If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
This week I talked with filmmaker Tim McCarthy about his new film project, Voices of the Abasiyazzi: Creating Allies, which he's producing with Pepe Julian Onziema. The concept is to film LGBT Ugandans sharing their lives with their clanspeople in their own languages and cultural traditions.
Ellen Chademana was in the worst place you could be in her home country of Zimbabwe: the Harare Central Remand Prison. The rotting jail was dark and overcrowded, with no toilets or running water. Her offense? Her work with Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ).
Ms. Kadaga is wielding the power of the axe. She is stirring this debate intentionally. And she could end it. But does the advancement of Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill or its implementation constitute genocide or a crime against humanity? A strong case can be made that it does.
Flanked by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, pop star Ricky Martin and LGBT rights defenders from around the world, South African hit maker Yvonne Chaka Chaka didn't mince words on Tuesday during a major LGBT rights panel at the UN in honor of Human Rights Day.
I have visited your beautiful country and come to love it deeply. That's why it is hard for me to believe what is happening in your country, under your leadership.
The belligerent rhetoric directed at anyone who does not seem straight is neither innovative nor specific to Uganda. For years politicians and pundits from the U.S. to Malawi have spread the notion that gay people "recruit" children and that pedophilia and homosexuality are linked.
American cities must add refugee assistance to particular city agencies' responsibilities. We cannot simply wait for LGBT asylum seekers to wander into a community center and then scramble to find homestays, food and legal assistance. But community-based groups need to be involved.
About 20 of us splayed out on our backs, simulating death -- the Eiffel Tower a poetic backdrop. We're borrowing an ACT-UP tactic -- the die-in -- but the in-your-face urgency is muted. Where's the outrage? Where's the fear? Where's the media for that matter?
This repressive measure was born out of American Christian fundamentalism and corrupt politicians using anti-gay campaigns to divert attention from their own misrule. But how do these regimes survive? The U.S. government pours billions of your tax dollars into Uganda.
It is incredibly important that news outlets and advocates fighting for the human rights of gays and lesbians see Uganda's so-called "kill the gays" bill before reporting or believing that the bill no longer includes the death penalty. Until we see the bill, we must assume the worst.
First introduced by a member of the Ugandan Parliament in 2009, this hateful bill is a grave threat to LGBT people and organizations in Uganda. It also undermines all in that country who wish to build a robust civil society based on rights.
At noon on Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, human rights activists will hold a peaceful protest outside the Uganda Mission at 336 East 45th Street, to help stop the "kill the gays" bill now topping the Ugandan parliament's agenda thanks to human rights offender Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
Your silence is particularly disturbing given your organization's global influence. You've had a presence in Uganda since 1931. Your words have weight there; it's time you used them. In fact, it's time for you to clearly and publicly condemn the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda.
If the bill passes and American assistance continues to flow into Uganda uninterrupted, it will send a message to Uganda and other anti-gay countries across the globe that American statements of support for LGBT human rights abroad are totally toothless -- mere words.
The bill has been scheduled for an "order of business to follow" and could be voted on this week. It is expected to easily pass, and then it will be up to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to veto the bill. Join All Out and Ugandans by calling for a presidential veto of the bill immediately.
The proposed anti-gay law does not, and should not, define a people. During my past few weeks in Uganda, I engaged as many citizens as possible in conversation about this legislation. Their responses helped contextualize a people that our media paints in only the broadest of strokes.
