The Anti-Homosexuality Bill: A Public Programme at the University

November 25, 2009

This forum was held almost a week ago and it has taken some time and reflection before I have felt ready to write about it. FYI - just having a discussion of these matters at the university is a controversial issue in itself; many feel it is not a suitable topic for the public to talk about.

I had originally planned to speak up during the open mike part of this event, as the mother of a gay man whom I love and want to be safe, because this voice – the voice of loving family members – is just not heard in Africa. However, four people whose opinion I value counseled me against it for different reasons. The professor with whom I am working was concerned that the publicity I would attract could adversely affect him, the university, myself and the project we are working on. A friend of mine from Kenya was concerned for my physical safety. The lesbian activist in Uganda whom I have become friendly with, Val, said that there were other ways that I could support the movement less visibly and she did not want to see my project (bringing Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Circles for conflict resolution to Uganda) hurt. And my Nonviolent Communication mentor, Miki advised me against speaking out for reasons that I am still working on fully taking in. As best I understand it, she felt that it was not my role as a guest of the country, the university and the professor to be telling Ugandans how they should live - a perpetuation of Western colonialism. She also felt that what I have most to offer is to truly empathize with and understand all perspectives in the matter and help Ugandans identify the values that are most important to them in deciding how they want their lives and their country to be. As such, taking a stance on an internal political issue would both be unproductive (and possibly counter-productive, supporting the idea that homosexuality is a Western thing being imposed on Uganda) and undermine the essence of the peace-building process I am trying to support in the country.

So, with much ambivalence, I decided not to speak up, but to attend and listen. Then Val told me that she really would like to hear me speak up and I was confused again, but noticed that I trusted more my desire not to speak up at this time than my desire to do so. If it weren't for the project, I think I would have, but the project and the desire to respect my host were pretty important to me.

There were two speakers in favor of the anti-homosexuality bill, including the bill's originator, and two opposed. The two in favor spoke first. There were both effective speakers in that they spoke confidently and somewhat persuasively if you were a listener sharing their assumptions about the inherent undesirability of homosexuality and didn't have much information about the weaknesses in facts and research behind what they were saying. I was somewhat dismayed that at this packed hall in the Law School of the leading university of Uganda, primarily occupied by college students, there was huge emotional support and yelling in favor of their rhetorical questions and assertions. What might one expect from a less educated audience? It was a very distressing hour for me.

Examples of what they shared: A “scientific” graph showing an inverted-U function of how civilizations, all civilizations, rise and fall. The point at which they start falling is when ethics and sexual morals decline. And this is what is happening now with the explosion of the gay agenda. We have to contain homosexuality because of how it will cause our civilization to decline – “a proven fact.” There were also quotes and references to gay publications which spoke of the goal of making homosexuality just as acceptable as heterosexuality and the promotion acceptance of gays using deception and manipulation, if needed, to accomplish this goal. And then, of course, the requisite pictures of gay pride parades in the United States to show were Uganda is heading. The proposer of the bill ended with a paragraph written by a school boy describing how his cousin had taught him homosexual ways and now he is teaching them to other boys – an anecdote that has nothing to do with the content of the bill because it involves children and sexual interactions between adults and children already are illegal, regardless of gender.

The first speaker in the opposition was a well-meaning elderly fellow (a retired Army officer of some status) who was primarily working against AIDS but had been drafted to speak against the bill. In my judgment, he was quite ineffective in making any strong points against the bill.

The last speaker was Sylvia Tamale, a law professor and Director of the Human Rights Centre at the university. She was well-organized, non-attacking, clear and extremely effective. She analyzed the bill from a legal perspective and argued it was not needed. Of the 18 provisions in the bill 12 are already part of the law and several of the others are both against the Ugandan constitution and would lead to all sorts of serious problems – e.g. withdrawing from all international treaties and agreements immediately that are inconsistent with the bill would mean breaking treaties already agreed to – a major international problem which would affect Uganda's credibility on the world scene. She also raised the question of why was this bill being proposed now. Homosexuals have always been with us, are not doing anything different now, and are an easy target for rallying people, just as various other groups (e.g. minorities and immigrants) often are. Homosexuals are not the cause of the severe poverty and hunger in the country, the child sacrifice (yes, that is going on), the domestic violence, and the inadequate health care in the country. Is this a way of bolstering a weak political position, she asked? She also spoke of the negative effects of asking all sorts of people (parents, physicians, teachers, nurses, etc.) to spy on and report each other for their sexual behavior as well as the ability to destroy a person's reputation by a false accusation. She was quite excellent, scholarly and personable.

When the program was opened up to the audience I was only comfortable staying for a few speakers. It was clear that the audience was pretty emotionally aroused and I just didn't want to hear people arguing without listening to each other, so I left.

It wasn't until a week later when I was talking with my son about the forum that I was finally able to feel a bit more at peace with what I had heard. I could tell there was a lot of fear and mistrust associated with homosexuality, but I couldn't figure out why. I also got that many people have a lot of anger and pain associated with being colonized by the West and being looked down upon and dictated to. Allegations were made a number of times about the West paying Ugandans to be homosexuals. I guess they might be referring to international NGOs which support gay groups in Uganda and the supporters of the legislation couldn't imagine any other reason a person would choose to engage in homosexual activity.

I understand that no one wants to be coerced into a lifestyle which is not what they want just because someone bigger and more powerful is telling them to be a certain way, that is, to be accepting of homosexuality. And the changes in families, the effects of education for women on domestic relationships, and the westernization of so many cultural patterns must be pretty upsetting to many. So, taking a stand against homosexuals, whom virtually nobody wants to defend, is a nice easy target for unifying people and taking a stand against cultural changes as a whole. It was interesting to me that one woman questioned Sylvia Tamale's assertion that it would not be desirable to have parents spy on their children's sexual behavior and report it by saying that people in the family are now encouraged to spy on each other with respect to domestic violence and report that In essence, she was saying that domestic violence should be a private family matter. I can understand that it can be scary to see upended the whole picture of how you have always experienced families should be and are together.