Uganda's Homophobia Will Not Really Help Anyone...

[OLUOCH-MADIANG']

I am sharing with you the news article below and inviting you to appreciate that homophobia is a great obstacle to gays accessing health rights and participating in HIV prevention. Read on...what do you think would be the best campaign to help Ugandans (and Kenyans) to overcome this behavior?

Uganda pastor screens gay porn in church

BY AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Update 3 hours and 2 minutes ago

KAMPALA, Uganda, Feb 17 - A pastor seeking to bolster Uganda's anti-gay laws which already make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment
screened gay porn in a packed Kampala church Wednesday in a bid to drum
up support.

The screening was attended by around 300 supporters crammed into an
evangelical church in the Ugandan capital after plans for a
"million-man march" were thwarted by police.

"We had planned to have a million-man and -woman march in Kampala but
unfortunately we were told that we could not march because of security
concerns," Martin Ssempa told the crowd.

"The major argument homosexuals have is that what people do in the
privacy of their bedrooms is nobody's business but do you know what
they do in their bedrooms?," the pastor asked.

Ssempa then displayed a slide show of gay pornographic pictures.

"This one is eating another man's penis," the pastor said, before going into even more graphic descriptions.

"Is this what Obama wants to bring to Africa?" he said, following
fierce US criticism of a Ugandan bill drafted last year that would
further criminalise homosexuality.

It would criminalise public discussion of homosexuality and could
penalise an individual who knowingly rents property to a homosexual.

Homosexuality in Uganda can in some instances be punishable by life
imprisonment. The penal code identifies "carnal knowledge against the
order of nature" as an offence.

The bill initially received broad political support in Uganda, a
country where evangelical churches wield great influence, but attracted
fierce criticism from US President Barack Obama, who called it "odious".

Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Uganda-pastor-screens-gay...
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

[Ash Pachauri]

Hey Madiang,

Thanks for sharing this. I found another article posted by BBC some months ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8158469.stm

[NAMARA ARTHUR ARAALI]

Discussing about Homophobia as a great obstacle to gays accessing health rights and participating in HIV prevention is very vital more especially at this time when we should all be working to improve the lives of all our citizens from ill health, poverty, rampant accidents, corruption, wars and others. All media houses have been diverted from more pressing issues.

What is going on today in Uganda traces its origin to colonization errors. While some laws have been recalled in developed countries, developing countries still use them like sodomy law inherited from British colonial times. These laws no longer make sense in the globalized world as they infringe on human rights.

I believe sexual orientation is a private matter and each individual has his or her own orientation.

HIV prevention activities rely on ability to talk frankly about sexuality, condoms and other safer sex practices. Any legislation therefore which discriminates those living with HIV from accessing support and treatment services undermines the huge task of tackling rising levels of new infections.

HIV prevention and safer sex education should be for all regardless of their sexual orientation or else we are seated on a time bomb.

In Health Nest Uganda [HENU] we put people first. Our work is about empowering and helping vulnerable communities to meet individual needs and encourage independence, wellbeing and dignity. Passing a law that compels service providers to report suspected homosexuals to police compromises the concept of confidentiality and will be a big blow to fighting HIV not only in Uganda but globally.

What I do not agree with is the use of money to change/influence people’s sexual orientation because that is corruption and corruption is an evil we all ought to fight.

My conclusion is very brief: Anti-Homosexuality Bill will not be made into law in Uganda. If Parliament passes it, the president will not assent to it.

Namara Arthur Araali
Minister of Information
Tooro Kingdom/Principal Director
Health Nest Uganda/
Health Educator
Medical Research Council Unit On HIV/AIDS Research In Uganda

[OLUOCH-MADIANG']

Well said Araali. The network of HIV infection logically tell us that we cannot successfully fight HIV through exclusion and running a certain populace out of town. Those agitating the demonization, stigmatization and even killing of gays, do so using arguments and positions that have no feet to stand!

There are claims that homosexuality is unafrican (even when the accusers selectively and erratically practice 'africanism), unchristian and immoral, unnatural, tells a bad picture about ourselves etc. What they forget is that there are many heterosexuals who engage in numerous, creative and amazing sexual acts. Indeed, many a married heterosexual couples in Africa engage in adventurous anal, oral and hand-job sex. In the privacy of peoples houses...and bushes sometimes...people mind their own businesses and no one ever asks them. The same accusers never find multiple-partner sex, unprotected sex, gender insensitive-induced sex etc as being 'sinful' enough for them to act.

What these aggressors need to understand is that the fact that you are disgusted by someone else's choice of sexual orientation does not warrant hatred, homophobia or even grant one a right to exclude access to rights.

Many homosexuals are also bisexual and hence the risks of infection can really increase if they are run out of town. Hatred and discrimination may just as well instill a vengeful mien in gays to the detriment of all society.

HIV prevention is sans frontiers and we must continue to advocate for rights to health, self determination and full participation of gays and lesbians in efforts to make our communities free of HIV.

I laud and applaud Namara Arthur Araali for having stood up in the midst of a hostile, anti-gay society that Uganda...and Kenya...are fast becoming! Congrats and keep up the spirit.

-Madiang'.

[NAMARA ARTHUR ARAALI]

Thank you Madiang,
We shall keep on the fight