Africa: Human Rights

Rootless — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:19:12 +0000

There’s been a flurry of awful stories out of Africa about attitudes towards homosexuality. Uganda has been considering an anti-gay bill that would in some cases impose the death penalty on homosexuals. In Kenya a gay wedding ceremony on the country’s more liberal coast-line almost resulted in a bloodbath with locals ready to burn the house down; the police intervened and shut the whole affair down. A similar case in Malawi resulted in the two men being arrested. Check out the story in Malawi if you want a more human face on any of these instances, really sad story, the attached pic says it all though, these two guys being mocked and physically threatened just because of who they are. In each of these cases, but in particular in Uganda, these countries have faced strong criticism from western countries, which provide a large amount of aid and hence have some leverage over these countries. Obama has denounced the Uganda bill, and Gordon Brown and other top leaders have called Uganda’s powerful president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, to express concern. The result has been bewilderment and anger on the part of Africans, who see their anti-gay views as part of their culture and expressions of concern as meddling in their affairs. I hope western leaders continue to hold the line on this issue and use the leverage they have appropriately to effect change. This situation reminds me of the debate about women in Islamic countries, which was much talked about in the soul-searching following 9/11, but which has generally subsided of late. Just as it is clear that is wrong that women in Saudi Arabia are treated like second-class citizens, we should be careful to avoid moral relativism when dealing with Africa on homosexuality. Their views are backwards and wrong and need to change. Some values are universal and right and tolerance is one of them.

NYC Junta » uganda

Africa: Human Rights