Novelist, Journalist and other things ending in -ist
Yes, this is a real article, from Uganda’s ultra-homophobic Red Pepper. Sinister and funny in equal measure. Considering Mutumba appears to have more than one bum, it is perhaps no surprise he is being targeted by the bum-drilling gang.
I received a well-intentioned request from the campaigners at http://www.avaaz.org/ to donate money to a rights’ group that wishes to run an opinion poll about proposed tougher anti-gay legislation in Uganda. They believe the opinion poll will show Ugandans do not back the bill, which calls for the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality” – having gay sex while HIV positive, with a minor or a disabled person. Belief in human rights will overpower homophobia, they reason.
Sorry Avaaz, but I think you are underestimating the virulence of homophobia in not only Uganda, but the rest of East Africa. I have spoken to pleasant, reasonable, ordinary Ugandans who believe gays are an abomination and think the law is fine. When the president of The Gambia threatened to behead gays a while back, it was a Ugandan who said he was quite right. In neighbouring Kenya, a mob in Mtwapa recently had to be stopped from setting fire to a man they believed to be gay. The mob was rampaging around after a gay wedding was stopped. There are countless examples of such widespread hatred.
These people are not extremists, in the sense that they are a small minority with views different from the rest of their society. They are ordinary citizens with attitudes that have been drummed into them by religion. So I am struggling to understand where this idea that Ugandans do not support the bill is coming from.
I personally believe the bill will not be passed in its current form, simply because of the amount of international pressure being applied. President Museveni has already tried to distance himself from the bill and called it a “foreign policy issue” after having his ear bent by Gordon Brown and Hillary Rodham Clinton, amongst other world leaders.
Museveni doesn’t care what Avaaz or a handful of Ugandan human rights’ activists think. But with the threat of cuts to international aid hanging over Uganda’s head – Sweden has said it will cut off aid if the bill becomes law – the nation can’t afford to pass this legislation.
The real fight shouldn’t be against the bill. It should be against Uganda’s exisiting legislation, which is already draconian. Even if the bill is stopped, Ugandan gays still find themselves living in a country where their sexual preference is criminalised and they face discrimination and violence. That is something that isn’t going to change any time soon.
I received a well-intentioned request from the campaigners at http://www.avaaz.org/ to donate money to a rights’ group that wishes to run an opinion poll about proposed tougher anti-gay legislation in Uganda. They believe the opinion poll will show Ugandans do not back the bill, which calls for the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality” – having gay sex while HIV positive, with a minor or a disabled person. Belief in human rights will overpower homophobia, they reason.
Sorry Avaaz, but I think you are underestimating the virulence of homophobia in not only Uganda, but the rest of East Africa. I have spoken to pleasant, reasonable, ordinary Ugandans who believe gays are an abomination and think the law is fine. When the president of The Gambia threatened to behead gays a while back, it was a Ugandan who said he was quite right. In neighbouring Kenya, a mob in Mtwapa recently had to be stopped from setting fire to a man they believed to be gay. The mob was rampaging around after a gay wedding was stopped. There are countless examples of such widespread hatred.
These people are not extremists, in the sense that they are a small minority with views different from the rest of their society. They are ordinary citizens with attitudes that have been drummed into them by religion. So I am struggling to understand where this idea that Ugandans do not support the bill is coming from.
I personally believe the bill will not be passed in its current form, simply because of the amount of international pressure being applied. President Museveni has already tried to distance himself from the bill and called it a “foreign policy issue” after having his ear bent by Gordon Brown and Hillary Rodham Clinton, amongst other world leaders.
Museveni doesn’t care what Avaaz or a handful of Ugandan human rights’ activists think. But with the threat of cuts to international aid hanging over Uganda’s head – Sweden has said it will cut off aid if the bill becomes law – the nation can’t afford to pass this legislation.
The real fight shouldn’t be against the bill. It should be against Uganda’s exisiting legislation, which is already draconian. Even if the bill is stopped, Ugandan gays still find themselves living in a country where their sexual preference is criminalised and they face discrimination and violence. That is something that isn’t going to change any time soon.
“Aggravated homosexuality” may sound like what happens when a gay man comes home grumpy following a shitty day at work and decides that a quick worship at the Church of Man Love will calm him down, only to find that his bad temper lingers and he is too spanky for his partner’s taste.
But alas it is far more sinister than that.
“Aggravated homosexuality” is in fact a proposed offence in Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality bill and covers people who have gay sex with under 18s or disabled people, or who have gay sex while HIV positive. If the bill is passed, this offence will be punishable by death. That’s right. Death. I don’t know if they would kill somebody three times for having sex with a disabled person under 18 while HIV positive, but given Uganda’s tough on gays, tough on the causes of gays policy, it wouldn’t surprise me.
The Gambia’s insane President Yahya Jammeh periodically threatens to cut the heads of gay people, but he never does it. However, Uganda may actually be hanging gay men in the next few years. Now, being gay and Ugandan has never been a happy combination – is is already illegal and gay and lesbian people are subject to arbitrary arrest and assualt – particularly given the virulent Christianity popular there, but this takes the biscuit.
Even if this particular paragraph is not passed or is never put into practice, the rest of the bill is just as harsh. Seven years imprisonment is the punishment for “promoting homosexuality”, which rights groups say will hamper their work and also threaten the battle against HIV/AIDS. Straight people can be prosecuted for failing to report suspected homosexuals.
Unfortunately, anyone who lives in East Africa will not be surprised that a bill like this could be passed. I have asked many people here about their attitudes to gay and lesbian people and unfortunately there is a strong belief that they deserved to be punished for their crimes against God.
If I were gay and Ugandan, I would be packing up right now and heading for Mombasa to hitch a lift on a gay cruise ship, where I could happily play shuffleboard and have massive amounts of consenual gay sex with whoever I want, even if they do have a limp (please note only one of these pursuits is perverted).
“Aggravated homosexuality” may sound like what happens when a gay man comes home grumpy following a shitty day at work and decides that a quick worship at the Church of Man Love will calm him down, only to find that his bad temper lingers and he is too spanky for his partner’s taste.
But alas it is far more sinister than that.
“Aggravated homosexuality” is in fact a proposed offence in Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality bill and covers people who have gay sex with under 18s or disabled people, or who have gay sex while HIV positive. If the bill is passed, this offence will be punishable by death. That’s right. Death. I don’t know if they would kill somebody three times for having sex with a disabled person under 18 while HIV positive, but given Uganda’s tough on gays, tough on the causes of gays policy, it wouldn’t surprise me.
The Gambia’s insane President Yahya Jammeh periodically threatens to cut the heads of gay people, but he never does it. However, Uganda may actually be hanging gay men in the next few years. Now, being gay and Ugandan has never been a happy combination – is is already illegal and gay and lesbian people are subject to arbitrary arrest and assualt – particularly given the virulent Christianity popular there, but this takes the biscuit.
Even if this particular paragraph is not passed or is never put into practice, the rest of the bill is just as harsh. Seven years imprisonment is the punishment for “promoting homosexuality”, which rights groups say will hamper their work and also threaten the battle against HIV/AIDS. Straight people can be prosecuted for failing to report suspected homosexuals.
Unfortunately, anyone who lives in East Africa will not be surprised that a bill like this could be passed. I have asked many people here about their attitudes to gay and lesbian people and unfortunately there is a strong belief that they deserved to be punished for their crimes against God.
If I were gay and Ugandan, I would be packing up right now and heading for Mombasa to hitch a lift on a gay cruise ship, where I could happily play shuffleboard and have massive amounts of consenual gay sex with whoever I want, even if they do have a limp (please note only one of these pursuits is perverted).