The bill, authored by MP David Bahati in October 2009 mandates the death penalty for 'serial offenders', those with HIV, and those who engage in sexual relations with minors. This bill would actually only be a strengthening of the already horrific laws against homosexuality in Uganda - currently it is punishable by incarceration in prison for up to 14 years. I believe homosexuality is actually illegal in around 80 nations across the globe which is just unbelievable and impossible to digest. The new bill would apply to Ugandans living outside of the country too, and also, anyone who is aware of an 'offender' and doesn't report it within 24 hours would be subject to up to 3 years in prison.
Some of the quotes I have read from Bahati are just astonishing. When asked to withdraw the bill in 2010 he replied, "I will not withdraw it. We have our children in schools to protect against being recruited into (homosexuality). The process of legislating a law to protect our children against homosexuality and defending our family values must go on". This type of reasoning is just sickening - to think that homosexuals are some sort of cult waiting out the school gates to tap up youths is just absurd.
The public policy in several African nations has also been severely influenced by certain American evangelicals who have added fuel to the fire by citing ridiculous statistics such as, "homosexuals are at least 12 times more likely to molest a child than a heterosexual" - these being published is horrendous enough, but the fact that people actually buy in to this bullshit is truly frightening and really makes you step back and understand the impact propaganda can have.
One of the the main campaigners, David Kato, who led the condemnation of the bill was unfortunately murdered in January of this year after being 'outed' in a newspaper for being gay. "Police claim it had nothing to do with his sexuality" - do they really think we are that naive and stupid? Three months before this a Ugandan newspaper, Rolling Stone, published an article claiming to 'out' 100 gay men, accompanied by the headline 'Hang Them' - honestly the more I read about this the sicker I feel.Unfortunately the bill has not actually been thrown out yet, but it being pushed off the agenda, at least for the time being is a massive moral victory for all people around the world who value human rights, and in particular groups like Avaaz who compiled a petition, signed by 1.6 million people over the world, to help fight the bill - click here to sign the petition.
Having been lucky enough to have lived in London my whole life, I have certainly been sheltered from a number of global human rights issues. Growing up in one of the most tolerant cities in the world has given me vast exposure to homosexuals and to me being gay is not unusual - this is something that Londoners can be extremely proud of. But on a global scale, outside of the bubble that I live in, it is so devastating when you realise just how many people share these nauseating views. The world would certainly be a better place if all these people were simply wiped off the face of the earth. As far as I am concerned they have nothing constructive at all to offer humanity. The only positive to be taken is that there are a far greater number of good people out there who, albeit aren't perfect, do not share the same heinous beliefs.
What do you think?
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I find homophobia absolutely disgusting, it is nobody's business what the sexual preferences are of consenting adults be they same sex or not.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the homophobia I have come across stems from those with strong religious beliefs, they quote rubbish from the bible as if it is true, they cherry pick parts of the book to justify whatever point they are trying to make, totally ingnoring what is supposed to underpin Christianity (and most other religions) which is to love each other and not to judge each other as that is supposedly "God's" job.
It is beyond my comprehension that any mother, father, brother or sister would turn their back on their son or brother (or sister) simply because they fancy the same sex as them.
We all have sexual preferences and tendencies, I am a woman and I know that I do not and could not find other women sexually attractive, neither could I find a really obese man sexually attractive, we fancy who we fancy, it is a natural thing not something we choose, another argument used by ignorant people to state that gay people "choose" to be gay.
Violation of people's human rights don't happen overnight, they creep up on us when we are not listening and objecting, in the past, we may not have been aware of these things happening, but I would argue that now with all the media, social media, mobile phones there is no excuse.
Another example of what, i hate to say, seems to be human nature.
ReplyDeleteOn a daily basis both on the news and in our day to day lives we witness handfuls of examples of people confronting with others just because they are DIFFERENT, at a local, national and global scale.
For many, religion has offered as a platform to join together with those who are seen to share the same values and beliefs, as with any social circle or friendship group. However, when these platforms are then used as a form of control, and used to spread hatred and animosity towards another segment of society, this is when we tend to witness rediculous scenes such as "Anti-Gay Bills", "Martyrdom", and going back a few centuries, "Witch Hunting".
In an age where globalisation is taking hold at an ever increasing pace, fulled by global trade and the ease of sharing information across borders and boundaries, these cultish beliefs and behaviours seem ever more dated and ridiclous (from my fairly comfortable seat in the "developed world").
The question is, will the continued growth of the Information Age over the next few decades see a wider tolerance and understanding of different cultures and societies, or will this offer the space for new platforms where we can group together and culture our hatred for eachother?
If this is our programmed human nature, unfortunatly it may be the latter.
The ignorance and narcissistic arrogance of humankind comes as no surprise. All throughout history certain factions have striven to exert their power, influence, and control over other populations by using religious pretense, legal trickery, and blatant oppression. The only hope for humanity is for the offspring of these brain damaged social sadists to turn their backs on this type of hatred and separate themselves from the delusional filth of their ancestors. Humanity itself is striving to outgrow this type of disgustingly narrow-minded idiocy, but until such a time as that happens, we keep making small moves toward ridding this planet of the present paranoia displayed by these egotistical self-serving parasites.
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