ATTN ARCHBISHOP DANIEL BUL/SUDAN -- ARE YOU ¨LISTENING¨ TO LGBT ANGLICANS ? ¨They anally raped me with the metal object that they used to beat me, all the time laughing out loud...¨

Freedom Sudan: "Start the Conversation about Homosexuality"

¨In April 2009 in Sudan, 11 friends and I were holding a private house party. Agents from the intelligence agency raided the party and took us away to an unknown location. Everyone was put in solitary confinement in cells.

The cells were very dirty and I was denied water and food for two days. In their interrogation they stripped me naked and began asking me about everything.

They wanted to know whether I am gay, who my friends, my family were and what were my political and LGBT association activities?

Then they started to hit me. One of them put a pistol to my head and said he wished he could kill me right away. They dragged me by the legs and strung me up, and hit me with a metal rod all over my body. They grabbed my privates and hit me there too. They anally raped me with the metal object that they used to beat me, all the time laughing out loud and mocking me asking if I wanted more.

By this time I was screaming from pain and I was bleeding and hurt I couldn’t even control my bladder. They kept at this until I lost consciousness.

I remained locked up for four weeks and spent another three and a half months in prison and while waiting for my trial in which I was expecting to be sentenced to death since I was caught “red handed.”

However some of my family members succeeded in smuggling me out of prison and then I escaped the country using a fake passport. My other friends did not have it easy either. Eight of them were flogged 100 lashes each while the fate of another three, including my boyfriend remains unknown...¨ please read it all, HERE

Are you listening?  Are you listening to the voices of the persecuted, the demonized, the tortured LGBT of Sudan?

Freedom Sudan HERE  is the only LGBTI organisation in Sudan. The organisation was formed in December 2006 and is considered illegal. Homosexual behavior is illegal in Sudan and homosexuals face the death penalty. A member of Freedom Sudan recently posted a video to YouTube encouraging the Sudanese people to start talking openly about homosexuality.

Rt Revd Daniel Deng Bul ,  Anglican Archbishop of Sudan

· Thanks to African Activist

· Thanks to Freedom Sudan

UGANDA: ¨Today, we defeated you! MP David Bahati, anti-gay evangelicals and supporters had the goal of passing this bill. They did not achieve it...



The ¨Kuchu¨ victory in Uganda

 ¨This is really a tremendous achievement. Bahati, anti-gay evangelicals and supporters had the goal of passing this bill. They did not achieve it.

Activists in Uganda have done a stunning job. You can look at your opponents and say “Today, we defeated you.” There will be another fight tomorrow but recognizing the power that you have built is important for everyone. You have really shown the world what is possible. You have worked with allies in sectors of human rights, legal services, refugee rights, women’s rights, faith organizations, sex work, lesbian, gay, intersex, trans,. There has also been impressive work between the Ugandan community and embassies in Uganda on a level that has been challenging in the past and in other parts of the world. Activists have had to immerse themselves in the workings of the parliamentary process and become familiar with legislative procedure. Activists have become intimately familiar with the inner working of media houses, the process of getting stories accepted or rejected. Groups have delved into the relationships between courts, the media, the public and the legislature...¨ read it all HERE

Uganda's Parliament dissolved before the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 could be considered

The Beginning of the End of the Exile of Uganda's LGBTI Community

¨Last week Uganda's Parliament dissolved before the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 could be considered. The bill was tabled on October 14, 2009 after American religious fundamentalists met with MP David Bahati. Four months later the Human Rights and Peace Center at Makerere University organised The Human Rights and Sexual Orientation forum where Val Kalende declared, "This day marks the beginning of the end from exile of the gay and lesbian people."

¨Fellow Human rights activists, distinguished guests and all Ugandans. I am proud to stand before you as a lesbian today. With hearts full of love and the abiding faith in justice, we have come to this place to speak to Uganda. We have come to speak the truth of our lives and silence the liars. We have come to challenge the cowardly anti gay campaigners and state officials to end their paralysis and exercise moral leadership. We have come to defend our honor and win our equality. But most of all we have come in peace and with courage to say, "Uganda, this day marks the beginning of the end from exile of the gay and lesbian people. We are banished no more. We will wander the wilderness of despair no more. We will be afraid no more. For on this day, with love in our hearts, we have come out, and we have come out across Uganda to build a bridge of understanding, a bridge of progress, a bridge as solid as steel, a bridge to a land where no one suffers prejudice because of their sexual orientation, their race, their gender, their religion, or their human difference..."  read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Andrew Park
·  Thanks to denkross' life in Uganda
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Val Kalende

HATE HAS NO PLACE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD: ¨We wish to state emphatically that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a social or cultural construct...¨



Anglican Hero, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Voices of Love Speak on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill pending at Parliament in Uganda

¨As public hearings on MP David Bahati's Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 continue next week in Uganda's Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, there are three significant messages that have emerged over the past year specifically related to this bill. These are not hard messages about risks to foreign aid, but the soft messages of education and information about the right of every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) African to flourish:

Hate for LGBTI people has no place in the house of God

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their community have suffered. In Malawi, men have been jailed and humiliated for expressing their partnerships with other men. Just this month, mobs in Mtwapa Township, Kenya, attacked men they suspected of being gay. Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counseling services to all members of that community, because the clerics wanted gay men excluded.

Uganda's parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda and Burundi.

These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa.

Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear...

Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God...¨ read it all HERE

United Nations High Commissioner Navi Pillay

¨Hate for LGBTI people has no place in International Human Rights Law

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay

Ultimately homophobia and transphobia are no different to sexism, misogyny, racism or xenophobia. But, whereas these last forms of prejudice are universally condemned by governments, homophobia and transphobia are too often overlooked. History shows us the terrible human price of discrimination and prejudice. No one is entitled to treat a group of people as less valuable, less deserving or less worthy of respect. Each and every one of us is entitled to the same rights, to the same respect and ethical treatment regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity...

Attitudes change. In this and in other areas, prejudice and bigotry are no match for information and education.

So, let us remind one another of what we are working for. Equal rights for everyone, whoever they are, whoever they love. It is a great human rights cause and one that I am proud to support...¨ please read it all, HERE

Hate for LGBTI people has no place in scientific understandings about sexual orientation

Psychological Society of South Africa

The scientific fields devoted to mental health and well-being, including psychiatry, psychology and sociology, do not consider homosexual orientation to be a disorder, but rather view it as a naturally occurring variation of normal human sexuality. Research and clinical practice indicates that homosexual people have an overall potential to contribute to society similar to that of heterosexual people and that they pose no greater risk to children than do heterosexual people.

While the proposed bill cites "…the need to protect the children and youths of Uganda…" as justification, there is no credible, reliable evidence that the measures contained in the bill will achieve that outcome. Research and clinical practice instead indicates that the abuse of human rights and fundamental freedoms embodied in the bill, and the state sponsored discrimination and affronts to basic human dignity it mandates, would instead result in profound physical and psychological harms to the already vulnerable lesbian, gay and bisexual youth in the very population the legislation claims to protect.

On the grounds outlined in this statement, the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) therefore joins the international community in strongly opposing the proposed anti-homosexuality legislation. The PsySSA joins in the call for Ugandan leaders to abandon or defeat the bill, and instead to join the trend in the international community of decriminalising homosexuality. HERE

Nigerian Wole Soyinka, winner of The Nobel Prize in Literature

The words of the petition signed by Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, winner of The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986, calls the Ugandan Parliament and the Ugandan people to the high ground in this matter.

¨We wish to state emphatically that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a social or cultural construct. It is a biological given. Homosexuals are human beings like everybody else. Scientific research has been helpful in clearing the fog of ignorance entrenched by some religious texts in regards to homosexuality. Our opinions of homosexuality must change for the better just as our opinion of slavery has changed even though it was endorsed by those same religious texts. All violence against gays and people deemed to be gay in Africa must cease forthwith...

We also call on African governments to learn from the South African example by expunging from their laws all provisions that criminalize homosexuality or treat homosexuals as unworthy of the same rights and entitlements as other citizens. African states must protect the rights of their citizens to freedom and dignity. Homosexuals must not be denied these rights.¨  HERE

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
·  Thanks to Wole Soyinka
·  Thanks to Navi Pillay

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER/UGANDA: “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa."

 Ugandan Activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been awarded the 2011 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva, selects Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera as the Laureate for her work for LGBT rights and marginalised people in Uganda

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, is the founder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a main lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organization. Kasha has had the courage to appear on national television in Uganda, she has issued press statements on behalf of the gay community, and spoke on several radio stations. Already in 2007 she was harassed at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, and on many occasions afterwards she was hackled, threatened and even attacked by people for appearing in the media. Since then she has been shifting from house to house, afraid to stay long in the same place. On 26 January 2011 one of her colleagues, gay activist David Kato, was murdered following the publication of a “gay list” by the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone calling for their hanging; in this black list Kasha Jacqueline’s name also appears. The Chairman of the Jury of the MEA, Hans Thoolen, describes the laureate as “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa”. With this award the Jury wants to underline its position against the discrimination of people based on gender or sexual orientation.

The Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award will take place in the Victoria Hall of Geneva late in the year. HERE

The Heroic Kuchus of Uganda

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Hans Thoolen, MEA
·  Thanks to Martin Ennals Award
·  Thanks to Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera
· Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

ANTI-LGBTI VILENESS IN AFRICA ALERT: Lesbian brutally raped and stoned to death

The insanity of it all begins as righteous bigots and selective Scriptural perverts circle LGBTI victims -- first, with wicked words that quickly become crime/hate filled vicious acts of murder

¨Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old lesbian, was found dead in an alley in Kwa-Thema township, South Africa, on Easter Sunday morning. It is believed she was raped and murdered. Noxolo was a member of Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee (EPOC). The violent murders of lesbians Eudy Simelani and Girly “Sgelane” Nkosi and hate crimes towards LGBTIs in general prompted the formation of EPOC in July 2009...¨ please read it all HERE

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Black Looks, sidebar

Amplifying African LGBTI Voices: Botswana's LGBTI Community

Caine Youngman, Botswana

¨Botswana is taking centre stage in the progress of human rights in Africa with Caine Youngman's law suit demanding that the government decriminalise homosexuality. Richard Ammon traveled to Botswana and spent time with all the people involved in the case. He also explored Botswana's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community...¨ please read it all HERE

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Richard Ammon
·  Thanks to Botswana´s LGBTI Heros, Caine, Pilot, Monica and Uyapo

MY LOVE COMES THROUGH ANYTHING: ¨The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him, Priests can´t defeat him with venomous rhetoric...¨



Musa Okwonga is an acclaimed poet, football writer, musician and promoter. A scholarship student at Eton College

Following the murder David Kato, Ugandan poet Musa Okwonga dedicated his poem "My Love" to David Kato and Eudy Simelane. LGBTI Activist David Kato was murdered in his home in Uganda in January and lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008. Musa Okwonga has now turned "My Love" into a multimedia project.

My Love

To some people


My love is somewhat alien;


When he comes up, they start subject-changing, and


In some states he’s seen as some contagion -


In those zones, he stays subterranean;


Some love my love; they run parades for him:


Liberal citizens lead the way for him…


But the same time as these people are embracing him,


Whole faiths and nations seem ashamed of him:


They’ve tried banning him,


God-damning him,


Toe-tagging him,


Praying that he stayed in the cabinet,


But my love kicked in the panelling and ran for it -


He’s my love! Can’t be trapping him in labyrinths! -


Maverick, my love is; he thwarts challenges;


The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him,


Priests can’t defeat him with venomous rhetoric;


They’d better quit; my love’s too competitive…


He’s still here, despite the Taliban, the Vatican,


And rap, ragga in their anger and arrogance,


Who call on my love with lit matches and paraffin -


Despite the fistfights and midnight batterings,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling;


Because my love comes through anything –


My love comes through anything.  HERE

*David Kato, Anglican LGBT Activist, bludgeoned to death in Uganda, 2011, RIP

Lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008, RIP

·  Thanks to Musa Okwonga
·  Thanks to Eudy Simelane, RIP
·  Thanks to David Kato, RIP
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

UGANDAN POLICE CONCLUDE KATO MURDER INVESTIGATION: In a ¨excellent development¨ the case has been moved to the Uganda High Court

David Kato, LGBTI Activist/Uganda

¨The murder case of late gay rights activist David Kato has been transferred to the Ugandan high court during the third hearing on 17 March 2011, at the Grade II Magistrate court in Mukono, however the actual date for the next hearing is yet to be announced.

Frank Mugisha, Director for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) told Behind the Mask that the accused was brought to court for the hearing and that since police seemed to have finished the investigations they asked the court to forward the murder case to the high court and the magistrate approved.

Mugisha said that once again the court room was filled with activists who came to support and journalists.

He also explained that the accused was handed a “document with charges of murder” and was asked to find a lawyer or ask the government to give a lawyer, however the accused didn’t say anything and was further remanded in custody.

During the last court appearance in the case of the Republic of Uganda vs. Nsubuga Sydney Alias Enoch, the case was mentioned in court and adjourned without a hearing for further investigation. The first and second court appearances were held on 17 February and 3 March 2011 respectively.

Ongoing Questions About the Murder Investigation

Human Rights Watch released a report this week documenting the torture, forced confessions and killings by the Kampala-based Rapid Response Unit (RRU), the very unit that located and interrogated the suspects in the murder of David Kato.

The unit's mandate is to investigate violent crime...Human Rights Watch also found that the unit routinely uses torture to extract confessions. Sixty of 77 interviewees who had been arrested by RRU told Human Rights Watch that they had been severely beaten at some point during their detention and interrogations. In 2010, at least two people died of injuries from beatings during interrogations, and four people were shot and killed in the course of an arrest...Several former detainees told Human Rights Watch that RRU personnel forced them to sign statements under duress, while the detainees were being beaten or threatened with further violence.

We know that MP David Bahati, author of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 about to be considered by Uganda's Parliament, and the supporters of the bill, Pastor Martin Ssempa, Giles Muhame and Scott Lively, provided motives for David Kato's murder to the world press five days before the arrest and interrogation of the prime suspect. The motives prefigure the confession of Enoch Sydney Nsubuga almost exactly.

In a 9 February 2011 editorial in The Monitor, Ugandan journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo wrote:

So, here comes the hard part. It is possible Kato was murdered by the anti-gay brigade. The Uganda Police is not famous for its great investigative skills, so any time they quickly parade suspects who confess to a crime, the public has every right to be suspicious that the whole show has been fixed.

In a similar vein, blogger Gay Uganda has consistently questioned the Kato murder investigation in the context of the Rapid Response Unit. He wrote today about the Human Rights Watch report:

This is common knowledge in Uganda. The beatings, the torture, the confessions. This is why I doubted the 'confession' of David Kato Kisule's purported murderer. I don't know whether he killed him or not. And, I don't know whether I can trust the police on a high profile case like David's murder became. Not with such outside pressure and interest...The people who do these things, the numerous security agencies that do these, are effectively immune.

The European Parliament has called on Ugandan authorities to investigate individuals who publicly called for the killing of David Kato:

Calls on the Ugandan authorities to carry out an in-depth and impartial investigation into the killing and bring the perpetrators to justice, and to do so in respect of any act of persecution, discrimination and violence against LGBT people and all other minority groups; calls on the Ugandan authorities to investigate individuals who publicly called for the killing of David Kato, as well as their organisations, role and funding.

The Uganda High Court

With the police investigation concluded, it is an excellent development that the case has been moved to the Uganda High Court which recently issued a permanent injunction against the Rolling Stone for publishing David Kato's picture under the caption "Hang Them."

Perhaps the Uganda High Court can sort through the evidence in an unbiased way so that David Kato receives justice. ¨ please read it all
HERE

¨Torture, Beatings, Confessions, Courtesy of Uganda Police...

This is common knowledge in Uganda. The beatings, the torture, the confessions.

This is why I doubted the 'confession' of David Kato Kisule's purported murderer. I dont know whether he killed him or not. And, I dont know whether I can trust the police on a high profile case like David's murder became. Not with such outside pressure and interest.

Here is the article,from the New York Times and a large excerpt. Rights Group Accuses Ugandan Police of Torture and Killings..¨ please read it all HERE

Prayers ascending for Justice for David Kato and all the ¨kuchus¨ in Uganda

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
·  Thanks to Frank Mugisha, Director for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)
·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, sidebar
·  Thanks to The New York Times

UGANDAN ARCHITECTS OF HATE: Hate and Then Hope After Ugandan Activist David Kato's Murder, Part Seven



The Hate:

Anglican David ¨Kill All The Gays¨ Bahati, Member of Parliament and ¨Architect of Hate¨

American Holocaust Revisionist, ¨Pastor¨ Scott Lively, ¨Architect of Hate¨

Ugandan Anglican Priest Erich ¨Ecclesiastical Protection¨  salesman and wife Patricia Kasirye (aka Colonel Josephine Luboyera) , ¨Architects of Hate¨ HERE

Ugandas Anglican Archbishop ¨Knows What God Knows¨ Henry Orombi,  ¨Architect of Hate¨ (spiritual advisor to ¨Kill All the Gays¨ David Bahati and Kasirye operatives )

Pastor Martin ¨Eat the Poo Poo¨ Ssempa, ¨Architect of Hate¨

James ¨No Human Rights for Gays¨ Nsaba Buturo, ¨Ethics Minister¨ and ¨Architect of Hate¨

¨All the key architects of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 have spoken about David Kato's murder and are using it to further their agenda of hate. But there is hope. David Kato's funeral feels like a stonewall moment for Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.¨ HERE

 Giles Muhame, publisher of slanderous tabloid, holding the Rolling Stone (not U.S. Magazine) with the picture of David Kato, murdered last week,  and the picture of excommunicated Anglican Hero Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo (under the diagonal yellow ¨Hang Them¨ Banner)

 The Hope:

¨We challenged everything in our society that stands between us and being accepted for what we are. Gay activists in Uganda are quarrelsome and militant. Many in the mould of David Kato. And, it was very much in evidence at the funeral.

I cannot understate how historical what happened was...

We stood up, reached out, and broke the mould of what is expected of us as Gay Ugandans. We actually came out.

And, I cannot downplay what happened at the funeral.

The preacher. From the Church of Uganda, Anglican. With his message of 'repent'.

Of course, our reaction was predictable. And, taking the mic out of the guy's hands was the least that we could have done. He desecrated David Kato's funeral. And, he was throwing mud in our grief, simply because he felt, he believed that we should 'repent'. Served him right, the embarassment.

But, I guess he will not see it like that.

The locals refused to bury David. So, we went ahead and did the honours.

And, it was all faithfully taped and on the evening news, here. NTV.

Big deal? Of course.

The rejection. Our reaction. And the fact that the world saw... but also Ugandans saw what happened.

It is a homophobic country. We exposed ourselves. And, we put our finger in the eye of traditionalism and 'conservatism', and did our thing.

Is it significant?

You bet you it is....!¨ read it all HERE

· Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

KENYA IS NOT A THEOCRACY: ¨Homophobia – the irrational, unscientific, and primitive fear of gays and lesbians – is the vilest of hatreds.¨

Dean Makau Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School.

Bottom Line: Kenya's Constitution Protects Gay Rights

"Let me state the bottom line up-front – [Kenya's] Constitution protects gay rights. Period – plain and simple." So writes Makau Mutua, Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School.

This is both a statement of fact and law. But the Constitution goes even further. It does not prohibit same-sex marriages.As any average first year law student knows, a liberty or freedom that is not prohibited is permitted. But more is at stake.

Are we going to be ruled by fear and hatred, or love? I have said it before, and will do so yet again. Kenya is not a theocracy.

The country is not, and cannot be, governed by religious law. Nor can antiquated cultural norms and tyrannical beliefs imprison us.

Homophobia – the irrational, unscientific, and primitive fear of gays and lesbians – is the vilest of hatreds.

It’s illogical and untenable. Homophobia lies in the same gutter with all the other hatreds, including racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, and tribalism. It’s the oppression of the most vulnerable members of our society.

No progressive person can be a homophobe. Just like no progressive person can hate women because of their gender.

Homophobic heterosexuals need to relax a little and see the humanity in their homosexual compatriots.

Why do I think the Constitution protects gay rights and permits same-sex marriages? I am going to offer you a cold legal analysis of the Constitution devoid of advocacy or politics.

You can take my legal advice to the bank. Perhaps there is no more important clause in any modern Constitution than the “equal protection clause”. This is the overriding provision that is anchored in the anti-discrimination and equality norms.
Without the equal protection clause a constitution would be worthless to protect human rights.

Human rights pivot on – and are made possible by – the legal fiction of equality. Take that away and we all become animals in a jungle. This is the “civilising” core of the modern state.
The universal modern constitution protects a large array of identities in its equal protection clause.

This includes traditional categories like religion, race, ethnicity, colour, social origin, belief, language, conscience, culture, and sex.

But constitutional and international human rights law also protects newer and emerging categories of vulnerability.

These include pregnancy, disability, dress, marital status, and sexual orientation. That’s right – sexual orientation...¨ please read it all, HERE

· Thanks to Dean Makau Mutua
· Thanks to Buffalo Law School
· Thanks to SUNY Distinguised Professor
· Thanks to State University of New York
· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

The Dangers Posed by Homophobia and Hatred: 12 Life Stories ¨intended to invoke compassion¨ in AFRICA

¨Months after the imprisonment and subsequent release of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) and the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) are publishing a groundbreaking book telling the stories of twelve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons in Malawi.

The accounts in the book portray the joys of love and the heartache of rejection, the dangers posed by homophobia and hatred in communities, and the sublime comfort of close friends and relatives.

According to the publishers, the twelve life stories are "intended to invoke compassion and support for the rights of African LGBTI people to live freely and harmoniously alongside their heterosexual counterparts in Malawi and beyond her borders".

The making of the book is fascinating in its own right: Dr Patricia Watson, an expert in oral history practice in South Africa, designed and facilitated oral history workshops in Malawi during which most of the 12 participants' experiences were recounted, recorded and translated into English. HERE

· Thanks to Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, Malawi
· Thanks to Centre for the Development of People
· Thanks to Dr. Patricia Watson
· Thanks to Zanele Muholi, Faces and Phases
· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar

Steave Nemande of Cameroon: ¨All over Africa, millions of people are living in fear of violence and death simply because of who they are.¨

Human Rights Watch honoured Steave Nemande of Cameroon

Human Rights Watch honoured Steave Nemande of Cameroon with the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism on Monday night in Los Angeles. Steave Nemande is the director of Alternatives-Cameroon, an organisation that advocates decriminalisation of homosexuality in Africa.  His acceptance speech:

¨Thank you for coming here tonight to support human rights, and to recognize that gay people have the same rights as anyone else.


I know this issue is still difficult even in this country. I know that gay people can’t marry in most states. Gay people might get the right to serve your country in the armed forces, if Congress agrees.

Believe me, I wish those were the issues we face in Cameroon. But, in Cameroon, as in most of Africa, homosexuality is still a criminal offense.

Last week, while Boris [Dittrich, Acting Director of Human Rights Watch's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Division] and I were at a meeting in Cameroon, I got a phone call. Three guys had been arrested — for being homosexual. Boris was shocked. But it happens all the time.

We went to the police station and found the men, who had spent more than 2 days behind bars, in a tiny cement cell filled with dirt and flies.

We asked for the police chief to meet us. After a discussion, he agreed to release the men.

It turned out the three had actually called the police because they were being threatened by their neighbors. But when the officers arrived, they arrested the gays — no warrant, no evidence of a sexual act. It happens like that all the time.

So, after our intervention, these men were released — and without even paying off the cops! That might sound like a happy ending. Not in Cameroon. Those men had to leave their home, their neighborhood, their community, to escape the stigma of homosexuality. They will have to try to make a new secret life somewhere else.

People often justify discrimination and abuse of homosexuals by saying, “It’s against the law.”

What does this mean? If you are gay in Cameroon, you never feel safe. Any person can simply denounce you as gay and that’s it, that’s the end of your life as you have known it.

Not very many people in Cameroon are openly gay. I am one of the few. I’m lucky to have a father who supports me. He is also a doctor, and we understand each other very well. Many gay people in Africa do not have the support of their family. They are living in hiding. Many gay men are married, or have girlfriends. Women kiss and hold hands on the street without attracting too much attention, but if their families know they are lesbians, they may be beaten or chased away without the right to see their children ever again.

This attitude also has public health consequences. Living in secrecy, gay people are afraid to tell their doctor who they are and have no access to the right information. Not practicing safer sex, they spread HIV more easily.

All over Africa, millions of people are living in fear of violence and death simply because of who they are.

We will not overcome the homophobia in Africa overnight. But we have to start the process. The United States can help by telling its partners in Africa to stop abusing homosexuals — and to change these laws.

Alternatives Cameroun worked with Human Rights Watch to document the violence that gay men and lesbian women in Cameroon suffer. We put that information on the record, because no one wants to believe these things are happening. Everyone wants to turn a blind eye.

I am grateful that you want to hear my voice calling for equal rights. I see this award as a recognition of the wonderful and important work of people who want to improve the life of lesbians and gay people in Africa. And I thank Human Rights Watch for being such a committed partner and strong trustworthy supporter.¨ HERE

· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Steave Nemande of Cameroon
· Thanks to Human Rights Watch
· Thanks to Boris Dittrich
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

FROM KENYA WITH LOVE: ¨For some time I closed myself from love, from the truth, from companionship¨

Denis Nzioka, ¨I am a good lover ¨

¨Thing is I was afraid of loving. No, I was afraid of getting hurt. I was afraid of giving my heart to someone and be hurt in the end. Yes, there were to be good and bad times, but my fear was always that I would be so vulnerable to the point I would not recover from heartbreak. I am a good lover. I give my all to that special someone who I call my lover, partner and friend. I want them to be there for me always and for me to know I can count on them. They must be understanding and generous, easy to chat with and really special.

Many times, I always assumed the worst. I always thought to myself that the person I am with may cheat on me or lie to me or sleep around and this really scared me. I even went to the point of saying that there is no love between two gay men (or women for that matter!) Most of the relationships I saw in my friends were just sham, shallow and cheap. Many people just woke up and decide I am in love with so and so and two days later, they are with another. The level of infidelity was so high and so blatant that I just thought to myself, if this is the way things are, I am out..

So, where am I now? For one, I am indeed in love. And not just in love, but head over heels! But question is, who would have thought Denis Nzioka would settle or even fall in love? Today, I meet so many people and when I tell them I am in love, they either laugh or look at me with that –whatcha-talking-about? look. Yes, I know. I am the last person on earth you would expect to say they are in love, or in a relationship or monogamous. But it is so true!

But all that has changed now. I am in love and in love with only one person. He is my lover, partner, friend and confidante. He is the person who has made Denis Nzioka change from a cold, heartless monster to a love-forlorn prince who has the whole world at his feet. He is the one who has assured me that it is okay to be afraid but that I need not worry. He has shown me how to love and love completely and not be afraid of getting hurt because he will not.

He has changed me to be a better person. He has shown me how to love. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. So, to you out there, if Denis Nzioka can do it, so can you. You do not have to be afraid. It is alright to love; it is alright to give all...¨  being completely in love in Kenya, HERE

OP-ED FROM DENIS NZIOKA:  Kenyan Gay & Trans Martyrs HERE

· Thanks to Denis Nzioka, Kenya
· Thanks to African Activist
· Thanks to David Kuria, Kenya
· Thanks to ¨I Love My Boo¨

 Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

STOP YOUR BLAME/SHAME-DRIVEN LIES: Anglican Bishops Orombi, Okoh, Wabukala, Gomez--Same-sex relationships in Africa are not ¨un-African¨ but most often reflect Bi-sexual ¨Practices¨

We need to move beyond characterizing same-sex relationships in Africa as "un-African".

¨Homophobic individuals often argue that homosexuality is a ‘foreign scourge’ imported to Africa by white ne’er do wells intent on corrupting the continent’s young minds and morals. They claim that there is no word for homosexual in African local languages. Evidence to the contrary, however, is widely published and it is well established that these arguments are unfounded...Despite great progress since the last conference, HERE many repeated the default position that homosexuality is ‘un-African’, prompting Sylvia Tamale’s sarcastic response that if we are to criminalise anything that we deem ‘un-African’, then we should criminalise perms, chemically treated hair, or the dying of hair in unnatural colours, such as the purple being worn proudly by one of the conference participants to express her homophobic sentiments.¨

In reality labeling homosexuality African or un-African completely misses the main point. The Psychological Society of South Africa articulates the main point: "The scientific fields devoted to mental health and well-being, including psychiatry, psychology and sociology, do not consider homosexual orientation to be a disorder, but rather view it as a naturally occurring variation of normal human sexuality. HERE

We need to stop denying the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Africa.

Homosexuality is a part of our society and must be acknowledged. Compulsory heterosexuality is not a cure for homosexuality.

Homosexuality is part of African society simply because it is a naturally occurring variation of human sexuality. This is the same reason homosexuality is part of all human societies.

Even beyond a commitment to human rights, we need to understand that criminalizing same sex relationships will increase the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The war on HIV/AIDS cannot be waged effectively without taking LGBT rights into consideration. LGBT individuals are already ‘at risk’ populations, as far as HIV/AIDS programming is concerned. Criminalisation pushes the LGBT movement underground, leading people to conceal their HIV status.

As Victor Mukasa of IGLHRC pointed out, ‘this state of affairs threatens to roll back the gains made so far in the fight against HIV/AIDS.’ Meanwhile, David Kuria highlighted that in Kenya ‘at least 60 per cent of men who have sex with men (MSM) are also in heterosexual relationships in Kenya’, with implications for the management and funding of HIV prevention and treatment programmes. But it is basic human rights that are at the heart of the debate, Kuria said, quoting Navi Pillay's 2009 World Human Rights Day speech: ‘To criminalise people on the basis of colour or gender is now unthinkable in most countries. Discrimination feeds mistrust, resentment, violence, crime and insecurity and makes no economic sense, since it reduces productivity. It has no beneficial aspects for society whatsoever.

David Kuria's statement, "At least 60 per cent of men who have sex with men (MSM) are also in heterosexual relationships in Kenya", should give anyone working to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa pause. To get a better sense of the dynamics of bisexual concurrency and practices in Africa, be sure to read this PowerPoint presentation from the conference: Rates of Bisexual Concurrency and Bisexual Practices Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) in Abuja, Nigeria. HERE

· Thanks to The Forth Annual Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, Ethiopia
· Thanks to Pambazuka
· Thanks to African Activist
· Thanks to David Kuria, Kenya
· Thanks to Psychological Society of South Africa
· Thanks to Professor Sylvia Tamale, Uganda
· Thanks to Rates of Bisexual Concurrency and Bisexual Practices, Nigeria
· Thanks to Navi Pillay's 2009 World Human Rights Day speech
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's LGBTI Voices
· Thanks to Victor Mukasa of IGLHRC

Senate Candidate David Kuria Mbote/KENYA: ¨It is important and opportune to advocate for issues that affect the whole society--LGBTI citizens included...¨

Aspiring Senator for Kiambu, Kenya - David Kuria Mbote

¨Since announcing interest in running for a political office, I have heard many people seek to understand why take such a seemingly radical action in a region that is extremely homophobic, - and for someone who is outwardly vocal on Gay, Lesbian and Trangender rights. Some of the questions asked include, what benefits or risks will emanate from such interest?

There are some who are apprehensive that such political interest might lead to exposing LGBTI persons especially those in the closet to greater social scrutiny, leading perhaps to further stigmatization and discrimination – maybe culminating a homophobic legislation such as the one in the Ugandan parliament.

It becomes necessary then, to clarify what this candidature is about and why it is important and opportune at this point in time in our history. HERE

The National Flag of Kenya

Gay Kenyan Senate hopeful David Kuria speaks to us

¨Gay news from Africa is all too often bad news. But one Kenyan politician is giving new hope to gays in his country and the continent – and at the same time challenging European ideas about LGBT Africa.¨ HERE

· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Gay Kenya, sidebar
· Thanks to David Kuria Mbote
· Thanks to Amplifying Africas LGBTI Voices
· Thanks to Pennie Varvaries
· Thanks to The Pink Papers