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Friday, February 12, 2010
Via Joe.My.God comes news of ongoing violence against gay men and lesbians in Africa. Three men who were suspected of being gay were chased out of their residence in the town of Mtwapa in the Kilifi district in Kenya early Friday by an angry mob out for blood.
Daily Nation reports:
Police were forced to intervene to save the three men who residents had accused of being "notorious gays" who were behind the spread of the practice in the town.
Two men suspected of being a couple by residents were flushed out of their apartment within the town and police found wedding rings on their fingers.
Subsequently, a same-sex marriage that was planned to take place in the coastal town failed to take off as two men who announced the wedding went into hiding.
Police also dramatically rescued a another man and managed to rush him to Mtwapa police post.
“We thank God for saving this town from being turned to Sodom and Gomorra of this era as we may be on verge of being doomed had this criminals managed to conduct their evil exercise within our neighbourhood,” said Bishop Laurence Chai, Kilifi district representative and leader of the Operation Gays Out movement.
Flanked by Sheikh Ali Bishop Chai called on the government to vet all nightclubs in the town and close down those found promoting to gay activities.
Sheikh Hussein declared that they were ready to shed their blood to protect the dignity of Mtwapa town and called on the residents to raise against the vice.
The level of homphobia in Kenya and Uganda where the infamous "kill the gays bill" is being proposed to provide the death penalty for gay men and lesbians and incarceration for anyone who fails to report a gay person runs deep as seen in the comment section of The Daily Nation.
"I would want to thank the two clerics, both moslem and christian for doing practical moral policing, writes commenter "Hammerman".
" Homosexuality is a sin and in the old testament people were stonned to death. All gays and lesbians need to be hanged by the neck. Yes, hanged by the neck. I dont really care what their sympathisers say on this forum. Hang them by the neck. Robert Mugabe said they homos and lesbians are lower than dogs. How true!"
How do you respond to that? How do you begin to eradicate such deep-seated homophobia that's ingrained in African and American culture?
3 Comments:
It's an ugly scene that's been described.
Anyone who quotes Mugabe as a voice of reason needs to take a long hard look at what he has done to Zimbabwe and see if they believe themselves then.
Anyone of who professes to hold the Christian faith and advocates the killing of gays and lesbians is a liar who doesn't live by the biblical teachings.
The way you start tackling this is education. It will be tough and lengthy to 'educate' governments such as that in Uganda and get them to change their policies and thereby influence their population. However, just as with Apartheid, seemingly immovable obstacles can be overcome.
For example, supporters of equality can urge western businnesses with interests in Uganda to pull out by boycotting them. When confronted with these economic realities, homophobic irrationality may suddenly seem less wise to such governments.
February 12, 2010 9:38 PM
It is obviously quite heinous.
I am a Kenyan, so I know the scene on the ground.
Those are extreme scenes. The gay scene, is highly suppressed by law and "moral values", therefore it does not pop on the radar because it is an underground thing. Except for cases such as those shown in the Daily Nation.
However, that is where the real issue creeps in. Uganda's ruling on the LGBT is sign that they active in a way that has elicited public attention.
The LGBT in Kenya, are however too scared to do anything of the sort. Maybe now with changing world views, they may be gaining some courage, but they are still severely closeted. Simply put, most Kenyans believe that the LGBT are found elsewhere not in their own country.
My encounter with fellow gay men in Kenya, has revealed that quite a lot of them suffer from internalised homophobia. In a sense they loathe themselves, and are incapable of starting any adequate movement that could garner them some rights. So, they are forced to be themselves, behind closed doors.
February 13, 2010 10:28 AM
Sounds like Jamaica
February 14, 2010 9:58 PM
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