The African problem

I’ve been posting a lot about Uganda’s proposed “kill the gays” bill, and I intend to keep doing so. It’s the worst proposed law of its kind that I can remember any country proposing.

But Uganda isn’t alone in practising rampant homophobia. Writing in Britain’s The Independent, Daniel Howden reported on the extensive homophobia—and that word fits more than any other—throughout Africa. For example, “38 out of 53 African countries had already criminalised consensual gay sex. And in many cases, sodomy laws had remained on the books from the colonial era.”

This latter fact is especially ironic since the homophobic African nations usually claim that homosexuality is “un-African” and a result of colonialism. If that were true, wouldn’t the colonial powers have repealed anti-sodomy laws? But, then, no one would ever claim that logic stops the mental illness of homophobia.

No matter what happens, this whole thing will be a mess, but defeating the bill is paramount. Anything less is being party to murder.