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Is Uganda’s “Kill the Gays’ Bill being used to blind the World
3 thoughts on “Is Uganda’s “Kill the Gays’ Bill being used to blind the World”
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Ladies from Uganda,
Let the love of money from donors not blind you to the monster of homsexuality. I believe non of you would welcome a homosexual son or lesbian daughter in your homes. ‘Consensual’ sex may be fashionable in the west, where the money comes from, but it’s not yet and I pray it never becomes acceptable here in Uganda. Retain your dignity; the best you can do is to keep quiet. Do not defend anything to do with ‘ebisiyaga’. And by the way tone down on the politics. We are all concerned about the crackdown on the opposition, but a civil society organization is like a church. You host people from accross the divide.
Akuume
Kigongo Ssentongo
Kigongo, I am not from Uganda but I feel I should respond to your comment. I am from Ghana and people here make similar comments to what you’ve just made. I think its misleading and short sighted when we pretend that homosexuality came from the west. That’s erroneous! Anyway, I will let the sisters from Uganda also respond directly. Nana
To Mr Ssentongo Kigongo
Thank you for your comments on the work of AWDF and for raising your concern about the rights of homosexuals. I write in response to your comments.
AWDF as an organisation supports the rights of all African women without distinction of ethnicity, religion, class, race, age or sexual orientation. All African women matter and as a feminist organisation, it is not in keeping with our values to pick and choose which women deserve rights and which do not. As long as they are African women seeking the right to live in dignity, peace and justice, free from oppression, discrimination and exclusion, abuse and marginalization, AWDF has a duty to respond.
Speaking in my personal capacity as a Ugandan, I am saddened that many Ugandans would sacrifice the Constitution and permit and enable the State to abuse the rights of fellow citizens because we do not agree with the way they live their lives. This to me is not reason enough to grant the State such power. Given the nation’s troubled history of relations between State and citizenry, what happens on the day the State turns its wrath on us? On that day, the best we can hope for is that is someone, somewhere will speak up for us. I am surprised that so many of us are prepared to compromise so easily by supporting legislative proposals such as the Anti Homosexuality Bill. This bill sets a very dangerous precedent in which future proposals to violate the rights of others (including you and me) can and will flourish.
It is for this reason that many of us think it wise to make a distinction between what our prejudices are and what the role of the State is. You may not like homosexuals and that is your right. But it is quite another thing to grant the State the power to turn this hatred into legalized acts of abuse and violation in contravention of the Constitution and all other international agreements to which Uganda is a signatory. The State in my view should be beyond reproach. It must rise above the interests of one group of Ugandans over another (rich/poor; men/women; heterosexuals/homosexuals etc) and act in the interest of ALL Ugandans. Accept anything less than this standard, then I am afraid we do ourselves and our country a great disservice. For what we are actually doing is bargaining away the rights and freedoms of all Ugandans (including you and me).
As your fellow Ugandan, I support the rights of homosexuals to live their lives in dignity, under the full protection of the law, just as I defend our own rights to do the same.
Of your concern about the political situation in Uganda, I agree with you that civil society should act to bridge the political divides especially in times of crisis. AWDF is NOT a party affiliated organisation. Nor does it have any party political leanings or associations. Rather it seeks to strengthen civil society’s ability to bridge the gap effectively by highlighting where there are offenses committed against the rule of law – whichever side of the political divide these offences occur.
Sarah Mukasa
Director of Programmes – AWDF
And a Ugandan