Madonna SLAMS Malawi For Sentencing Gay Couple

Madonna has taken to her website to express outrage over a Malawi court ruling that sentenced two engaged men to 14 years of hard labor because homosexuality is illegal in the country.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, and Steven Monjeza, 26, were convicted on charges of gross indecency and unnatural acts after their engagement party last year and their lawyer says they will appeal the conviction.

Madonna writes:

"I am shocked and saddened by the decision made today by the Malawian court, which sentenced two innocent men to prison.

As a matter of principle, I believe in equal rights for all people, no matter what their gender, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation.

Today, Malawi took a giant step backward. The world is filled with pain and suffering; therefore, we must support our basic human right to love and be loved.

I call upon the progressive men and women of Malawi--and around the world--to challenge this decision in the name of human dignity and equal rights for all."

Two of Madonna's children, David Banda and Mercy James, were adopted from Malawi and she runs several orphanages in the country.

Comments

[Nick Bonney]

11:55 PM on 05/27/2010

The golden door of our emotions opens here , We're all virgins to the joys of loving without fear

[WeCanDoMore]

10:49 PM on 05/25/2010

Make noise. This is so wrong. If we don't stop it there, with all the right wing cr@p we have going on here. it could be YOu and it could be YOUR COUTNRY next. Stop the right wingers here. This could well be The Family C Street again, a la Uganda. Those folks are ELECTED U.S. OFFICIALS.

[zest]

10:00 AM on 05/24/2010

I hope Maddona's adoptees don't eventually go all Joan Crawfordee on her.

[Achiemamma]

09:50 PM on 05/23/2010

In a perfect world human rights will always come before political and religious agendas. Each person from a nation that honors human rights has to keep at it each day to make this a possibility and then a reality for everybody everywhere.

[Lifencompass]

01:53 PM on 05/24/2010

This is why we should fight the real battle, Human Rights and put the greed of power through religion and politics last.

[corwin]

09:35 PM on 05/23/2010

That'll show him.He'll think twice before he tries something like that in the future.

[purplefart]

08:35 PM on 05/23/2010

What happened to Madonna's face?????

[holiday2010]

05:19 PM on 05/23/2010

Ok this is going to be a very unpopular opinion but I'll say it and get the backlash!!

In Malawi like many East African countries, homosexuality is not something that is even considered because it is completely alien.

Malawi has very strict decency laws and its laws are a reflection of its society's ways of thinking. Most people keep sex and any kind of sexual behavior private and homosexuality is strictly forbidden.

Look everyone is a product of their society and if this gay couple wanted to be married, they should have done so in private and lived together happily, no one would have even looked up.

Looking at this with a Western eye would result in Madonna's actions being ok however they are not. She has no right to put judgment on a developing country she knows nothing about. Laws are a reflection of society and at this moment in time Malawi's society does not accept homosexuality.

America and many European countries were left to develop their societal values over the years, African countries should be able to do the same and in time the appropriate laws will change.

In America today gay couples can't even get married, lets face our problems before we go batting an eyelid at others.

[verycold]

11:59 PM on 05/23/2010

You make some good points. It is frustrating for me to watch western nations try to get every culture to agree with the one they presently embrace. We are intolerant of those we see as intolerant. Frequently those viewed as intolerant are just publicly embraces all that they know and not trying to be intolerant. We don't all get to the finish line at the same time.

[Emily Walker]

01:39 AM on 05/24/2010

The ironic thing is that many African cultures did not historically condemn homosexuality and it was colonialism and Christianity that imposed the very sodomy laws that are now being used against gay people in most of Africa.

[holiday2010]

02:38 AM on 05/24/2010

I disagree with that. I'm from an African background and most West and East African cultures condemn homosexuality because it is foreign to them. Its almost a phenomenom they have never really been encountered with because they don't understand it. Its got nothing to do with colonialism or Christianity.

[Giveadamn]

09:39 AM on 05/23/2010

Maybe Madonna can adopt the gay couple too!

[holiday2010]

05:52 PM on 05/23/2010

lmao, thats too funny...

[Ken Keough]

01:46 AM on 05/25/2010

hateful and further elucidates my point

[HarmNone]

12:29 AM on 05/23/2010

Bravo, I hope that Madonna is in a position to influence serious changes in Malawi.

[nkadzi]

08:20 AM on 05/24/2010

not under a ray of the African sun!!

[HarmNone]

01:26 PM on 05/24/2010

I certainly hope you are wrong. Considering where the peoples of Africa were before religious intervention and now, I think the people of Africa lost a lot of their culture and humanity. Progress is moving forward in a positive and beneficial path, Denying this couple their freedom on the edict of religion is neither positive nor beneficial.

[zest]

02:29 PM on 05/22/2010

Thanks for speaking out Madonna.

[Chroesus]

01:57 PM on 05/22/2010

I think Madonna has it just right on this one.

[rosegarten]

01:08 PM on 05/22/2010

Madonna has enough of her own problems to be sticking her nose in another country's business a continent away. How more self important can she be?

[rbryanh]

03:19 PM on 05/22/2010

As you apparently have no problems, perhaps you'd like to devote some of your time and resources to caring for children living in poverty. Then Madonna could go back to her own continent and we could accuse you of being self important for giving a tihs about someone other than yourself.

[Evita Luisa]

06:24 PM on 05/22/2010

fanned! so very, indeed. And loved how you got in "that word" -- ingenious!

[MsMarchHare]

01:36 AM on 05/23/2010

There is nothing wrong with using as much influence as you can muster to save 2 innocent men from prison....ever.

[BDinJoburg]

12:38 PM on 05/23/2010

Fanned & Faved

[Loveismreligion]

10:04 AM on 05/22/2010

Americans would like to remake the world in thier image.

[suzy chicago]

12:31 PM on 05/22/2010

hmmmmm. Is she trying to make it like America or just make it better? Freedom to love and be loved kind of says it all IMHO

[nkadzi]

03:25 AM on 05/25/2010

the line between the two is highly blurred

[rbryanh]

03:21 PM on 05/22/2010

I sure would. For example, the part where we don't sentence couples to 10 years hard labor (i.e., torture them to death very slowly) for falling in love.

[MissingAmerica]

09:54 AM on 05/22/2010

My heart goes out to those who make different choices for personal reasons, wherever they may be. What's sad is that when you listen to our politics, in some respects they sound very similar to this third world, obviously inhumane and backward, regime. We can use this as a wake-up call for us or a lesson for the Republicans on new tactics. As we move into more enlightented times, it's sad to still read of such ignorance.

[Evita Luisa]

09:50 AM on 05/22/2010

For the record re: Madonna's commitment to Malawi and to the Adoption of her two children, just read the news. Madonna has spent MILLIONS and, yes, despite some initial resistance to her desire to adopted, close and more distant relatives of Mercy and David are in complete harmony with her commitment to be the parent of these children.
It is now years later, and you Haters and Detractors STILL have nothing good to say?! Remember this: with an adoption huge risks of all kinds are undertaken; the children could turn on her, undermine her, completely -- potentially -- destroy the legacy she has been working all her life to create for future generations. Me thinks Madge is undaunted and knows that in the end, the Good will Overcome.
Too bad some of ya'all just can't see the good for what it is. But that's your problem. The rest of us will keep supporting Madonna....

[Blixa]

02:07 PM on 05/22/2010

There's some weird stuff going on here. Since you use the word "haters," I have a feeling that you will reject this out of hand - but this isn't right.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/05/19/how-madonna-got-one-million-bucks-out-of-amfar
http://www2.kabbalah.com/02.php
http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/madonna-seeks-kabbalah-converts-in-malawian-orphanages/

[Evita Luisa]

02:38 PM on 05/22/2010

Blixa, thank you for the links; yes, I used the word 'haters' to refer to those who dismiss Madonna outright without any consideration for her accomplishments. Is she perfect?, NO! of course not.
I am not surprised to find that she would seek converts to Kabbalah in a country in which, as the third of the three linked-articles indicates, it already counts, among others, the Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Taiwanese Buddhist influences and legacies. Personally, I find nothing wrong with what she is undertaking. And I do not reject your right and correct critiques of her either.
fanned!