How come gays and lesbians met here?
May 30, 2004
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN<br><br>I WAS gravely amazed when I read a New Vision headline which proclaimed, quite courageously: “Homos meet in Kampalaâ€. According to the story narrated below that proclamation, Kampala was hosting the first ever conference (first-ever in the world, I presume)
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
By Paul Waibale Snr
I WAS gravely amazed when I read a New Vision headline which proclaimed, quite courageously: “Homos meet in Kampalaâ€. According to the story narrated below that proclamation, Kampala was hosting the first ever conference (first-ever in the world, I presume) to discuss the rights of homosexuals.
Muyenga International Hotel was the venue and the organisers were two associations I have never heard of, namely, the Uganda Humanist Association and the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
My amazement was precipitated by the fact that homosexuality is, in Uganda, a criminal offence punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Consequently, anybody who confesses on Uganda soil that he is a gay or lesbian is “pleading guilty†to one of the most serious crimes on our statute books.
The inevitable inference is that Uganda has by hosting the conference convened specifically to promote the interests of people who violate a legally established conduct is offering hospitality to criminals who deserve accommodation behind prison bars. It is pretty awkward that a conference which is so bizarre should be accorded an ulterior-serene atmosphere in a country which, quite justifiably, in my view, has an appetite for extinguishing illegal assemblies.
This concession to gays and lesbians to hold an illegal meeting in Kampala, could be a precedent for other criminals, such as drug smugglers, money launder experts, gun-runners, or even Ali Queda agents, to secretly convene conferences in Uganda to discuss their rights. That is a prospect Uganda can ill-afford.
Personally, I am not impressed by the host of explanations advanced at the homosexual’s conference conducted in Muyenga International Hotel. One of the leading participants is Jim Herrick who describes himself as a founding member of the British-based Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.
According to Herrick, that association, despite being 25 years old, has merely 400 members registered. Given the population of Britain, that is a miserable number by any standards.
But Herrick still thinks he can still earn our sympathy by arguing that being gay is “about love and feelings.†He is ringing the wrong number.
It is common knowledge that neither love nor feelings, not even both, has the magic power of converting what is illegal, as indeed homosexuality is in Uganda, into a lawful undertaking.
Let homosexuals have their love and feelings, but so have other criminals like suicide bombers who claim their terrorist acts are prompted by their love and feelings “for the cause,†(whatever it might be!)
In any case, pet owners have love and feelings for the animals they own, but no sane person can argue that they are entitled to turn them into sexual partners.
Another participant at that immoral and illegal conference, a Victor Mukasa, boasted. “We are everywhere.†They might be! So what? All other types of criminals are also everywhere. There is no shortage of criminals everywhere. There is no shortage of thieves, robbers, murderers, conmen, etcetra, but that does not vindicate them or even mitigate the gravity of their iniquities.
Apart from the legal provisions, Uganda also rejects homosexuality on political, social and religious grounds. It is against that backdrop that the Anglican Church of Uganda severed all relationships with the United States diocese which appointed an overtly gay priest a bishop.
The Province of Uganda subsequently rejected financial donations from church organisations in the United States and denied the American bishop’s request to attend the ordination of Archbishop Henry Orombi.
The wrath of the Uganda Anglican Church against homosexuality was also demonstrated when a retired bishop, Dr Christopher Senyonjo, who flirted with organisations catering for homosexuals in the United States, was visited on him when he returned home by rebuking him.
All religious faiths in Uganda — Muslims, Catholics, Anglicans, Balokole, et cetra, have one thing in common: the condemnation of lesbians and gays. Suffice it to add that the constitution of Uganda limits the right of sexual union to person of opposite sexes.
In a nut-shell, staging in Uganda a bizarre conference that is legally a gathering of criminals, politically unacceptable, socially repugnant and religiously unpalatable, is the height of absurdity.
By Paul Waibale Snr
I WAS gravely amazed when I read a New Vision headline which proclaimed, quite courageously: “Homos meet in Kampalaâ€. According to the story narrated below that proclamation, Kampala was hosting the first ever conference (first-ever in the world, I presume) to discuss the rights of homosexuals.
Muyenga International Hotel was the venue and the organisers were two associations I have never heard of, namely, the Uganda Humanist Association and the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
My amazement was precipitated by the fact that homosexuality is, in Uganda, a criminal offence punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Consequently, anybody who confesses on Uganda soil that he is a gay or lesbian is “pleading guilty†to one of the most serious crimes on our statute books.
The inevitable inference is that Uganda has by hosting the conference convened specifically to promote the interests of people who violate a legally established conduct is offering hospitality to criminals who deserve accommodation behind prison bars. It is pretty awkward that a conference which is so bizarre should be accorded an ulterior-serene atmosphere in a country which, quite justifiably, in my view, has an appetite for extinguishing illegal assemblies.
This concession to gays and lesbians to hold an illegal meeting in Kampala, could be a precedent for other criminals, such as drug smugglers, money launder experts, gun-runners, or even Ali Queda agents, to secretly convene conferences in Uganda to discuss their rights. That is a prospect Uganda can ill-afford.
Personally, I am not impressed by the host of explanations advanced at the homosexual’s conference conducted in Muyenga International Hotel. One of the leading participants is Jim Herrick who describes himself as a founding member of the British-based Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.
According to Herrick, that association, despite being 25 years old, has merely 400 members registered. Given the population of Britain, that is a miserable number by any standards.
But Herrick still thinks he can still earn our sympathy by arguing that being gay is “about love and feelings.†He is ringing the wrong number.
It is common knowledge that neither love nor feelings, not even both, has the magic power of converting what is illegal, as indeed homosexuality is in Uganda, into a lawful undertaking.
Let homosexuals have their love and feelings, but so have other criminals like suicide bombers who claim their terrorist acts are prompted by their love and feelings “for the cause,†(whatever it might be!)
In any case, pet owners have love and feelings for the animals they own, but no sane person can argue that they are entitled to turn them into sexual partners.
Another participant at that immoral and illegal conference, a Victor Mukasa, boasted. “We are everywhere.†They might be! So what? All other types of criminals are also everywhere. There is no shortage of criminals everywhere. There is no shortage of thieves, robbers, murderers, conmen, etcetra, but that does not vindicate them or even mitigate the gravity of their iniquities.
Apart from the legal provisions, Uganda also rejects homosexuality on political, social and religious grounds. It is against that backdrop that the Anglican Church of Uganda severed all relationships with the United States diocese which appointed an overtly gay priest a bishop.
The Province of Uganda subsequently rejected financial donations from church organisations in the United States and denied the American bishop’s request to attend the ordination of Archbishop Henry Orombi.
The wrath of the Uganda Anglican Church against homosexuality was also demonstrated when a retired bishop, Dr Christopher Senyonjo, who flirted with organisations catering for homosexuals in the United States, was visited on him when he returned home by rebuking him.
All religious faiths in Uganda — Muslims, Catholics, Anglicans, Balokole, et cetra, have one thing in common: the condemnation of lesbians and gays. Suffice it to add that the constitution of Uganda limits the right of sexual union to person of opposite sexes.
In a nut-shell, staging in Uganda a bizarre conference that is legally a gathering of criminals, politically unacceptable, socially repugnant and religiously unpalatable, is the height of absurdity.