---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Pambazuka Editor" <[email protected]> Date: 28 Feb 2014 16:45 Subject: Pambazuka News 667: SPECIAL ISSUE: The struggles for homosexual rights in Africa To: "pambazuka-news" <[email protected]> Cc:
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 667: SPECIAL ISSUE: THE STRUGGLES FOR HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS IN AFRICA The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa Pambazuka News is delivered free to you with the support of donations from Friends of Pambazuka. KEEP PAMBAZUKA FREE AND INDEPENDENT! BECOME A FRIEND OF PAMBAZUKA NOW! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/friends.php Follow Pambazuka #PambazukaNews Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839 CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 1 Features WHY WE MUST STOP THIS GAY WITCH-HUNT NOW Introduction to the Special Issue Henry Makori What problems is an anti-gay law supposed to cure? How would people in a country benefit from the mass imprisonment for life, or even execution, of homosexuals? The punitive laws targeting persons merely for their sexual orientation are grossly unjust and should be resisted http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90775 ****** UGANDA: SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH ON HOMOSEXUALITY A team of top scientists appointed by the government to give an opinion on homosexuality is unanimous that this sexual orientation is natural and has existed in Africa and everywhere in the world since time immemorial. It is strange for President Museveni to claim he relied on this expert report to assent to the draconian anti-gay bill http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90774 ****** THE CHANGING CONTOURS OF GAY STRUGGLE IN UGANDA - RESISTANCES AND COUNTER-RESISTANCES Prince Karakire Guma Uganda's gay organisations have been forced to operate underground due to public hostility and state persecution of their members . The formation of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRCL) has been vocal in campaigning for the rights of gay people and exposing the harmful operations of right wing American religious fundamentalists in the country http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90733 ****** UGANDA: LGBTI RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAW Clare Byarugaba On 20 December 2013, the Ugandan Parliament passed the 'Anti-Homosexuality Bill', which is now law. The law not only broadens the criminalisation of adult consensual same-sex relations, but lays down prison term for anybody defending LGBTI rights as well as health and sexual education providers. LGBTI rights defender Clare Byarugaba explained the context and potential consequences of the Bill. Watch video ( http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/uganda-anti-homosexuality-law ) . ****** A VALENTINE DAY'S PUNISHMENT Vidya Venkat The decision to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law in Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni is another development in the worrying practice of penalising homosexual conduct, a legacy of colonial-era law. The time has arrived to press for urgent reforms http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90729 ****** A LOOK AT AFRICA'S ANTI-GAY LAWS African countries 'dealing' with gays the best way they know how - further criminalization Denis Nzioka A trend is forming from African nations - which already criminalize same sex acts, albeit, through laws inherited from colonial masters - to further put in place legislation that amplify, further criminalize and increase punishment for same sex acts http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90732 ****** STEMMING THE TIDE Alexander Droessler Gay people in Nigeria are people persecuted online and need to be very careful. The organisation Queer Alliance Nigeria is now illegal in Nigeria and decriminalization of homosexuality as a top priority in many African countries is now crucial http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90735 ****** THE SAME SEX MARRIAGE PROHIBITION ACT, 2013 A call for dialogue for the sake of those on the margins Stan Chu Ilo Not all priests have joined the cacophony of homophobia in Africa. Instead an honest and open national dialogue in Nigeria and the rest of the continent is necessary. A priest expresses his misgivings of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013 signed by the Nigerian President http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90736 ****** A LETTER TO THE NIGERIAN AMBASSADOR TO ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe's gay community expresses solidarity with their counterparts in Nigeria where President Goodluck Jonathan signed a stringent bill into law in January outlawing same-sex sexual relationships. Solidarity among gay movements across Africa is critical in challenging state-instigated violence http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90720 ****** DRIVEN BY HORMONES? NOT AT ALL Byron Mutingwende The young man begs to be identified only as Tanaka Tarambwa -- a name he is confident no other man has because society has 'largely labelled homosexuals as outcasts who do not deserve a place in society.' http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90769 ****** ZIMBABWE'S ANTI-GAY STANCE IS REGRETTABLE Danmore Chuma The continued persecution of LGBT persons and the government's intolerance of Zimbabwe's sexual and gender minorities violates basic rights guaranteed by the constitution and international law. The state must stop wasting time and resources suppressing an essentially private issue http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90731 ****** STRAIGHTEN UP OR YOU'RE DEAD: THE CASE FOR BLACK LESBIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA Fairuz Mullagee and Ernest Booys In post-apartheid South Africa, sexual violence has become a socially endorsed punitive project for maintaining patriarchal order. Black township lesbians have not benefited from legal protection because of important weaknesses in the justice system. These need to be addressed http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90722 ****** STOP HATE RAPE! Pepe Hendricks The baseless belief that homosexuality can be cured through forced sex is widespread, especially in South Africa where many LGBTI persons have fallen victim. Greater public awareness needs to be created around this issue urgently http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90721 ****** THROUGH THEIR EYES: LIFE AS AN LGBTI REFUGEE AND ASYLUM SEEKER IN SOUTH AFRICA Elizabeth Gyori As these three sad stories show, refugees and asylum seekers who happen to be gay are subjected to the double stigma and violence of homophobia and xenophobia in the Rainbow Nation that has some of the most progressive inclusive laws in the world http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90726 ****** HE DIED WITH SHAME Valentina Acava Mmaka The personal anguish that homosexual people go through in a society that rejects and attacks them is unspeakable. Does an innocent human being deserve this? http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90725 ****** HOMOSEXUALITY: A PRAGMATIC BRIDGE TO ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS AND MORALITY QUESTIONS David Kuria Does creating conditions for all members of the society to access health, including homosexual people, of necessity undermine religious and moral aspirations of the Kenyan society? Is criminalization of homosexuality a theological necessity? There are options for resolving this seeming fundamental misunderstanding between the religious leaders and homosexual persons http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90724 ****** LGBTI IN AFRICA: WELCOMING THE OTHER Busangokwakhe Dlamini It is intriguing that even faiths whose adherents never sit around the same fire seem to converge on a vehement denunciation of LGBTI persons. Narrow interpretations of the scriptures are responsible for this bigotry. For sustainable peace, believers should instead learn to embrace the 'other' http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90730 ****** BUILDING FEMINIST LESBIAN LEADERSHIP IN NAMIBIA Liz Frank and Elizabeth Khaxas Young lesbians face a lot of hardships, right from their homes to a rabidly homophobic world outside. But they can stop being victims by taking their lives into their hands, as this powerful case of Namibia shows http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90772 ****** IN SOLIDARITY WITH QUEER PERSONS IN KENYA Julius Okoth Homosexual persons are entitled to all human rights as other Kenyans. They are not lesser humans. The campaign for awareness of LGBTI rights needs to be undertaken as a wider social justice project to maintain the diversity of Kenya http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90767 ****** A CAVEAT ON COMING OUT Valérie Bah The decision to 'come out' as a homosexual is ultimately a personal one - even when this helps the gay community as a whole. Whatever the considerations, one must carefully try to gauge the consequences in a world still gripped by moral hysteria http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90727 ****** ON CLOSETS, 'COMING OUT' AND STATE SURVEILLANCE Awino Okech The state is always present in your bedroom. Its absence has an impact on your access to services and this is the source of the tenuous relationship between citizens and governments. Surveillance on LGBTI people and what they seek to do in private is measured against the ideal of the hetero-normative paradigm http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90737 ****** USING ICTS TO ADVANCE THE LGBTI RIGHTS STRUGGLE Hilary Nicole Zainab Ervin With the advent of the pervasive information and communications technologies, communities advocating sexual and gender minority rights can learn useful lessons on how to deploy these technologies to further the cause http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90728 ****** WHAT IF GOD WAS ONE OF US? Miles Rutendo Tanhira Theologian Masiiwa Ragies Gunda from Zimbabwe argues that LGBTI people are being attacked from the pulpit by politicians who are deflecting from other societal ills. The essence of being Christian is missed when homophobic diatribe is used to deny the humanity of LGBTI people in society http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90734 ****** WOMEN AND SOUTH AFRICA'S LGBTI MOVEMENT: A PERSONAL REFLECTION Karen Williams The constitution's Equality Clause ensuring non-discrimination because of sexual orientation was not South African exceptionalism or simply the benevolence of the ANC: it was the result of consistent work by anti-apartheid gay activists, including black women http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90768 ****** THE PROBLEMS WITH DEBATE ON SAME SEX PRACTICES IN MALAWI Alan Msosa Debate on homosexuality in Malawi is complex. The unpredictable and sometimes tense course of the debate provides a snapshot of the difficulties encountered when confronting the dilemmas and anxieties around the issue in Africa http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90770 ****** IN SOLIDARITY? An open letter to Pan-African activists, the Black Left and human rights activists in the US Joan P Gibbs Homophobia is on the rise in Africa, in significant part due to donations provided by US-based conservative evangelical organizations. US organizations intending to support the LGBTI rights struggle in Africa need to reflect carefully on a number of important factors http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90773 ****** IS CURRENT THEORISING ON SAME-SEX SEXUALITY RELEVANT TO THE AFRICAN CONTEXT? The need for more African voices on theorising same-sex desire in Africa Thabo Msibi Whereas much of the work in the West has assisted African same-sex sexualities in providing visibility to same-sex desire, the theorising has not sufficiently provided for a contextual understanding of phenomenon - that of unpacking deeply entrenched ideas of fundamentalist conceptions of religion and patriarchy, and of untangling a psychological colonization resultant from a colonial past http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90723 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 2 Announcements RWANDA: 20 YEARS AFTER THE GENOCIDE: A CALL FOR ARTICLES How has Rwanda fared in the past two decades since the 1994 genocide? And what does the future hold for this nation of 11 million people? Pambazuka News invites articles for a special issue to be published in April http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/90534 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ Fahamu - Networks For Social Justice http://www.fahamu.org Pambazuka News is published by Fahamu Ltd. (c) Unless otherwise indicated, all materials published are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. For further details see: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/about.php Pambazuka news can be viewed online: English language edition ( http://www.pambazuka.org/en ) Edição em língua Portuguesa ( http://www.pambazuka.org/pt ) Edition française ( http://www.pambazuka.org/fr ) RSS Feeds available at http://www.pambazuka.org/en/newsfeed.php Pambazuka News is published with the support of a number of funders, details of which can be obtained here ( http://www.pambazuka.org/en/about.php ) . 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