FBUP Episode 012: Evaluating the Case Against Homosexuality in Uganda

Uganda has a strange obsession with homosexuality.

Many among us have declared homosexuality to be ‘unnatural, and this ‘unnaturalness’ being one of the reasons we say homosexuality is to be resisted. Some among us also like to argue that homosexuality is un-African – being a Western import – and for that reason it too should be resisted in order for us to preserve what some call our African traditional values.

There are those who say homosexuality will lead to the extinction of man if it were accepted, the worry being that people would no longer be reproducing since they would marry members of the same gender. It is further alleged that homosexuals ‘recruit’ children into homosexuality – and are targeting them in secondary schools. It is also the case that according to most people’s religious beliefs, ‘God’ hates the act – and thus in the interest of fulfilling these moral demands of ‘God’, homosexuality should never be condoned in society.

For these and other reasons, most people in this country feel that homosexual acts should (be) remain a criminal offense (as is currently the case). In 2009 a bill was introduced that sought to put people to death for being a homosexual person. Today in Uganda there is what might best be described as hysteria about the purported dangers of homosexuality.

In this podcast, I want to  discuss the reasons I have heard people give for considering homosexuality to be a threat to the country, and why I think those reasons fail. I will also proceed to make a case for why laws criminalizing consensual sex between adults of the same sex should be scrapped.

Download: Fatboy Unplugged – Episode 012 – Evaluating the Case Against Homosexuality in Uganda (27MB)

[Episode Duration: 1:55:41]

• The Uganda Constitution
• Penal Code Act of Uganda
• Penal Code Act amended in 2007 to make defilement gender neutral offense. Girls and Boys in Uganda are protected equally under the law, from defilement.
• According to a 2008 study funded by the World Bank, 43,000 girls in P5 to P7, roughly between 10 and 14 years old, have been sexually abused by their teachers. (New Vision – August 2nd 2008)
• The Indian Penal Code (1860) drafted by Sir Thomas McCaulay was later reproduced in most other British colonies – and to date many of these laws are still in effect in former colonies, including Uganda and Singapore. Laws classifying ‘sodomy’ a criminal offense in Uganda originated from this adopted code.
• Oral and Anal Sex decriminalised for HETERO-sexuals in Singapore in 2007.
• Natural law, is a system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Many theologians and churches argue that oral sex between men and women is a violation of natural law. Here are two examples, the Global Catholic Network, and Presentation Ministries.
• Unnatural act “is the term, once common in legal parlance, for certain sex acts, including anal sex, oral sex, other non-procreative sexual practices, incest, or procreative sexual acts in the wrong position or without procreative intent.” So according to this definition, oral sex between a man and a man, doggy-style sex, woman on top of man, masturbation, as well as the use of any contraceptives (or even condoms) constitutes an unnatural act. Shall we lock up everyone, then?
• Biblical passages denouncing fornication: (Lev. 21:9; 19:29; Deut. 22:20-11, 23-29; 23:18; Ex. 22:16, Matt. 5:32; 19:9; John 8:41; Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; Rom. 1:29; 1 Cor 5:1, 6:13, 18, 7:2; 10:8; 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:3; Jude 1:7; Rev. 2:14, 20-21; 9:21; 14:8; 17:2,4)
• Biblical passage advocating the stoning to death of girls found not to be virgins on their wedding day: Deuteronomy 22:13-21
• Biblical passage advocating the stoning to death of children who disobey their parents: Deuteronomy 21:18-21
• Scientific consensus on sexual orientation.
• Pastor Martin Ssempa claims that all homosexuals  ‘Eat Da Poo Poo’.
• Canyon Ridge Church (Las Vegas, USA) and the financial support it gives Martin Ssempa.
• Canyon Ridge Church later issues a statement distancing itself from Martin Ssempa’s and his efforts to push the anti-homosexuality bill, and says they ‘condemn acts of violence against any person regardless of sexual orientation.’
• David Bahati’’s link with ‘The Family’ (a.k.a The Fellowship), a secretive religio-political organisation based in the United States.
• George Oundo confesses, in an interview with the New York Times, to having been bribed to lie about homosexuals to the Ugandan public.
• The experiment that shows that people who are extremely homophobic paradoxically tend to be  much more highly aroused by homosexual imagery than those who are not, suggesting they might have yearnings they may be in denial of. (My own take on this is that the hatred such people show towards homosexuals is probably an external projection of their internal self-loathing arising from the inner conflict as revealed by this experiment. They are taught to denounce homosexuality as an abomination, yet they find themselves with naturally arising cravings they cannot seem to shake off. By being seen as staunchly opposed to homosexuality, they might feel they are vindicating themselves and assuaging their self-inflicted guilt. Evidently, many end up giving in to these urges, which is why we see that very many vocal anti-gay religious crusaders eventually tend to be exposed as being secretly gay themselves. This has happened far too many times for it to be simple coincidence).
• Abstinence-only campaign leads to increase in HIV prevalence in Uganda.
• Rwanda’s Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, on how Rwanda has no plans to criminalize homosexuality.