Is Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill still that confusing for you? You know, the parts where, in the bill under review, gay Ugandans would be subject to the death penalty and severe prison terms for being human beings that physically express their love? But the bill doesn’t just go after gays, but citizens who know about gays. And their failure to report them to authorities is punishable by a three-year prison sentence. So what happens if you twice fail to report a homosexual? You become serial offender yourself.
Rob Tisinai reads through the proposed legislation and finds outrageous punishments for non-homosexuals. Which explains why some religious leaders are perfectly fine with everything in the bill, minus the “reporting homos” mandate.
romeo
This kind of social control isn’t just ignorance, it’s certifiable stupidity. Not even the Nazis would have seriously considered this. Such a low order of mentality is not going to be able to keep control over an already miserably poor and fragile a society. They’re obviously determined to go the Idi Amin route, and it will wind up the same way.
B
No. 1 · romeo wrote, “This kind of social control isn’t just ignorance, it’s certifiable stupidity. Not even the Nazis would have seriously considered this.”
To see Nazis showing similar levels of stupidity, rent the film “To be or not to be”, the original not the remake. It has Jack Benny playing a ham Polish actor in Warsaw playing the part of a Nazi, both in a silly play and in a resistance operation that he is completely ill-suited for.
There’s a running joke about a lame joke, “They named a battleship after Bismark and a brandy after Napoleon, and Hitler is going to end up as a piece of cheese.” It usually gets followed with “I don’t think that is very funny. Neither would the Fuehrer.” And then “Oh, I hope you don’t think I’m disloyal, …” Then, they had a “real” Nazi telling the ham actor Jack Benny was playing, who was pretending to be a Nazi, “Oh, I saw him once before the war. What he did to Shakespeare, we are doing to Poland.”
That’s the level of stupidity to which Uganda is sinking. It would be a comedy if this nonsense wasn’t threatening people’s lives.
Gay Africa
The Red Room presents GAY AFRICA in partnership with English PEN.
“The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it.”
GAY AFRICA is a powerful response to the human rights and sexuality crisis sweeping the continent. In Uganda they propose to execute gays, in Malawi they imprison gay men who marry, in Nigeria they ban all meeting and support for LGBT people.
How far does the American Christian Right support homophobia in Africa? Is South Africa a shinning example of human rights or special case? Do activists and the media in the West help or hinder African lesbians and gays?
How does what’s happening in Africa impact on LGBT people throughout the world?
GAY AFRICA brings together an exciting mix of artists and activists from Africa and the Caribbean. We invite you to come along, be entertained, let your voice be heard and get refreshed.
Performers and Special Guests include:
Dr Antoine Rogers (Lecturer in Social Policy)
Bisi Alimi (Nigerian LGBT Activist)
Campbell (Filmmaker/Curator)
Gaylene Gould (Broadcaster)
Godwyns Onwuchekwa (Nigerian LGBT Activist)
Dr Iain Reeves (Consultant in HIV Medicine)
Inua Ellams (Performance Poet)
Jasmine Cooray (Performance Poet)
John Bosco (Gay Ugandan Refugee)
Keith Jarrett (Performance Poet)
Lee Jasper (Black Human Rights Activist)
Michael Senyonjo (Ugandan Human Rights Activist)
Mojisola Adebayo (Writer/Performer)
Phyll Opoku (UK Black Pride)
Rhymes Won’t Wait Collective
Rev. Rowland Jide Macaulay (House of Rainbow)
Shaun Newport (Pride London)
Skye Chirape (Zimbabwean LGBT Activist)
Short films screening:
Souljah by Rikki Beadle-Blair (Best Short Film at Rushes Soho)
Young Black & Gay by Dean Atta (Channel 4, bfm IFF, LLGFF)
THIS A FREE EVENT
Sunday 28th February 2010 4pm – 8pm
Free Word Centre, Farringdon
60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA
Directions: Exit Farringdon Tube Station and turn right, then right again and walk 5mins down Farringdon Road.
http://www.freewordonline.com
For updates see: http://www.theredroom.org.uk
Supported by: rukus!, Rhymes Won’t Wait, Bootylicious, WORK!, UK Black Pride