1 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 1.

First, I am kuchu, (LGBTQ+ Ugandan

The article was interesting. Refreshing. In Uganda, a down to earth examination of issues is hardly publishable.

Mr Otieno seems to write under the illusion that ‘what should be’, is ‘what is’, reality.
For example, he asserts that

“the New York Times, went downright colonial by trying to connect the law’s passage with the American conservative backlash against the LGBT+ agenda, laying the blame partly at the feet of organisations like Arizona-based Family Watch International, which has organised and participated in pro-family conferences in Uganda. This is rubbish”

Matter of fact, the rubbish is Mr Otieno’s assertion. The reporting might have been inconvenient, but it was accurate.

That US Arizona  group Family Watch International (FWI) was involved in the first 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda.

On the weekend after the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 was first passed by Uganda’s Parliament, FWI held a 2 day conference for African legislators in Entebbe, Uganda. Supposedly supporting African sovereignty and ‘family rights’, its focus was on its staple 3 ideological issues: anti-LGBTQ+, anti-contraception and anti-abortion; against ‘Comprehensive Sexuality Education’.
Museveni made an appearance. He was so convinced of the threat to humanity paused by homosexuality that he called on Africa to save the world.

One of the attendees, Kenyan MP Peter Kaluma left for home (Nairobi, Kenya) trumpeting on Twitter his determination to table an anti-Homosexuality bill. Indeed, he did so, the Family Protection Bill, directly reflecting FWI rhetoric, and some of the provisions, an FWI wishlist. He admitted the influence.

FWI in its Africa specialisation, talks about our ‘sovereignty’, and plays deftly on ‘western hegemony’ and the ‘LGBTQ+ agenda’. ‘Racism’ and ‘colonialism’ are always in the background, cards to play.
Frankly, they cone us. They understand, just as Mathew Otieno reacted, those are trigger points for Africans post colonialism.  They can manipulate us, and do so.  Winking and nudging they intimate that their governments are playing colonialism. We fail to ask WHY they would go against their national interests.

Reacting with knee jerk reflex like this blinds us to the obvious manipulation from the likes of FWI. And, Mr Otieno fell into the trap, angrily claiming agency, our sovereignty in the face of colonialism and racism. We are sovereign in FWI’s eyes only as long as we follow their agenda, grounded in our ignorance and prejudices, which they reinforce.

 

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Is the Pope A Christian?

Very, very provocative question. Blasphemy. Lese majeste, since he is head of state. Provocative and insulting.., but, I claim my innocence as an unbeliever first, a very bad homosexual person and unrepentant sinner, as per the teaching of the prominent Christians who are there to shepherd and guide my understanding. Is the Pope, the Pontiff of the moment, Pope Francis a Christian?

Yes, I know you are not yet convinced that my question is genuine. Bear with me just a little more. A few more words.

From my (weak) knowledge of history, there was the Nazarene. Then there was the Catholic Church. Much later, there was a split, and there was the Church of England, Anglican. Those are facts, true?
So, Pope Francis is head, of the Catholic Church. And, for the current Church of England, it is Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury.

The Anglicans have been having problems. Issue apparently is my sexuality, specifically blessing gay couples in marriage. Some of them say broke off, but they say they are Anglicans…, the theology confuses me. They call themselves GAFCON.
So, comes Uganda. The Anglicans in Uganda engineer and support the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023. Archbishop Welby says that was not correct. He gives his reasons.

The GAFCON Anglicans are very angry. They tell Archbishop Welby that he is a sinner. That he should repent. They say they have broken from the Church of England because of the sins of the Church of England.

Now, by my calculations, the sins of Pope Francis are more than the sins of Archbishop Welby and the Church of England.

Pope Francis has said LGBTQ+ people, Kuchus as we call ourselves, homosexuals as most Ugandans including the GAFCON people call us, that we are sinners. He says that we should be treated with dignity.

Pope Francis is against criminalising us LGBTQ+ people, just like Archbishop Welby is.
He has washed the feet of sinners. He has dinned with sinners. Our bishops here say sinners are not to be dinned with or cozened. They (homosexuals) are sinners.

In my estimation, Pope Francis has sinned more than Archbishop Welby. At least in the estimation of the GAFCON Anglicans who are supposed to shepherd me, and others like me.

So, is the Pope a Christian?

Oh, I know, Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby have not done different from what the Nazarene would have done…, but only in my sinful expectations. And, I am an unbeliever.
The Nazarene associated with sinners. He walked with sinners. He stopped sinners from being punished. He spoke of loving neighbours as one loves themselves. He even dinned with sinners, for which he was heavily condemned, because he dined with sinners.
Seems as if Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby seem to be acting like the Nazarene. But, the GAFCON shepherds here say that that is sinful.

So, Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby are sinners. Are they Christian?

A humble question, from a self confessed sinner.

 

gug.

Peddlers of Homophobia, falsehoods and Evil

‘Men, and Women of God’. Unimpeachable sources of all knowledge on earth. The go-to experts in all things, in the realms of heaven and earth. The literal power of religious leaders in our environment is immense, unquestioned, unquestionable.
Imagine, in Kenya, a pastor, evangelical convinced 250 plus men and women, with their children, to starve to death, in order to go meet their god. 350 human remains exhumed. Parents with their children. And, of the 60 ‘rescued’, they are refusing to eat. If they eat, they will fail to meet their god. Just imagine how long that has been going on. 250 dead. The pastor is in good health.

In Uganda to the east, another pastor convinced his faithful to sell all they had, and trek to Ethiopia, where they were found, starving
And, we had the Kibwetere cult in western Uganda. Over 70 immolated, apparently on their leaders orders. Burnt themselves to cinders. In a god’s name.

Religious leaders in Africa are ridiculously powerful.
Listening to ‘balokole’ radio (Pentecostal), one hears inanities like lurid confessions of anything and everything, interpretation of dreams and other counselling live on radio, and tv. Tales of being chased by naked chickens in dreams, of exorcisms, and infestations of spirits, holy and unholy.
This is staple, religion in Africa, and in Uganda. And it is served by very powerful people. Men, and Women of God.

Unimpeachable sources, unquestioned. Unquestionable. They speak the Truth. Period.

So, when Pastor Martin Ssempa started showing gay porn in church, and at rallies and conferences, he was not questioned. His aim was to show how ‘bad’ the homosexual is.
Ssempa in his glory got no pushback, in Uganda. It was only when he became an international story that Ugandan media broke that story. He was a pastor.., how could he do any wrong? And of course he was smearing homosexuals. The big, bad, ugly homosexuals.

Ssempa says he is not homosexual. I don’t know how he sourced gay porn, in a country where all porn is illegal. I am sure I have never had the pleasure of doing some of the acts that he showed in public in Uganda.., he showed them, and described them for those who were too far from him to see the screen. And, Ugandans barely blinked. A ‘man of god.’ I am gay.., and I would never be believed over him as a source as to what I do, during sex!

But, their temporal power has been demonstrated, not very covertly, by the Rt. Rev Stephen Kaziimba, Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda, Anglican.

In my estimation, he has been a prime mover for the Anti-Homosexual Act 2023. With the Catholic Church in convenient silence, the Primate of the Anglicans in Uganda met with other leaders in the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, and they determined that there would be a law. Inspite of the estimation that the President was not supportive. The meeting was in February 2023. By March, the bill was written, tabled, and rushed through Parliament. The President hesitated, signing it. And the Archbishop unleashed his cries…, the bill must become law. That was the song, over Easter. And the bill was law.

Powerful, powerful man.

Eloquent, he revealed his reasoning in public. And, yes, it is a blast. Literally.
This is a very powerful man, in actual terms. And these are his considered beliefs. He is a well read person, if a PhD means anything. And, he is unashamedly ignorant, and homophobic.

Examine this, for a moment. It was part of his sermon on Easter, 2023, he reminds us helpfully.

“Homosexuality is currently a challenge in Uganda because it is being forced on us by outside, foreign actors against our will, against our culture, and against our religious beliefs. They disguise themselves as “human rights activists,” but are corrupting real human rights by adding LGBTQ to their agenda.”

The Kuchu (LGBTQ+) activists that I know are as Ugandan as Stephen Kaziimba. Yes. We are Ugandan, and it is insulting for our ancestry as Ugandan and African to be questioned. But, we are kuchus. He is a ‘Man of God’.

No, of course he didn’t mention his political fight with the Primate of the Church of England. That would have tarnished his moment. And, to actually be challenged and proved wrong in his ‘truths’. And of course they must be true. He said so, not so?

Another truth that he keeps harping on, this saintly and educated ‘Man of God’ is that we don’t reproduce.

“LGBTQ relationships (which cannot procreate)”

“”

Now, that is embarrassing. Would he understand if I told him that the B in LGBTQ means Bisexual? He is an educated person…, but not about sexuality, gods forbid. And, I am one of the evil homosexuals, a kuchu. Hardly a believable source about my own biology and sex and sexuality, am I?
Telling him that our ovaries and testes are intact in fact…, and that we do have children…, well. We cannot, because he says we dont.

And, this is what Dr Stephen Kaziimba, the Rt Rev Archbishop of the Church of Uganda says of our lack of procreation. A seemingly logical extension of what he believes.

““Those countries that legalized homosexuality a long time ago have seen a long-time decline in their population growth. In fact, many of those countries are now faced with the problem of negative population growth. Negative population growth leads to the collapse of countries, cultures, civilizations, and economies.””

All because we kuchus (LGBTQ+ individuals) don’t procreate.
We are a minority. A persecuted, blamed-for-everything minority. Kaziimba is one of the most important propagators of the myth that we ‘recruit children’, and that we somehow make people gay. Homosexuals. The dreaded kuchus. Apparently we the minority will recruit others and become a majority, hindering Uganda’s population growth.

It is very, very sad.
Our peoples are poor, uneducated, and not up to critical thinking. They believe in their religious leaders, to an extent that is ridiculous. It is those same religious leaders, with the advantage of knowledge and education, who propagate ridiculous untruths, unquestioned, unquestionable because they are our religious leaders. And, the sheep believe it all.

It is very sad. Sadder because it is truth.

 

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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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Erasing the Kuchu: the LGBTQ+ African

 

Oh yes, this is a thing. A concept ringing true, and that seems to account for quite a lot of the anger other Africans feel for Kuchus, LGBTQ+ Africans.
It runs thus; Africans are so pure that Kuchus don’t, or didn’t exist in Africa. The whole idea of LGBTQ+ is foreign, an importation from the ‘West’.

It is complete nonsense. Yes, it is ignorant nonsense.
Sadly, quite a lot of Africans fervently believe this. And, a lot of our powerful leaders believe the nonsense, using that as the excuse to cement their homophobia.
Oh yes, we Kuchus accept that we are different. You might not like us, but we are African. That is part of my identity, our identities. We are queer Africans.

The nonsense is cemented by a lack of knowledge and the perpetuation of ignorance about sex and sexualities.
Africans as individuals know about sex. But, the sex averse, sex negative, sex shame that has been imported [mainly], means that we don’t actually cement our knowledge of sex and sexuality. What we know has to be confirmed by scriptures.., and you can imagine what ‘scriptures’ are believed to say about sex.

Back, to the apparent need to erase the Kuchu African, the LGBTQ+ African.

I remember the days when our dear leaders were questioned about LGBTQ+ Africans. The early days of the HIV epidemic. And it seemed like a scientific curiosity. In the rest of the world, gay men were an important facet of the epidemic. The epidemiology and science was quite concrete. Why were they not so in Africa? Was it true that in Africa, the HIV epidemic was only heterosexual?

Our dear leaders were incensed. No, there was no such nonsense as gay Africans. That was only in the evil, decadent ‘outside’, especially the ‘west’.
Oh yes, even Museveni was caught uttering such stupidities.., I don’t know whether ignorant utterances that the whole world knows aren’t correct but are uttered as truths in the village we call Uganda become gospels. [Yes, they do.]

So, given such erasure, we came out.
We actually made a demonstration, silent, mouths taped shut, in an international conference in Kampala, Uganda. The days of denial that gay Ugandans existed were over.
We were chased down after the demonstration. But, the mere fact that we had actually challenged the erasure was empowering. No longer could our dear leaders claim we didn’t exist. A precious few became visible.

And, we brought out the historical record. Hard to erase that which is actually in journals, as published papers, as long ago as when the Europeans started colonising Africa.
Myth bursting. Kuchus, LGBTQ+ Africans existed even before colonialism, apparently co-existed peacefully, before the introduction of the ‘One God’, colonial religions that banned, imprisoned, persecuted and erased knowledge of us.

Of course then the dear leaders changed the narrative. We were ‘few’, not many. Museveni made news, accepting that gay Africans existed, on BBC Focus on Africa program. A momentous assertion.

[Stupidities, we are mocked in our ignorance, but, if the leaders set themselves up for such a thing, what to do? Of course it had to be headline news, Museveni accepting that LGBTQ+ Africans existed. He is the one who had said they didn’t.]
Yes. We are a minority. A minority that is persecuted. We are closeted because of homophobia. Our invisibility, hurtful as it is, is a matter of survival.

Since we were, and the epidemic was, and we had come out, the relative outing of Kuchu Africans has been ongoing.
Matter of fact. Too many papers published, too much known now to actually stand and say, they don’t exist. The erasure is no longer working…, except in the anger by some Africans that we dare to exist, that we dare to come out. Dare to challenge the narrative of a homosexual less Africa.

But, the erasure continues. Or at least the desire, desperate, to erase.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 is an attempt at erasure. In the Bill as written by Asumani Basalirwa, the very identities of gay, lesbian, transgender, etc were to be criminalised. It is not a mistake that the Act is genocidal, all homosexuals, as we are called, to be in prison for life [no parole], or the death punishment, for recidivism, being ‘serial’ offenders.

And when The Primate of the Church of Uganda, Anglican, GAFCON tribe, when Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba says things like

"homosexuality is currently a challenge in Uganda because it is being forced on us by outside, foreign actors against our will, against our culture, and against our religious beliefs"

Yeah, it is the same narrative. We gay Africans are not supposed to be, a foreign imposition... We poor kuchus, gay Africans, are of course not to blame for our sexual orientation…
But, we are. And the whole Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 is aimed at erasing us from existence. Yet we still are. We are not foreign. We are, Kuchus. We are LGBTQ+. We are African.

That is very, very painful to the likes of Kaziimba. No wonder death and life imprisonment. Matter of fact, ironic that the ‘foreign imposition’ that Kaziimba is fighting against he fights by imposing life imprisonment and death on Africans. Africans like me, Ugandans who are Kuchu.

 

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Schism Politics of the Anglican Communion on Homosexuality

 Oh yeah, the politics of schism in the Anglican Communion. Spilt out exposed- with my sexuality the apparent catalyst.

But, the vitriol flying is deafening. Surely these people don’t really mind that I slept with a man like myself last night? Well, the sex was good.., how the hell does it concern…,

Sorry. I also slide off the path. Frequently.

So, apparently the ‘Anglican Communion’ is split. Those in England side want to bless (LGBTQ+) kuchu unions. Those in Uganda, in the clan called GAFCON, are not willing to bless kuchu unions.
I wish it was that simple, but even to an observer on the outside, blessing kuchu unions seems to be only the catalyst. For the wrath, rage, fire and spit flying in public. Lots of repressed anger there.

So, with the Primate (Archbishop) of the Church of Uganda enthusiastically championing Life Imprisonment and Death for the homosexual in Uganda, the Primate of All England issued a rebuke. Apparently first in private, and then in public.
The Primate England (Archbishop Webley) was concerned about support of Anglicans for further criminalisation and death penalty for homosexuals. That was not Anglican…, apparently they had had a resolution, [Lambeth 1.1 or something like that], against criminalisation. That Kaziimba Mugalu openly thought that rubbish was a pain, said his brother Anglican Wezley.

Vitriol flew:

“Stupid”, [my paraphrase], says Kaziimba Mugalu. You don’t know anything about what you are saying, you Primate of England.
[Eiissshh…, anyone who doesn’t know what is happening with the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 must be living in heaven…, or hell? It is 2023.., and the debate in Uganda and outside Uganda has been LOUD!]

‘The Death penalty was in the Penal Code before’, says Kaziimba Mugalu.
[I think that is a lie…, we homosexuals were not being sentenced to life in prison, let alone death for the crime of loving each other. But, he is ‘Man of God’, surely he doesn’t lie so openly? Oh yes, he does lie, the Archbishop]

‘The Criminalisation was there from colonial times’, shouts Kaziimba Mugalu.
Seems kind of contradictory. It was there, yes? From more than half a century ago, a colonial legacy you point out…, don’t you think it is time to stand on your feet, Uganda? Own it, like you did in the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.

Repent…,! Repent Webley, Repent of the sin of advocacy for homosexuals. [He must have been seething in Namirembe?!!] Repent
Webley ‘must repent for not supporting the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.” quotes South African MambaOnline.., cheeky, but accurate.

‘Colonialism’, shouts Kaziimba Mugalu.
Hey, I told you this was a brawl, on the internet. Okay, from the GAFCON clan side. The Primate of Rwanda is apparently the spokesperson for the GAFCON clan. And he supported his friend in Uganda.  It seems as if Webley of England cast a stone and the bonfire erupted. Tinder dry, it was waiting, and every nasty name was ready.
Apparently, when concern and advice comes from England, it is ‘colonial’. When the advice comes from Uganda, shouted to ‘repent’ and turn to god, well, it is pure loving concern…!

And the ultimate. ‘You don’t have the right’ !!! We broke up, we are no longer with you…’
Okay.., okay, okay brothers. Chill, a little, please. We understand, we understand. When there is a break up in the family, the emotions can fly high. We don’t need to have all the dirty laundry out to dry.
It is supremely educative and embarrassing and eye opening.

We suspected before…, it is not that I love men, and have sex with them. Yeah, of course I was not naïve to think it was just me…, but, a sense of err, decency?

And, with the huge fight of the elephants in the room, we the grass who will rot and die in prison as gallows food…, err, is it possible to slip in a word that you are supposedly ‘Christian’? I mean, the world might doubt that, if they don’t already…, ahem, ahem.

 

gug