Homophobic violence ramps up in Africa
Violence about and toward gays in some quarters of Africa appears to be one of the ticking bombs of that continent's present reality.
The Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan offers an extended, helpful, and disconcerting roundup. The problem, it would seem, is not so much homosexuality as it is the influence of the West - the perception of culture wars, in effect.
Moses Solomon Male, a pastor, said gays were exaggerating their plight to get more funding from Western rights groups and seek asylum in the United States and Europe."Homosexuality is not inborn," he said. "So it's not inherent as a right."
... and ...
"The world is under siege by homosexuals," [journalist Giles] Muhame said. "They want to control the world, and they are starting with Africa."
Muhame's quoted elsewhere in the story, too, saying, "The Bible condemns homosexuality... You know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? It is like murder. It is like terrorism." (Of course, getting to actually know someone who's gay, especially in a place where being gay could potentially get you executed, is usually harder than stereotyping. Stereotyping saves time, smoothes out the rough edges of our conscience.)
This all comes at the end of a week that saw Malawi's Parliament pass
... a law adding lesbian sodomy to its list of criminalized sexual perversions, despite international pressures to eliminate such laws.
And why? Gender "equality," apparently.
Unlike homosexual relations between men, female homosexuality was not previously contained in the penal code. The bill was introduced as a bid to ensure greater equality between men and women.....
The association [called Secular Humanism] ‘observes that “there are many Malawian homosexuals who have never had any contact with westerners or so-called ‘homosexual culture’.”.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
... politicians are turning their attention ... to legislation that will criminalize homosexuality. This fall, lawmakers are evaluating a new bill that identifies homosexuality as a sexual practice against Nature. The current version of the bill does not stop at criminalizing the ‘heinous” crime of consensual same-sex relations, but will also imprison anybody who promotes the rights of LGBTI persons, making “all associations that promote or defend sexual relations against nature” forbidden in Congo.
All this, on a week in which David Bahati, Ugandan MP and mover of the kill-the-gays bill, was denied entry into a conference in the U.S. but used the occasion to do a little self-promotion with an incredulous Rachel Maddow. Bahati mostly kept his head down and stuck to talking points while Maddow jabbed. He intoned,
God’s law is always clear that the wages of sin is death whether that is implemented through legislation like mine or by a mechanism of a human being whatever happen is the end result that we need to turn to God if we have sinned.
Whosoever's Candace Chellew-Hodge says she almost feels bad for the guy. Almost.
What makes me almost sorry for Bahati is how sincerely he believes his own propaganda, even pleading at one point with Maddow for people outside of Uganda to respect their laws and opinions just as they respect the laws and opinions of others.
It must be shouted from the rooftops, loud and long: Jesus said to those who want to kill "sinners" in the name of "God's law," "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone" (John 8:2-11). These people are disobeying Christ Jesus, not following him. Presuming one is sinless and committing murder are sins.
Posted by Gregory Orloff![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 12, 2010 9:49 AM
It must be said (and not forgotten) that tens of thousands of real live LGBTI Anglicans in Africa are being persecuted, marginalized and demonized at Church...there is no excuse for this...none.
Posted by Leonardoricardosanto.blogspot.com![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 12, 2010 11:27 AM
"The Bible condemns homosexuality... You know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? It is like murder. It is like terrorism."
And there you have it.
Biblical literalism ≠ Good News for LGBTs
Posted by Paige Baker![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 12, 2010 2:22 PM
Although a lot of the propaganda is "old stuff," e.g. "converting children" and the need to protect them was the major reason that Bahati returned to again and again in his interview with Maddow, there are other "newer" attacks that are particularly unique in this African crisis.
Take note, for example, that homosexuality is conceived of as a "foreign" and "western" import for Africans. This allows them to assume the "respectable" cloak of Afrocentrism and anti-Colonialism as a weapon. It also allows them to hide the Western influence on the anti-Gay movement by disparaging any revelation of such as a disrespect for "African" ideas as just more Western Colonialism.
I'm not sure what I feel worse about, if these people really believe this, or if they are just being manipulative. Tragedy either way.
@ Paige: Biblical literalism is "no good news" for anybody. How can we break this stranglehold that literalism has on our scriptural tradition? I'm embarrassed to even be seen with a bible these days for fear of being identified with such idiocy. A "plain brown wrapper" seems to be called for most of the time.
Posted by Jeffrey L. Shy, M.D.![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 13, 2010 12:30 PM
I'm not sure we, in the West, can have any real say in what Africans believe...
...but we bloody well can on their Western funders! The ACNA-types want to co-exist in both worlds: they have to CHOOSE. Either disavow their hatred, TO their African lackeys, or they get labelled hate groups, and SHUNNED like the Klan!
JC Fisher
Posted by tgflux![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 13, 2010 5:01 PM