socially conservative people, with a long and deep tradition of enforcing group norms. We expect people to look like and to function in the gender and sexual roles they were assigned at birth. To the African, sexual desire and activity is only meaningful when understood as an avenue for reproduction. That is the basis for rejection of homosexuality”

Yes, in the same article, his logic breaks down. So, according to him, the ‘post-colonial’ African is THE African? That is too simplistic. We cannot reject millennia of experience of The African because of the 150-200 years of colonialism and the post-colonial experience. Was ‘the African’ changed so fundamentally that ‘the African’ can only be defined as the post-colonial African? That is what Muniini Mulera seems to argue.

The post-colonial ‘culturally binary world’ that he is describing is by his very reasoning a product of colonialism and the new religions. Asserting the post-colonial African is The African is embracing the ideology behind utterances like Nobert Mao and Martin Ssempa, forgetting that Muniini Mulera himself, in that article, has effectively challenged those myths and assertions.

Pre-colonial Africa was not intolerantly, aggressively binary. Rather, other sexualities were visible and tolerated. Not persecuted or invisible, nor relegated to a misty past.

We are coming out. Voluntarily sometimes, involuntarily many times. When we were invisible, it was argued that homosexuality was not African and because we didn’t seem to exist in Africa. Now that we are coming out, it is important to re-assert the historical truths. Homosexuality is as African as The African. Homophobia is the import, not the historical reality. Reduction of sexuality to binary simplicities was not part of our traditional societies and African beliefs.

And, yes. We Kuchus embrace our African identity. We are African. We are part of The African Identity; - the real African Identity.

And doesn’t that make some people mad!

 

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Pope Francis Statements on Homosexuality

 

Easter Present for the Gay African, the Gay Ugandan.

We Kuchus are like the very average African. We believe. Many of us are believers, in spite of being gay, gay in Africa.

It is the religious organisations, religious people in Africa who are predictably violently, openly homophobic in Africa.  The impression left on the average African is that the kuchu is a manifestation of the most evil human being, a demon and Satan descended on earth; in our villages, our towns, our neighbourhoods. Scriptures are quoted: everyone seems to be an expert on what scriptures state on homosexuality, in  Bible or Quran.

To learn that the Catholic Church actually doesn’t have [at the moment, far as I know] an officially hostile position towards LGBTQ human beings is surprising, to the average Ugandan, the average African.

To know that the current Pope, Pope Francis has actually taken this to heart and embraced us, queer human beings, is mind blowing.
Below is a list of statements from Pope Francis, Pontiff of the Catholic Church. Statements that expose a genuine ‘love and compassion’ from my humble point of view. They have been progressive, over the years, and cumulative. Apparently no other pope has been this embracing of the gay human being; this assertive of our right to life, freedom, dignity, as fellow human beings.

They are listed below, an Easter present to the Queer Catholic in Africa and in Uganda. To all kuchus in Africa. Some love to you, from an unexpected corner.

 

[Pic of Pope Francis]

2013 Declaration 

Pope Francis’ famous 2013 declaration, “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him?”

5^th May 2022 Letter to ‘Outreach Faith’, Catholic Ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. 

Outreach: What would you say is the most important thing for LGBT people to know about God?

Pope Francis: God is Father and he does not disown any of his children. And “the style” of God is “closeness, mercy and tenderness.” Along this path you will find God.

Outreach: What would you like LGBT people to know about the church?

Pope Francis: I would like for them to read the book of the Acts of the Apostles. There they will find the image of the living church.

Outreach: What do you say to an LGBT Catholic who has experienced rejection from the church?

Pope Francis: I would have them recognize it not as “the rejection of the church,” but instead of “people in the church.” The church is a mother and calls together all her children. Take for example the parable of those invited to the feast: “the just, the sinners, the rich and the poor, etc.” [Matthew 22:1-15; Luke 14:15-24]. A “selective” church, one of “pure blood,” is not Holy Mother Church, but rather a sect.

AP Interview, Another link to same interview.

First time a Pope has applied himself so to criminalisation of LGBTIQ

“Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.”

““Being homosexual isn’t a crime,””

“acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against LGBTQ people” “  attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. “These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.””

“Declaring such laws “unjust,” Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said.”

“Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gay people must be welcomed and respected, and should not be marginalized or discriminated against”

““We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,””

“said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality. Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are sinful, or “intrinsically disordered,” but that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect.”

““It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,””

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

 

““It’s not a crime, it’s a human condition.””

Date Feb 5, 2023. Trip to Congo, South Sudan. [BBC Link] 

“Pope Francis said that God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction”

“what the pope would say to families in Congo and South Sudan who reject their children because they are gay, Pope Francis responded that the catechism teaches that people with same-sex attraction should not be marginalized. “People with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them,”

““To condemn someone like this is a sin. Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice,””

“return flight from Brazil in 2013: “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him? This is what I said on that trip.””

“in-flight press conference returning from Ireland in 2018 he said that parents should not kick out children with this orientation out of their homes.”

Anglican counterpart, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields,

Official Catholic Church position;
“According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, people with homosexual tendencies should be treated with respect, and unjust discrimination against them should be avoided, while “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.””

 “Pope Francis repeated his view that the Catholic Church cannot permit sacramental marriage of same sex couples.”

“he supported so-called civil union legislation, and”

“stressed that laws banning homosexuality were "a problem that cannot be ignored".”

~~~

From Rome with Love, indeed. 

Have a good Easter season.

 

gug