Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were found guilty today.
Guilty of what?
The crimes in which they are charged are in direct opposition to the constitution in Malawi, which clearly states "Discrimination of persons in any form is prohibited and all persons are, under any law, guaranteed equal and effective protection against discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, nationality, ethnic or social origin, disability, property, birth or other status"
The courts and the police must follow the law and not their personal beliefs.
According to the National Post, "Prosecutor Barbra Mchenga urged the judge to hand down the maximum sentence, saying: 'The case has left a scar on Malawi's morality. The two did not show any remorse or regret for their actions. They seem to have been very proud of their action.'"
This is not a cause of the day. This is not the cause of the week. This is not trendy.
This is about you and I and how we want our world to be.
Imagine how it would feel to be viewed as abnormal in the eyes of your country and be stripped of your dignity?
Living in the U.S. and being witness to my friends and family who are gay being unable to marry has been both baffling and heartbreaking.
I know that the fetid, cramped conditions in prisons of Malawi are dangerous breeding grounds for a slow death.
This is not justice.
This appeal must and will pave the way for landmark reform.
The constitution must be upheld because the constitution is the truth.
The lawmakers of Malawi need to hear from you. All of you who read my previous post. All of you who wrote comments that have inspired. Please sign this petition so that our voices are heard clearly.
Human Rights activists, International aid agencies please come together as one team, rather than working silos.
I see this picture of these two men listening to the judge's ruling -- their faces are outlined with exhaustion.
No one should have to endure this.
The only thing that makes me smile this morning is that both Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga have pride in standing up for what they know is true.
Love. Love. Love.
Rev. Dr. Cindi Love: Uganda, Gay Rights and the Mandates of Compassion
After that consider (if small negotiations do not work) and ALL OR NOTHING trading and aid policy with Malawi. If the US Government gives aid or trade using US tax dollars (not private funding) to Malawi, the country must honor its own anti discrimination policies and that of the UN for ALL OF ITS CITIZENS or there will be NOTHING in the way of monetary exchange.
As Malawi considers its future with regard to the international human rights community All LGBT people incarcerated should be placed under house detention and released from prison until they are free. If there is no home to return to then a safe house should be provided with international observers in place.
These men have a family much greater than the birth families they have in their own country. We are a world family. We come from all countries, speak all languages, cross all racial and class and gender lines.
Sadly this is the same fight we have been fighting for generations. On a positive note there are more of us to fight against this type of human rights abuse.
Malawi will not be the "Warm Heat of Africa" until her people are free.
What good is the education of a countries leaders if they have lost their humanity?
Please free these men.
Thank you again, Mia, for your enlightening efforts.
You do not tell Africans how to rule their land. How will you like it if petitions are held in Europe or Africa on say the Arizona law? Won't you call it intrusive. Such rank arrogance. Sit down and face your economic meltdown. What happens to two homosexuals in Africa is very low in the scheme of things.
How about promoting fair trade? Fair trade builds middle class who get informed and make decisions that are "democratic". I don't see you petitioning unfair trade. You are simply a liberal wing of a neo-colonialist philosophy.
As a moderator, might I ask you the last time you posted any news on Africa. Like for instance http://www.sacca.biz/?m=4&idkey=738 in which 15 of the 20 Fastest Growing Economies in 2009 was in Africa. Time after time, however, the pattern in the "moderation" of news when it comes to Africa is to overhype and present scenes of hopelessness and desperation. Has it occured that in the age of internet the control of flow of ideas is a thing of the past? That holding on to beliefs of how we wish to world be informed can no longer be sustained.
I post here merely to provide the view of an African. Regardless of their "noble" causes, again "noble" defined from the context of their own Western society, Africans can think for themselves.
I could go for it, but I don't think such laws will be given as much a forum
You have to stand up and say something when it is wrong and this ruling is wrong in a very big way. It will not help Malawi as people will stop giving it financial aid. I'd rather steer it directly to Tanzania where the laws of the land are not as screwed up as Malawi.
Malawi will reap what she sows.
China Builds infrastructure: (Where is the West's aid?)
http://malawidigest.blogspot.com/2009/12/dr-mutharika-praises-china-on-projects.html
China invests in cotton: (Where is the West's aid?)
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_message/22022
China provides aid and investment: (Where is the West's aid?)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42521
I want to sign a petition and the one linked in this article has been closed to new signatures.
I have checked on Amnesty International and the Human Rights Campaign and can't find any petitions or campaigns to help save this couple from prison.
We all must do something.
Can someone please post a link to any known campaigns so I and other readers can put our names to something that can end this outrage.
Thank you.
Trevor
And how can America, in its institutionalized anti-gay fervor, criticize a country for placing their own barbaric spin on the same anti-gay laws we have right here in the U.S.???
Yes the west has plenty of flaws, but we do not throw peaceloving people in jail for what they do in the bedroom. If I were a Malawian, I would be so ashamed of what is otherwise a lovely country.