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"Proof, the World is Round"

By Gay Uganda

"It was an international conference, and a researcher was presenting findings.

The audience could not have been more international. And less liable to homophobia. And the findings were supposed to be scientific.

But there was a glitch.

The researcher was a Ugandan. With some western exposure.

One of the research questions addressed was the ‘foreign’ influence on Ugandan homosexuals.

I am Ugandan, and have lived in Uganda my life. I could actually understand where the researcher was coming from. Straight, and thinking homosexuality a ‘foreign’ entity, that this ‘view’ was something that should be disproved. And the researcher had set out to do exactly that.

I think, to the audience, it was like trying to disprove the notion that the world is flat. Everyone knows the world is round. Except a dis-favoured few. Going through the proofs for the earth’s round shape.

Ugandans believe that homosexuality is a foreign import!

So, of the 200 or so Kampala homosexuals interviewed, only about 2 or 3 were foreigners. But that fact was highlighted. And, they were asked whether they had ever had homosexual sex with a foreigner. And the answer faithfully recorded and reported on.

The audience could not help it. They asked the researcher for more information, and it was given. In a way.

Different cultures, all of us with our own blind spots. But it was very clear that we were coming from different spots of the globe. And could not understand one another, at least on the question of whether, hum, my ‘gayness’ came from outside me. Which foreigner out there injected it into me like a medicine?

Yes, there were other questions addressed. But I was no longer listening, but laughing my head off. Chuckling into my fist. Sometimes it is so hilarious when people insist that we are not African, because we are gay.

Yes, I do take it personal. Very personal, though I understand them, having grown up in Uganda. Why should a foreigner be blamed for what I am? Why cant I be gay, and Ugandan; gay and African?"

Gay Uganda

http://gayuganda.blogspot.com/2008/08/proof-world-is-round.html