LOVE IS LOUDER
23:31
Hopefully a lot of people will have already heard about what's happening in Uganda. If not, I'll explain it briefly. Homosexual men are being persecuted by the law for their sexual orientation.
While I’m pro LGBTQ, if someone doesn't agree with the LGBTQ community I’m not going to force my opinion on them. What bothers me is the abuse, verbal, physical and mental homosexuals around the world go through for their sexual orientation. For this post, I’m going to draw attention to the goings on in Uganda. An article I read http://www.osundefender.org/?p=140411 explains how Uganda is on its way to pass an anti-gay bill.
“The bill’s original 2009 version, named “Kill The Gays,” went as far as calling for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts; that provision was shelved following international furore.
Under its latest iteration, anyone who conducts marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples faces seven years behind bars. Failure to report homosexual activity to police is also criminalized. Doctors who treat gays, landlords who rent them property and those suspected of being LBGTQ are subject to five-year prison terms under the bill. Anyone who offers support to homosexuals will also be committing a criminal offence, which can reportedly extend to counselling.”
If you’d like to read more on this Anti-Homosexuality Bill click the title.
That is really unsettling to read is it not? It seems so stupid to me how someone can be thrown in jail because of the gender they are attracted to. What is this? You can’t help who you’re attracted to firstly, and I call it discrimination the way homosexuals are being treated. Bear in mind that Uganda isn’t the only country in Africa to be anti-homosexual, many countries in Africa are. And the fact that the death penalty was suggested is just awful. To put it in my words, this bill is trying to punish a person for loving someone, bearing in mind that being homosexual; isn't a choice, it's just who you are as a person.
FACT: Thirty-eight of fifty-three African nations criminalize homosexuality in some way.[12]
Another issue I have is that apparently, those people who provide services to these homosexual people (doctors, landlords etc) are also likely to be sentenced to prison sentences. I don’t know about you, but that seems like utter rubbish to me, and doesn’t make sense in the slightest. I want to say something, and most definitely I’m not the only person to think this way: Homosexuals are HUMAN. They have feelings, they breathe, they have (or should have) the same rights as any other straight male/female should have. No man or woman should have to be ashamed of their sexual orientation, it’s not wrong, “dirty” or “sinful” to be homosexual. I don’t care what if there’s something in the Bible about it (I’m a Roman Catholic, so I’m supposed to believe in any anti-homosexual teachings in the Bible if there is. I actually don’t know personally if there is, and if there are I wholeheartedly disagree) these people should be treated the same way. I hate to think that families are torn apart over someone’s sexuality.
CNN:
“Kampala, Uganda (CNN) -- Gay-rights activists in Uganda warned Monday of mounting violence against homosexuals after parliament passed controversial legislation last week that would make some gay acts punishable with life in prison. "The witch hunt had already started, and now it has been legitimized by the parliament of Uganda, which is very scary," said Clare Byarugaba, coordinator for the Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, an umbrella gay-rights group. "We don't know how brutal the police will be now that the bill has passed. With this legitimization, it's going to get worse."
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries. Currently, in Uganda, acts of a homosexual nature are punishable by 14 years to life in prison, according to rights activists. But lawmakers in Uganda seek tougher legislation. Uganda is a very conservative nation, mind you. Activists in Uganda are regularly arrested, blackmailed and harassed in what the Activists say has been an ongoing campaign led by politicians and religious leaders in the conservative East African country. Isn't horrible to think how people in the government are persecuting their own people?
“President Yoweri Museveni still has to assent to the bill for it to become law -- "So our only hope now is with the president of Uganda -- and we plan to put as much pressure as necessary to ensure that this bill doesn't pass into law," said Byarugaba, who is also a winner of the U.S. State Department's 2011 Human Rights Defender Award. To become law, it requires Museveni's signature within 30 days. Human rights groups are also on high alert and outspoken about the recent measures."President Museveni must veto this wildly discriminatory legislation, which amounts to a grave assault on human rights and makes a mockery of the Ugandan constitution," said Aster van Kregten, deputy Africa director at Amnesty International. "Passing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was a retrograde step for Uganda's Parliament, which has made some important progress on human rights in recent years, including criminalizing torture. It flies in the face of the Ugandan government's stated commitment to ensure all legislation complies with human rights."Gay activist Frank Mugisha said that he has been verbally and physically attacked since the bill's passing and that many Ugandans think the bill has already become law.”
I can’t imagine the fear and oppression homosexuals worldwide must be feeling in the wake of this bill being proposed. Surely the LGBTQ community in Uganda are fearful for their lives. And to think that right now as I type this that people in Uganda are waiting to see if they are going to be punished by law for being WHO THEY ARE. It makes me sad that parts of our world are like this.
Another article I read on sourcefed.com suggests that the tendency to be homosexual may well run in families. And I take it from this article that it CANNOT be controlled, and happens BEFORE birth. Some Anti-Gay supporters believe that homosexuals cannot be mentally stable to be homosexual.
“In The Quarterly Review of Biology, researchers at UC Santa Barbara and Uppsala University in Sweden have concluded through their research that sexual orientation can be decided through epi-marks, which are temporary but permanent switches in a fetus’ DNA that exist while in the womb and shortly after birth.”
If you’d like a more complicated explanation click here: JSTOR.
What's so ridiculous is that homosexuals are made out to be aliens almost, abominations of nature, when I doubt you would be able to point at someone and know for sure they're homosexual. The point I'm making is there is no difference between homosexuals and straight people. They are both human and should be treated equally. One of my favorite songs is "Same Love" By Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, you should check it out if you don't know it already, the lyrics are empowering. I don't know about you, but us LGBTQ supporters need to hope and pray that this bill isn't passed, or the violence and oppression are going to become worse than already seen. So please please please, those who support this Anti-Gay Bill, I really encourage you to think really hard about these people you are proposing to punish for their sexual orientation. Think about it. It could be your brother, uncle, nephew, grandson, cousin. Anyone. I don’t personally know anyone from Uganda, and I know it doesn’t affect me in any way legally, but I’d definitely say both homosexual/straight people around the world are grieving over this disgraceful bill.
I apologize for the heaviness of this post, but it’s something I feel particularly strongly about! Please bear in mind that if you do in fact oppose my opinion I'm not going to hold them against you, but I'm certainly not going to be told I'm wrong. Tune in next week, hopefully, it’ll be a post of a lighter nature!
Thank you so much for reading, talk to you all soon!
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