Malawi Police Arrest 2 Men For Engagement Ceremony

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — Officials in Malawi say they have arrested two men for celebrating their engagement to each other in the conservative southern African country.

Attorney General Jane Ansah says the men were charged with indecency. Those convicted under the law can get five to 14 years in jail. Police say Blantyre residents Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested Monday after their engagement ceremony the previous Saturday, which attracted many onlookers. Human rights activist Gift Trapence says they will appear in court on Monday and that his group will attempt to seek bail before that.

In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage. Uganda will soon debate a proposed law that would impose the death penalty on some gays.

Comments

[Starlight19]

01:28 AM on 12/30/2009

This is the sort of thing that anti-gay marriage religious fanatics would like to see in the United States. The republican party tried to add a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in every state, and there are those who are so homophobic they'd like to criminalize being gay by any means necessary. This sort of violence is the reason LGBT people need and deserve legal protection from bigots and bashers.

[GayIthacan]

09:06 PM on 12/29/2009

Yet another completely inaccurate headline from HuffPost - the new Queen of Disinformation and Factual Errors.

[Scott Wolfe]

06:29 PM on 12/29/2009

"Officials in Malawi say they have arrested two men for celebrating their engagement to each other in the conservative southern African country."

The ruling party in Malawi is the "Democratic Progressive Party"..........?

[MarkInIrvine]

07:08 PM on 12/29/2009

How about the "Undemocratic Repressive Party" ...

[Scott Wolfe]

08:38 PM on 12/29/2009

No kidding. But, that does not explain the fact that this "conservative southern African country" is ruled by forces that may well be deemed "liberal" in American politics.

[RLaitres]

08:17 PM on 12/29/2009

Oh, come now! Do you people even know what 'democracy" is? It is just a method of voting (a process). It says absolutely noting about what one is voting for, be it in this country or in others. The Germans used "democracy" under Hitler, the Russians and the Chinese under Mao. People should get an education and stop attempting to use words they really do not understand, but which they use for emotional content alone.

[hallowellboy]

06:07 PM on 12/29/2009

Uganda, Egypt, Malawi terrorizing their Gay citizens. Where is the world outrage? Why aren't leaders speaking out? We've already written off the Obama Administration because of their hypocrisy and lack of support on Gay civil rights issues. This sad state of world affairs is reminiscent of the silence of the Reagan Administration in the early AIDS crisis. Many died through ignorance and inaction then as well. We will choose our leaders more carefully in the future.

[Kingstone]

05:56 PM on 12/29/2009

What is savage here? Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries are conservatives too. They do not accept it, are they savage?

[MarkInIrvine]

07:09 PM on 12/29/2009

Um ... yup!

[Liberal Angel]

01:19 PM on 12/30/2009

Yes they are.

[musicbreath]

05:52 PM on 12/29/2009

It's a race to see which will kill our species first - the planet, or religion.

[Usama]

06:15 PM on 12/29/2009

There's a clash of cultures between the West and Africa because the West has sustained and thrived from the exploitation and manipulation of African nations, and most Africans know this. Hence, the Western propagation of its culture to the rest of the world weakens in the face of the glaring realities of obscene disparity of wealth, resources, power. When Bill Gates control more assets than the governments of dozens of African nations combined, it shows Africa that America and the West do NOT have the moral superiority to preach and dictate to Africa. Instead, Africa seeks reasonable economic opportunities for its self sufficiency and development, NOT cultural preaching. Thus, while Western nations get hung up on gay rights in a tiny nation like Malawi, China signs major contracts for billions to build Africa's infrastructure. Where will this trend take the West? Uganda may change its capital punishment law under pressure from Western politics, but it be reluctant to work with America if other opportunities arise. And currently. EU and American firms are vying with China for Central African resources. China avoids dictating cultural and moral standards to its partners and African nations are quite aware of this. To date, there is still no host nation for the DOD's AFRICOM headquarters.

[ramal]

05:02 PM on 12/29/2009

Another third world hell-hole looking for a scapegoat. Recall the American Ambassdor.

[Justin Raphael Roykovich]

04:58 PM on 12/29/2009

Where's Madonna when we really need her?!

[oceanofconsciousness]

06:47 PM on 12/29/2009

That made me laugh so hard. And it's probably true as well! Doesn't she have influence there?

[Justin Raphael Roykovich]

01:39 AM on 12/30/2009

She should! She's had enough influence to bend court jurisdiction for adopting 2 children, why not using the same influence for social issues? Especially social issues that pertain to a significant part of her fan base.

[fouchnickens]

04:31 PM on 12/29/2009

I guess none of the previous posters are particularly interested in the amount of money sent to African nations by right-wing westerners quite determined to spread their brand of conservative Christianity world-wide (often through government channels, a la The Family). Sure it isn't the US Fruit Company (now absorbed into Chiquita, which has happily been keeping bananas on the tables of Americans by serving up the blood of agricultural workers who complain about working conditions), but the point is most people are led to believe this is simply a social issue, when social control undergirds vast amounts of corruption and resource abuse by those in power.

Yes, I guess it is easier to utilize the old racist stereotypes to decry human rights abuses which resonate personally to the poster, rather than take a sober look at how our civilized, shiny beacons of society often pay for such inhumanity so that raw materials to sustain such pinions of humanity can be gotten at cheap prices.

[afrographia]

05:46 PM on 12/29/2009

Thank you for this... an increasing number of posters here have the intelligence of a squash, and the social justice sensitivities of, I dunno, Strom Thurmond.

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

06:28 PM on 12/29/2009

from the social justice sensibility of, i dunno, Dan White

[Ergon]

07:33 PM on 12/29/2009

Notice how 'liberal' types only play to gender prejudices and not address underlying resource and geo-political issues?

[KIVPossum]

02:12 AM on 12/30/2009

Easier to maintain your rage that way. Progressives do it, conservative do it. Why think about the entire picture when a snippet will give you your minimum daily requirement of outrage.

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

04:08 PM on 12/29/2009

The continent of Africa, outside South Africa (which still has misogyny issues) can drop off the planet fer all I care. NOT A DIME OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

[MarkBoston]

03:52 PM on 12/29/2009

Africa can just never crawl out of the 2nd century ... It's all based on religious fanaticism and superstition .. least we forget , lack of any real education.

[MsLiz]

04:17 PM on 12/29/2009

Have you ever met an African, or do you just look at pictures in National Geographic?

[mamapanya]

01:48 AM on 12/30/2009

MarkBoston:

I could find 10 Africans on a major street in Africa today that are more educated than 20 Americans in any given state - they would probably know who their Vice President was way sooner than any of those Americans. Don't let your ignorance precede you!

[KIVPossum]

02:14 AM on 12/30/2009

Americans don't seem to understand that. The average person in most countries knows more about their nation's politics than the average American. In fact, the average person on the street in most countries knows more about American politics that the average American.

[Steamboater]

03:39 PM on 12/29/2009

Africa is getting more savage while the rest of world gets more tolerant. Egypt too arrests Gays and jails them just because they're Gay.

[MsLiz]

04:18 PM on 12/29/2009

Africa is a huge continent.

[MrVinegar]

04:29 PM on 12/29/2009

Thanks for clearing that up.

[ramal]

05:03 PM on 12/29/2009

I would rephrase that to "huge cesspool."

[arlandbaee]

07:41 PM on 12/29/2009

Yeah, America is not savage. We have two current wars waging but we're not savages at all.