Gambian President Condemns Homosexuality

The President of Gambia, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, is the latest African statesman to indulge in what is now almost a Presidential right of passage: gay bashing in the name of religion. Jammeh worries that the emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Gambia may be the warning sign of an emerging democracy, the Daily Observer reports.

Homosexual
The Gambian leader declared a zero tolerance for homosexuals in The Gambia, adding that any act that violates the laws of the land will not be compromised. Describing homosexuality as ungodly and one that will not be tolerated in The Gambia, President Jammeh said that even pigs among other animals, do not involve in homosexuality. So why are the human beings who are not created from evolution of animal doing it? We will live according to what Allah has said.

We are descendants of Adam and Eve and here in The Gambia, it is only a husband and a wife (man and woman) and nothing else. I will rather die but I will not allow homosexuals or lesbians in this country. If that is what those so-called democracy advocators want, I will not allow it here, he stated, and attributed the disastrous change of climate as a punishment from Allah because of those ungodly acts.

Myths About Transgender People in Kenya

Audrey Mbugua wrote a powerful article on Pambazuka about the struggles of transgender people in Kenya and beyond. In the first part of the article she describes the violent abuse of transgender female "Storm" in police custody in Kenya. She then goes on to challenge the gay community for misgendering and gayjacking transpeople's identities for their own agenda.

This case presents one of the many incidences of gender oppression transgender people in Kenya face. Gender oppression against transgender people takes the form of violence, sexual assault, verbal abuse, intimidation, victimisation and psychological torture.

The dynamics of these cases of gender oppression are not too hard to understand. First, people look at you and make the assumption that you are a man or a woman. Storm never mentioned that she was a female but the officers assumed she was. This is predicated by the assumption that there are only two sexes/genders: Male and female. Anything else has to be pigeon-holed in these narrow categories. Storm is a transgender woman and the best option would have been to have placed her in a 'transgender prison facility'.

Secondly, it illuminates the invalid excuse called ignorance. Ignorance is used by many to justify the oppression of transgender people in Kenya. One police officer admitted that if the officers had known about the transgender identity, things would not have gotten out of control. What sort of moral and intellectual cowardice is this? Some of us transgender people don't know much about pregnancy, but we don't go around beating up pregnant women because they impersonate fat people. And why do people have to react so violently towards a transgender person? How is violence going to resolve the issue? Transgenderism is not an issue to us but it becomes an issue because people want it to be one.

Mbugua goes on to challenge the gay community for misgendering and gayjacking:

This reminds me of a confrontation I had with part of the gay community related to HIV programming for transgender people. Some experts coined the term 'Men who have Sex with other Men' (MSM), which initially was used as a behavioural term rather than as a noun. What these experts were ignorant about was that, whether the term is a behavioural term or a noun, it is disrespectful to refer to transgender women as men who have sex with other men. We are not men but transgender women. But then someone mentioned that most transgender women do have receptive anal sex with men, so the term serves them right. I don't know where people got this rubbish from but I sincerely hope it will die out sooner than later. There are cisgender women (women born women) who have anal sex with men. Does that make them men who have sex with other men? In a nutshell: Their argument shoots itself in the foot.

This also takes us to the land of 'misgendering' transgender women by the gay hungry media and some sexual minorities organisations. A case in point is the just ended Tiwonge and Steven charade in Malawi. Tiwonge maintained she wasn't male, but I guess a gay hungry media and some gay rights activists couldn't hear of that. They reasoned: Tiwonge has a penis (and is therefore male), and Steven has a penis (and is therefore a male), so their union was a gay wedding. There is nothing wrong with gay weddings, but it is offensive to label a transgender person gay. You deny her the fundamental right to self-identity; you are simply calling her a man. She is not a man and it is also wrong to assume that a man dating a transgender woman is gay. Yes, explaining this to my 100 year-old grandmother might be a hair splitting exercise but it shouldn't be quantum physics for the current crop of human rights activists. The valiant Monica Roberts wrote a moving publication about these shenanigans of turning transgender issues into gay issues:

'We are getting beyond sick and tired of gay organizations misgendering and gayjacking transpeople's identities to fit their agenda ... Hot on the heels of the misgendering and mischaracterization of the Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza relationship in Malawi as a 'same-sex' one... now comes the story out of Pakistan that an attempted marriage to a transwoman was broken up by Pakistani police.

Nigerian Anglican Bishop Misuses Scripture to Justify Hate

In a press release from the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Bishop Okoh states that Nigeria is at risk from an "invading army of homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexual lifestyle." He uses the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to bolster the claim that he stands for the authority of scripture over life. Today South Africa's Mail & Guardian provides an astute theological critique of Okoh's "biblical" position.

The point has often been made that scripture should be read in context, and interpretation may not be literal. Yet, even taken literally, the Bible does not support Okoh's pronouncements.

"The sin of homosexuality, it must be reemphasised, destroyed the communities of Sodom and Gomorrah", he declared. Yet the sin of Sodom in Genesis 19 is inhospitality -- contrasted with the hospitality and compassion of Abraham in Genesis 18 -- and Jesus refers to this in the Gospels.

Editing Bible passages so that the meaning is lost is another Okoh speciality. In a sermon he stated that "As son of man [son of God] Jesus is lord of the Sabbath. He has control over the holy day of God's people (Mk 2: 28f)." But in Mark 2, "the son of man is lord even of the Sabbath" is a rebuke to those who care more about religiosity than human need: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath".

One Old Testament commandment repeatedly endorsed in the New Testament -- not bearing false witness against one's neighbour -- does not seem to appear in Okoh's version of the Bible. At the press conference he alleged that "The church in the Wwest had vowed to use their money to spread the homosexual lifestyle in African societies and churches; after all Africa is poor. They are pursuing this agenda vigorously and what is more, they now have the support of the United Nations." While the UN opposes jailing gay people, as do many churches, that is rather different!

Okoh is by no means the first to distort the meaning of the story of Sodom to encourage, rather than warn against, victimising the vulnerable and rejecting the unfamiliar. Admittedly, many Christians occasionally misinterpret our faith because of our preconceptions and prejudices. However he is unusual in his self-belief and fierce hostility to those who disagree with him. For instance James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, an evangelical who strongly opposed inclusiveness towards partnered gays and lesbians, softened his stance partly because of careful reading of scripture, and suggested that Christians with different views could stay in fellowship. Okoh denounced Jones for establishing "two authorities in the church, the scriptures and 'the canon' of deviant sub-culture. It is intended to destroy the Judeo-Christian understanding of morality as revealed in the Bible".

AU Human Rights Commission Rejects LGBTI Human Rights Defender

The Ghana News Agency reports that Nana Oye Lithur, a Human Rights Lawyer, will not be appointed to represent Ghana on the African Union's Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). The article speculates that she lost the appointment because of her support for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Ghana.

Ghana unfortunately lost out on the appointment to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) of the African Union charged with the task of promoting human rights and justice across the Continent.

Government after intense lobbying at the just ended 15th African Heads of States Summit in Kampala, Uganda, was hopeful that her candidate, Nana Oye Lithur, a Human Rights Lawyer, would be appointed to represent Ghana on the Commission, but that did not materialise.

Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission, in a resolution at the end of Summit on Tuesday evening, announced that the Heads of State approved appointments of a number of persons to the ACHPR.

He did not give out the names of the appointees, but said the panel that worked on the selection process, found it very difficult because all the candidates presented by the various countries were highly qualified.

AU Commission officials told Ghanaian Journalists that Ghana failed to make it. The list of appointees is expected to be published by the AU Commission soon.

The officials said Ghana’s representative was highly tipped to be picked, but her recent position on homosexuality might have caused the panel not to give her the nod.

According to the Officials, homosexuality is abhorred by, and alien to African cultures and the Leaders of the African countries would not want to have people who seem to favour gay practice to lead institutions such as the ACHPR. 

“African Leaders such as those of Uganda; Zimbabwe; Tanzania; Malawi; South Africa are hardliners against same sex,” they said, adding that “such countries who have significant influence in the AU, “are critical of people who don’t share their views.”

African Activist recently posted about Nana Oye Lithur's work to start a conversation about LGBTI people in Ghana. She had come out and said that LGBTI people have rights to be respected under the law.

Africa's Last Taboo

UK's Channel 4 just aired Africa's Last Taboo, a film by Sorious Samura. In discussing the making of the film, Samura writes:

So it was a real challenge for me personally to make this film. It was really tough to confront some of the men who were now standing up against gay men in my continent because I knew exactly where they were coming from and what they would think about me – and it wasn't long before respectable men like Bishop Oyet in Uganda started questioning my sexuality. I spent a lot more time off camera answering questions about my sexuality than I spent interviewing some of the characters in the film.

We found out in some of these countries we filmed that, on top of coping with the rejection by their communities, it was pressure from religious leaders that has made it more difficult for gay and lesbians to come out about their sexuality in Africa – and not only African religious leaders either. We found American Christian preachers who had come over to help their African brethren in their fight against homosexuality. We also found out that not only has this homophobia led to a lack of sexual education but it also plays a significant role in the increasing prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

There is no doubt that this topic is clearly one of the last few taboos that still remains in Africa. As the Western world was some 30 years ago, the people of Africa are still on a journey of understanding, learning to crawl before they can walk.

You may watch the full documentary on YouTube, however for copyright reasons it is currently blocked in the USA. Here are clips from the movie:

Zimbabwe Activist Ignatious Mhambi Cleared of Pornography Charges

Zimbabwe state witnesses failed to produce enough evidence to convict Ignatious Mhambi, an employee of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), of violating censorship laws, The Zimbabwean Voice reports. Mhambi and colleague Ellen Chademana now face charges of undermining the authority of President Mugabe for possessing a letter describing the homophobic environment GALZ faces on a daily basis.

Mhambi was on trial facing charges of allegedly possessing pornographic material, in breach of the country’s censorship laws.

In her ruling Magistrate Sandra Mupindu who presided over the matter said that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the essential elements of the case which were possession, indecent or obscene and without lawful excuse.

She added that dwelling on the areas of dispute and controversy, the two state witnesses gave contradictory evidence and they also failed to prove on the face of it that accused had exclusive practical control of the office and therefore exclusive practical possession of the pornographic material in question.

“That the material is pornographic and can corrupt the mind of anyone likely to be exposed to it cannot be disputed. However the two state witnesses couldn’t refute that accused was not the only one who had access to the office and it could be possible that the material belonged to one of his workmates. In this case the accused should be given the benefit of a doubt. The state has also failed to prove that accused had mental or physical possession of this pornographic material, entitling the accused to a discharge and aqcuital,” she explained”

Mhambi a GALZ consultant accountant was on trial for  contravening section 26(1) of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act (Chapter10:04) . The police alleged that they found the pornographic DVD and booklet from the office drawers, which Mhambi was using when they raided the GALZ offices on Ma y 21.

Meanwhile Mhambi still in a jovial mood was served with summons to appear in court yesterday on charges of insulting or undermining the Authority of the President.

Mhambi together with colleague Ellen Chademana are being charged for the Proclamation which was displayed in the GALZ boardroom. F ormer San F rancisco Ma yor Willie L Brown awarded the proclamation to the organization in 1997 for its activism and hard work despite working in a homophobic environment.

The timing of the arrests of the GALZ activists is suspicious and now even more so given the weak and contradictory evidence provided by the state. Zimbabwe is writing a new constitution and is in the middle of the outreach phase where people throughout the country offer their views about what needs to be included in the new constitution. Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) are defending themselves in court instead of advocating for LGBTI rights in the constitution.