Comments on: Ugandan gays protest for rights

By: peripheries

peripheries — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:50:50 +0000

All of this recent “anti-gay” activity started soon after a born-again christian “confessed” to being gay and converting school children. Does it matter that it does not make sense? no really… That how it is…

Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, in conjunction with pontifical nonsense are doing a great witch-hunting job, diverting resources and destroying successful HIV prevention. Such irresponsible and dangerous views are wiping out years, past and future, of HIV prevention.

By: drewski

drewski — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:08:28 +0000

MNBear, you seem to be having trouble balancing a pseudo-intellectual pose with sloppy pseudo-deconstruction. Is that what you meant by “hipster cachet”? I’ll have to study up so I can match the presented standard.

By: MNBear

MNBear — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:38:17 +0000

@ Drewski – The statement that “the shame rests on European colonialism” does not *automatically* carry the racist meaning “these people just can’t do any better”. It COULD be rooted in that odious mindset, but we can’t know with any certainty just from the surface of the statement.

For all we know, the statement could even carry a positive meaning – e.g. “Uganda has bought into a wrong-headed idea that someone else sold them, which is a pretty common human mistake; I trust that their natural selves are better than this and will clear up eventually”.

Or it might just be face-value: a straightforward factual assertion, with zero political motive or personal animus in any direction, that the speaker believes Ugandan homophobia to derive originally from 19th-century European ideas. (This doesn’t exactly strain credibility; remember Oscar Wilde?)

But I fully realize it carries a certain hipster cachet to automatically assume the worst and pop off with formulaic, possibly-unfounded accusations of racism… so I’ll stop here and let you carry on.

By: drewski

drewski — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:49:13 +0000

@ Bentham–sorry, but do you realize what a condescending (and ultimately racist) gesture it is to put Ugandan homophobia down to “European colonialism”? You’re saying that Ugandans simply don’t have the ability to do better. Uganda’s had 47 years of independence, and it has recovered (largely) from dictatorship and civil war. It hasn’t recovered from the impulse to let religion have its toxic way. Like many former colonies, Uganda is far more socially conservative than its former master (the UK). Ugandans are fully capable of choosing a better path–and please note that, across Africa, homosexuality is widely considered a Western (or European, or white) concept, alien to native culture. That didn’t come from the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the third Marquess of Thistletwat. So please stop looking for a bogeyman and let Ugandans be responsible for their bias. Otherwise, when you say “they can’t help it,” you’re arguing the same thing that a white supremacist would, and I don’t think that’s what you mean to say, is it?

@ Samantha–Hell yes!

By: Bentham

Bentham — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:34:02 +0000

How utterly sad, and the shame rests on European colonialism. The gays and lesbians who are now demonstrating and demanding their human rights will go down in history as heroes against gross injustice.

By: david

david — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:48:57 +0000

Just advice the government of Uganda to take the gay Ugandans to Migingo Island. That way they will be in the less hostile Kenya.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:30:23 +0000

I’m amazed by the courage of those gay and lesbian people who rallied for their rights. They are very brave.

By: LOrion

LOrion — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:03:37 +0000

Friends in Kampala… will see if they know/heard anything of this.

By: pauliji

pauliji — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:36:41 +0000

The above mentioned Martin Ssempa, cheerleader for the anti-gay mobs in Uganda is the same man who is the buddy of Rev. Rich Warren, pal to Pres. Obama. “By their fruits ye shall know them”!