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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 7:53:07 GMT 3
We've heard what Ruto has to say regarding LGBTI communities. His views include [and are not limited to] utter disdain. What does Uhuru Kenyatta have to say on the matters touching on the rights and freedooms of human beings around their rights to self-determination with regards to gender identity and sexual orientation? AND, I'd very much like to know where Margarete Kenyatta stands on these issues. China won't care. Homosexuality is legal there. Western countries won't either. From Oslo to Dick Cheney, homophobia is quickly becoming so yesterday. That should help somewhat in helping ensure that you take a more progressive stance than the one publicly taken by Ruto which he chose to do within the context of religiosity. Just a couple of weeks ago LGBTI communities and supporters, were out on the streets of Nairobi marching to remind the government and the people of Kenya of our existence and our willingness to work towards acheiving a more just Kenyan society free from homophobic and transphobic discrimination and it's concomittant oppressions. This past week we've seen and heard Audrey Mbugua stand up publicly to be counted, working on the frontlines, putting herself out there, at great cost. Will you support these communities in their struggles or will you distance yourselves from them and shun them as outsiders unworthy of your recognition; in efforts to appease homophobic forces in the country? FRIDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2013
GAY and LESBIAN community Letter to UHURU KENYATTA and WILLIAM RUTO
I want to bring to your attention the remarks that Mr William Samoei Ruto, the former MP for Eldoret North and current running mate of Jubilee Alliance (headed byMr Uhuru Kenyatta). Mr Ruto, in a televised debate - of running mates/deputy presidents designates - aired on all Christian TV and radio stations, as well as the national broadcaster, KBC, uttered the following remarks: 'Homosexuals and dogs are from the same school.'
In addition to Mr Ruto, the other running mates all uttered negative, stereotypical and inflammatory remarks about gay and lesbian Kenyans.
The utterances by Mr Ruto amount to hate speech and inflammatory language designed to incite and provoke backlash and violence against homosexuals.
His use of the word 'dog' is tantamount genocidal lingo as even Kenyans who dislike or disapprove of LGBT people should be alarmed and disgusted by Ruto's comments.
If a politician can dehumanize ANY segment of the population using epithets like "dog" (cp. the use of "cockroaches" In Rwanda in 1994), it means he is capable of genocide against any group he decides to hate.
The remarks have not been taken lightly. We feel that if there is continued ostracization and fencing of the community or any coded attacks on any Kenyan's particular identity or orientation is tantamount to hate speech and vile language. it is more so serious if the same is said or uttered or done by a political leader.
I call to your attention the volatile and sensitive issue of marking out (any) community at this time of elections and how this can lead to nasty consequences.
The LGBT community is in danger over his remarks and we urge NCIC to immediately and without delay initiate investigations into the remarks (and there is evidenciary proof of the same to back up the charge) and lead to prosecution of Mr Ruto.
We have likewise written to the political party/coalition that Mr Ruto is affiliated to and pressed our concerns. We have also demanded a retraction and an apology from Mr Ruto.
We hope to hear from you on this grave matter in the earliest time possible.
Denis Nzioka, Gay Kenyan, activist and Voter Feb 15, 2013 +254722828166kenyanexpress.blogspot.ca/2013/02/gay-and-lesbian-community-letter-to.html
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Post by Onyango Oloo on Jun 15, 2013 17:45:04 GMT 3
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Post by jakaswanga on Jun 16, 2013 16:48:42 GMT 3
Say it loud! Am Jaluo, gay and Proud!www.kenyan-post.com/2013/06/luo-nyanza-leads-with-highest-number-of.html?showComment=1371200471795THEN THE STANDARD CAME UP WITH THIS DISCLAIMER TO SPOIL THE PARTY! 1. was this research ever conducted? [may be it was an attempt to attract 'donor funds' to Nyanza! 2. where did the original figures come from? [may be they were cooked in an office in a PR-buro] 3. So we Jaluos are not the hottest boy-'cants' in Kenya? who is? our perennial rivals the Kikuyus, or our nemesis, the Kalenjins? [I want to run a gay-touring agency from Scandinavia, I just want to know where the market is. --No ethnic bias, just money. So please some truthful data would be appreciated. Which tribe has the sexiest men selling the juiciest arzes? ---Not all of us are into dog-porn with German shepperds you know! Let Mombasa be the monopolist in that line! Anybody from Maseno University to shed light on the state of homosexuality in Nyanza? Or it does not exist? ---that would be too bad, in the sense of 'donor funds' that shall go elsewhere!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 4:45:15 GMT 3
Justice Mumbi Ngugi made intelligible comments regarding the role of the police; making clear the ways in which they violated the rights of the plaintif in this case Alexander Ngungu Nthungi Second Kenyan transgender wins case
By PAUL OGEMBA | Thursday, June 20 2013 at 11:30
I am not ashamed to be a woman! Those were Alexander Ngungu Nthungi’s words after Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi of the Kenyan High Court declared that police violated his rights and dignity by stripping him naked to ascertain his sexual identity.
“The judgment has given me renewed hope; I will no longer have the fear of being a woman. Now I am free and I feel those like me having transgender problems should come out and fight for their rights,” said Nthungi during an interview with Kenya's Nation newspaper on Wednesday.
By his side was Andrew Mbugua, who has been engaged in a running legal battle to be officially recognised as a woman and be known as Audrey Mbugua.
The two embraced and celebrated in what they termed a victory and a light at the end of the tunnel for people with gender identity disorder.
“It is a warning to people that the dignity of transgender individuals has to be respected and that whatever one decides to wear cannot be a justification for humiliating the person,” Audrey said.
A time has come, Audrey said, for people with gender identity disorder to be honest with themselves, fight for their rights and stop thinking of discrimination or contemplating suicide.
Justice Mumbi Ngugi declared that officers at the Thika Police Station near Nairobi violated Nthungi’s rights and dignity and awarded him Sh200,000 compensation.
She said the police did not have the powers to strip him to ascertain his gender and that the best they could do was to refer him to a medical doctor for assessment. She ruled that by subjecting him to a search, the police had an intention of humiliating him because he was dressed like a woman and it was unlawful to strip him.
She ruled that whatever Nthungi’s choice was in relation to his mode of dressing and regardless of the fact that he perceived himself as a woman, he still retained his inherent worth and dignity to which all humans are entitled.
In January 2011, Nthungi was at work in his grocery shop in Thika town, dressed like a woman when he was arrested and taken to the police station for questioning over claims of assaulting another woman.
While at the station and in the full glare of the media, an officer stripped him naked claiming they wished to identify his gender.
Stigma and ridicule
Despite what he went through, Nthungi on Wednesday said he would no longer be stressed by the events of that ill-fated day although he suffered stigma and ridicule from neighbours.
“I always feel more of a woman than a man. At times it used to affect me and I had to skip my business due to the discrimination,” Nthungi said. “I am happy my family understands me and they have accepted me as I am.”
Audrey has started a lobby group to advocate for the rights of transgender persons, which is at an advanced stage of registration with the NGO board.
Another transgender victim, Audrey decided to form the Transgender Education and Advocacy lobby group after hearing first-hand accounts of people going through the trauma of trying to change their sexual identity.
“We currently have over 40 members across the country,” Audrey said. “Our mission is to reduce the stigma and tell the transgender victims that we are stronger together”.
On the outcome of Nthungi’s case, Audrey said: “Although we are happy about the judgment, the judge should have compelled the police to offer a public apology. Sometimes it’s not about being compensated with money but being recognised as human.”
Audrey disagreed with some religious leaders’ opinion that they were interfering with God’s intention of creating them male, saying, there was nothing wrong with changing their names or dressing in any mode of their choice.
Their lawyer, Mr Daniel Wokabi, said transgender persons should be classified as “a special need group” so that their rights to dignity are respected.
“Issues of transgender ought to be dealt with a lot of caution and restraint. They are human and people should appreciate the pain they undergo in trying to identify with another gender,” Mr Wokabi said.
The Constitution, he said, recognises the rights and dignity of such people.
He urged individuals having the same problem to come out in the open to have the issues resolved in line with the Constitution without fear of public ridicule.www.africareview.com/News/Second-Kenyan-transgender-wins-case/-/979180/1889050/-/ms4862/-/index.html
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 5:09:23 GMT 3
Then, enter this gibberish from Charles Kanjama. The man loves the word dystopia. And yes I'll admit that as i often do, I had to use the dictionary to look up the word. Quite the contrast to our omwenga who never sees need to use one. Anyways, *sigh* I was talking about some gibberish that I just read. Kajama endeavours to convince us that recognizing the rights of the LGBTI people somehow diminishes those of the hetrosexual and cisgender worlds. He fails miserably. How do these people get published in the local dailies again? Read for yourself. The end result of dystopian rights is mass suicide. It makes sense to oppose their agenda to protect life now and in future
Updated Saturday, June 22nd 2013 at 21:09 GMT +3
By Charles Kanjama
My favourite modern thinker, G.K. Chesterton, once noted, “When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.” This means stifling restraints. Utopian literature tries to avoid the small laws by exploring the human state of blissful existence, and thus ideal society. Utopian literature takes its name from Thomas Moore’s Utopia, and includes Plato’s The Republic, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Samuel Butler’s Erewhon and HG Wells’s Men like Gods.
In contrast, some authors have done a great service to humanity by writing dystopian literature. This literature explores future society after human development results in loss of human values like freedom, trust and co-operation. Notable dystopian literature includes George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Suzanne Collins’, The Hunger Games.
True dystopia is the result of an attempt at utopia gone bad. The first real Utopian narrative is the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, mirrored in other ancient origin literature from Mesopotamia. And the first truly dystopian literature is found in the story of the fall in Genesis, Chapter 3. The utopian/dystopian approach can expose the apparent promise and grave danger of the LGBTI movement, not just the lesbians and gays, but also the bisexual, transgender and intersex component, which targets the notion of stable sexual identity.
The LGBTI movement appeals strongly for tolerance, a quality that seems much in demand in the modern world. Shouldn’t a mature society allow human beings to adopt the sexual and gender identity of their choice, without forcing them into ironclad social categories that cause them harm? Isn’t an individual’s choice of sexual identity morally neutral? This is the appeal of Kenya’s transgender movement, promoted by the personal story of Andrew Mbugua who has opted to become Audrey. Shouldn’t society oblige?
Luckily we don’t need dystopian literature to explore the future of a transgendered society. We can simply observe what’s happening in the American State of Massachusetts. Adam MacLeod, writing recently in The Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse, explains the endgame of transgendered society in his article, “Sky Fall: Gender Ideology comes to the Schoolhouse.”
MacLeod narrates, “Two years ago, the Massachusetts legislature enacted a statute prohibiting, among other things, discrimination in public schools on the basis of ‘gender identity’. The law defines gender identity as ‘a person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behaviour’, (unrelated to) ‘the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth’. On the basis of that statute, the Department of Education has now eradicated sexual distinctions from public schools.” And so the chickens come home to roost. Once sexual difference is treated as irrelevant to marriage or sex, then nothing is left to halt the slippery slope that compels us all to ignore sexual differences in any personal or social reality. Once the LGBTI individual successfully asserts a legal right to that identity, everyone else in society bears increasingly onerous duties to them, which results in a growing loss of personal, family and social liberty. Thus, the LGBTI lobby is a threat to you, your family, your work and your society.
The moment we ignore the biblical admonition, “male and female he created them”, together with its genetic, anatomical, psychological, spiritual and societal manifestations; at that moment we enter, not a utopia of liberty, but the dystopian society Chesterton warns about: the brave new world, 1984, the world of the small laws, small but endless, endless and suffocating, in which the minority, the exception, gets to rule over us all.
This is the antithesis of democracy, and yet it is neither mob rule nor autocracy. The end result of dystopian rights is mass suicide. So it makes sense to oppose the LGBTI agenda, not because we hate the individuals espousing it before us, but because we love the families we are protecting behind us.www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000086574&story_title=the-end-result-of-dystopian-rights-is-mass-suicide-it-makes-sense-to-oppose-their-agenda-to-protect-life-now-and-in-future&pageNo=1
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 5:24:53 GMT 3
For those of you who actually want to educate yourselves on transgender people, people who are gender non-conforming, then listen up. If you are the other sort of person, who wants to wallow in ignorance, then stay where you are so long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Also do us a favor and at least don't display your ignorance in public like Kajama.
Former Navy Seal, Kristin Beck comes out as a transgender
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2013 2:41:20 GMT 3
By MACHUA KOINANGEKenya: Stakeholders will hold a meeting next week to develop guidelines on sex change operations, Medical Practioners and Dentist board CEO Daniel Yumbya has revealed.
The Wednesday meeting will constitute a technical working committee to help the board draw up guidelines to be forwarded to the Attorney General’s office. Currently, doctors are prohibited from performing gender change operations.
The Medical Board Code of Professional Conduct and Discipline states: “Gender reassignment is not permitted on demand. The specialist attending to the patient with gender problems shall constitute a team of specialists whose decision would be based on anatomical and special needs of the patients but whose decisions must be based on the right to health and other fundamental rights in the Constitution.”
Representatives from the Kenya Psychiatric Association, the transgender community, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Psychiatric Association, Law Society of Kenya and the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights, National Christian Council of Kenya (NCCK) and Supkem among others, will be at the meeting.
Dr Yumbya also warned a doctor who performs a sex change operation would lose his practising licence.
“Cap two of our medical code of ethics prohibits gender re-assignment. Gender operation is not permitted on demand,” he said.
The board wrote to the stakeholders in October last year inviting proposals on guidelines to be forwarded to the AG with a view to clear the air over the way people with Gender Identity Disorder are treated by the medical profession.
Legal operation?
Yumbya said while some stakeholders have come with suggestions on the subject, others have not.
But Trans-gender Education and Advocacy (TEA) programme Director Audrey Mbugua, who has spent the last four years trying to have a gender change operation, says the board and Government are moving slowly to address the needs of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) victims.
“TEA had made contributions to various Government organs on the issues. Most of them do not take us seriously. We want all the bills and laws touching on GID passing through the CIC to be vetted by stakeholders and members of the public,” she says.
Hope for gender disorder victims as stakeholders meet
here are many issues that worry Mbugua, including that no GID victims can legally have an operation in Kenya. What’s more, GID is classified as a mental health issue, which means many victims are referred to Mathari Mental Hospital for help.
But sources said staff at Mathari are not trained or prepared to deal with GID. Beyond prescribing depression pills, many victims leave the hospital without a longterm solution.
Said Mbugua: “For the last 4 years, we have requested the Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board to recognise there was Gender Identity Disordes in Kenya and there was a need to create medical guidelines for treatment of transsexuals to stem hostility and ad hocism in the provision of its treatment. The Medical Board took up the initiative and on the October 17 last year, the Government requested for contributions from various stakeholders to feed into the guidelines.”www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000085323&story_title=hope-for-gender-disorder-victims-as-stakeholders-meet&pageNo=1
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2013 1:53:00 GMT 3
Pride is upon us. Happy Pride celebrations to all LGBTI peeps out there. Today we had an international victory at the US Supreme Court. Keep your eyes on the prize, times they are a changing. www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/us-supreme-court-due-to-set-legal-course-on-gay-marriage/article12821679/Great song here from Macklemoresad yet defiant song by Frank Ocean who came out of the closet earler this year. Frank Ocean is better known for this song Last but not least, encore on this lady gaga song brought to us by a little person, about which her mother comments. "This video is much bigger than a young girl singing a pop song. This is my daughter learning to accept others and herself, stand in the face of adversity, and understand that we were all "born this way".
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Post by jakaswanga on Jul 3, 2013 19:55:07 GMT 3
www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Ruto-to-Obama-Respect-our-culture/-/1064/1900204/-/13m39bpz/-/index.html Who amongst thee, will stand and say with authority, that Kenyan's culture condemn same sex marriages? And if the god in question is the Christian one, I would hardly be convinced of referencing him/her or the holy book as Kenyan's culture! We are a 'God' fearing nation yes, but I must say Nairobi is also a den of enjoying the most insane of debaucheries known to man! The things dogs do in bedroom in Kenya! only cameras can tell!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2013 2:45:10 GMT 3
Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered For Role in March on Washington, Mentoring MLKRustin was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and introduced him to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. Rustin helped King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Six years later, he was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, rallying hundreds of thousands of people for economic justice, full employment, voting rights and equal opportunity. "Rustin was one of the most important social justice activists in the U.S. in the 20th century," says John D’Emilio, author of "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin." www.democracynow.org/2013/8/12/black_gay_and_a_pacifist_bayard
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2013 3:19:47 GMT 3
"Who was Alan Turing?
Founder of computer science, mathematician, philosopher, codebreaker, strange visionary and a gay man before his time:"
The Strange Life and Death of Dr. Alan Turing parts 1 and 2
Breaking the Code: Biography of Alan Turing (Derek Jacobi, BBC, 19
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2013 3:51:33 GMT 3
Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered For Role in March on Washington, Mentoring MLKRustin was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and introduced him to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. Rustin helped King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Six years later, he was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, rallying hundreds of thousands of people for economic justice, full employment, voting rights and equal opportunity. "Rustin was one of the most important social justice activists in the U.S. in the 20th century," says John D’Emilio, author of "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin." www.democracynow.org/2013/8/12/black_gay_and_a_pacifist_bayard This Black, Gay, Badass Pacifist Mastermind of the March on Washington Is Finally Getting His Due—By Lauren Williams| Tue Aug. 27, 2013 1:42 PM PDT Bayard Rustin was for years one of the least known and celebrated major players in the civil rights movement. Now Martin Luther King Jr.'s trusted adviser—the black, gay, "badass" pacifist who organized the March on Washington—is finally getting his due 50 years after the landmark demonstration. Rustin, born in Pennsylvania in 1912 and raised by his grandfather and his Quaker grandmother—who, along with Mahatma Gandhi, influenced his philosophy of pacifism—had his hand in several major moments in a fight for equality that would span his entire life. He helped organize and participated in the first freedom ride, 1947’s "Journey of Reconciliation" (for which he and several other participants were jailed and put in a chain gang). In the 1950s, he advised, strategized, and raised money behind the scenes for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, helping to direct King's rise to national prominence. He's also credited with honing the King's nonviolent strategy. Later, Rustin was the mastermind of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (now simply known as the March on Washington), organizing it in just two months. But Rustin was kept in the shadows by the homophobia of both his enemies (segregationist Strom Thurmond used Rustin's sexuality to denigrate the movement) and his allies. "We must look back with sadness at the barriers of bigotry built around his sexuality," NAACP Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond, who knew and worked with Rustin, wrote in the forward for 2012's I Must Resist, a book of Rustin's letters. "We are the poorer for it." Although prejudice kept Rustin behind the scenes—and out of history books—his name is finally making headlines. In March, President Obama awarded Rustin, who died in 1987, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The National Black Justice Coalition, a black LGBT civil rights organization, launched a movement to celebrate Rustin on what would have been his 100th birthday in 2012 and created the Bayard Rustin 2013 Commemorative Project, which highlights his contributions to the March on Washington. Michael G. Long, who edited I Must Resist, tells Mother Jones the accolades are long overdue. "Rustin is finally emerging out of the shadows," he says. "This is a man who labored for decades behind the scenes. And he labored there willingly, but he was also pushed there and kept there and confined there by civil rights leaders." Rustin should be remembered not just for his fight for racial equality, which was accompanied by a quest for economic justice, but also his unflinching participation in the fight for gay rights. In a 1986 speech he advocated for a change in civil rights activism: "The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people." Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, told USA Today this month that her organization is "advocating the preservation of his legacy by removing the barriers that didn't allow society to get to know all of Bayard Rustin. His legacy deserves its due." "I hope that Bayard can bask in the daylight for decades and centuries to come and that we'll finally see his name in history books in high school and elementary school," Long says. "I hope that every elementary school student will come to know that Bayard Rustin was the man who organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in eight short weeks." www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/bayard-rustin-march-washington-50th-anniversary
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 4:15:25 GMT 3
Gay community should be brave enough to fight for their rights - Saturday, September 28, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY BRENDA OKOTH Geographically and economically, it would be very difficult to draw any similarities among Russia, China, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Yemen and Botswana. That is until you look at their laws and policies in regard to matters affecting minority groups, in particular those of the LGBT community. Most of these countries are very retrograde when it comes to their human rights and with the current wave of global anti-Westernism things have only gotten worse for them. For these countries, this is not a human rights issue; it is a religious and cultural issue and thus homosexuality is viewed in one way or another as an aberration. In Russia, news anchor Dmitry Kiselev on a show broadcast in April 2012 but posted on YouTube with English sub-titles last month said: “I believe that imposing fines on gays for homosexual propaganda to minors is insufficient. They should be prohibited from donating blood, sperm and, in the case of a road accident; their hearts should be either buried or burned as unsuitable for the prolongation of life.” A year after his broadcast, the Russian Parliament, the Duma, banned distributing “gay propaganda” to minors. The law’s broad definition of “propaganda” prohibits publicly discussing gay relationships, comparing them to heterosexual ones, or calling them “normal”, thus effectively criminalising the social acceptance of gays. Violations will be punishable by hefty fines and, for foreigners, potential imprisonment. In Yemen being gay is punishable by death and the government’s position is that “there are no gays in Yemen”. In Nigeria same sex relationships are illegal and the maximum punishment in the 12 northern states that have adopted Shari’a law is death by stoning. In southern Nigeria and under the secular criminal laws of northern Nigeria, the maximum punishment for same- sex sexual activity is 14 years’ imprisonment. Legislation is pending to criminalise same-sex marriage throughout the country. In Uganda, same sex unions are punishable with jail term ranging between 14 years to life imprisonment. The proposed law in a particular clause states that anyone, including family members of LGBT people, can be prosecuted for not notifying authorities within 24 hours if they know someone who is gay, with sentences of up to three years in prison. Another clause states that Ugandan citizens birds”. “If you take men and lock them in a house for five years and tell them to come up with two children and they fail to do that, then we will chop off their heads,” Mugabe said. Mugabe accused some African countries who accepted the practice of succumbing to European countries in exchange for aid. “This thing (homosexuality) seeks to destroy our lineage,” he said. Closer home, in July this year, Eric Gitari the director of The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission began a lobby group on Charge.org to get enough signatures to prompt the NGO Co-ordination Board and The Government of Kenya to register them. However, their efforts came to naught. In a post a few weeks later, Eric said, “The Government of Kenya sent me a letter explaining why they will not register the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The reasons are: 1) gay and lesbian liaisons are criminalised in section 162 of the Penal Code. 2) the words gay and lesbian are repugnant and undesirable . 3) the constitution of Kenya has no mention of sexual orientation as a protected ground from discrimination and; 4) same sex marriages are illegal in Kenya. After months of exchanging fiery letters, they told me last week that the constitutional court doors are open - which is where I am heading today to file a suit under the freedom of association. I am implementing the constitution we voted for in 2010.” The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission was not the only minority group not registered. Also affected were the Transgender Education and Advocacy group and reportedly the Kenya Sex Workers group. It opens the doors for those who are already inclined to persecute such minorities, to do so with a vengeance, secure in the knowledge that they will get away with their acts of persecution. A classic example is Pastor Scott Lively. He is known for his views about the evils of homosexuality, from re-purposing the old canard that to be gay is to be a pedophile, to his original and truly deranged claim that it was homosexuals who caused the Holocaust. He was one of the keynote speakers at an anti-gay conference in 2009 that eventually led to the drafting of Uganda’s so-called ‘Kill the Gays’ bill. He is currently being tried in people is precisely what qualifies them as a distinct targeted group eligible for protection under international law. The fact that a group continues to be vulnerable to widespread, systematic persecution in some parts of the world simply cannot shield one who commits a crime against humanity from liability.” The members of the LGBTI community need to be brave enough to come forward and fight for their rights. They need to bring up the issue with the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare so that they can bring the issue for debate in the House. For ultimately, their only security lies in legislation dedicated to securing their human rights. Tolerance may be what they most require from the rest of us who are heterosexual; but if they are to be spared from the kind of persecution we have witnessed in Russia and in Uganda, then there must be legislation as well. For tolerance can be given or withheld at will. But human rights supported by legislation can be enforced under the law. It might seem like they are grasping at straws but it was the same case with the Sexual Offences Act and the Children’s Act that both faced a lot of criticism and opposition before being made law. In the words of Martin Luther King Junior, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals”. Thus as the media alongside human rights group we can advocate for equality but the members of the LGBTI community must advocate for legislation that will protect them as a minority. Brenda Okoth is The Features Deputy at The Star and a 2013 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards finalist www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-137678/gay-community-should-be-brave-enough-fight-their-rights
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2013 5:09:57 GMT 3
GOVERNMENT SUED FOR FAILING TO REGISTER GAY ASSOCIATION 30 Oct 2013 BY PAMELA CHEPKEMEI Nairobi, Kenya: The Government has been sued for refusing to register a Non-Governmental Organisation to cater for the interests of gays and lesbians in Kenya. The case has been lodged at the High Court in Nairobi by a lawyer, Eric Gitari who is accusing the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordination Board of refusing to accept his application for registration. The lawyer who says has been championing the rights of gays, lesbians, and transgender people since 2010, wants the court to compel the NGO Board to facilitate the registration of the lobby. Gitari has asked the court to issue an order declaring that the NGO Board and the Attorney General have contravened the Constitution in failing to accord just and fair treatment to gay and lesbian people in Kenya. He accuses the Board of discriminating against lesbians and gays contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. High Court Judge, Isaac Lenaola on Wednesday directed the NGO Board and the AG to file their responses within 21 days. The court will give directions on the hearing on December 2. Gitari says he forwarded three names to the NGO Board but they were rejected. He was informed that the names are no acceptable and he has to review them. He proposed three names, National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, National Coalition of Gays and Lesbians in Kenya, and National Gay and Lesbian Human rights Association. The reason given by the NGO Board, was that the names were not acceptable because the penal code under Section 12 criminalises gay and lesbian liaisons. Gitari says he made it clear to the NGO Board that the lobby was not intended to further criminalised activities of gay persons as stipulated in the penal code but was intended for purposes of furthering the wellbeing of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender groups who are a minority group in Kenya. Despite the letter clarifying the issues, Gitari says the NGO Board has refused to approve the names he forwarded. Gitari contends that he sought to exercise his constitutional right as established under Article 36 by way of forming an NGO to enable him address the plight of homosexuals ‘ bisexuals and transgender persons in the society. He argues that the lobby should be registered because the Constitution provides that the State shall not discriminate directly or indirectly against any person on any ground including sex. www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/?articleID=2000096555&story_title=Government-sued-for-failing-to-register-gay-association
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2013 5:32:42 GMT 3
Born Again in the United States of Uganda is the story of how well financed U.S. evangelicals, fundamentalists & neo conservatives conspired in the incitement of hatred against gays & how this led to the introduction of the ‘Kill the Gays’ bill to Uganda’s parliament. (See below for more information on the bill)
Published on Oct 15, 2013
Human Rights First and Global Justice Ministry held a conversation with Eric Gitari, a human rights activist from Kenya. The briefing focused on Eric's efforts to repeal the current criminalization laws affecting LGBT people in Kenya through litigation, grassroots campaigns, and policy lobbying. Eric Gitari is co-founder of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) and a human rights lawyer and activist. His work focuses on immigration law, refugees and asylum seekers, public litigation, and civil liberties. Eric has worked as a program manager at the HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya (HRTK) office in Nairobi and as the LGBTIQ Associate at Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) where he co-authored the report The Outlawed Amongst Us that focused on the human rights challenges facing LGBTI people in Kenya. Through his work with LGBTI refugees, Eric also provided a valuable contribution to Human Rights First's 2012 report, The Road to Safety: Strengthening Protection for LGBTI Refugees in Uganda and Kenya. Support Human Rights First
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2013 5:49:13 GMT 3
Kenyan church leaders embracing gay rights
A group of pastors from different denominations are now urging mainstream churches to accept gay rights in churches. The leaders say people's sexual orientation has nothing to do with their spiritual freedoms and as such they should be allowed to not only worship but also to serve in churches.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2013 22:03:28 GMT 3
First Lady Of Zambia Stuns The Continent By Calling For An End To Homophobia by JEAN ANN ESSELINK on NOVEMBER 8, 2013 Homosexuality is a crime in Zambia. In fact, right now, two men are facing 14 years in prison for “having carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, and another is on trial for discussing gay people and HIV on TV. The country’s tabloids have recently taken to outing suspected gay men, who then face harassment in their neighborhoods. In Zambia, even speaking of being gay can be dangerous. A few months ago, Edgar Lungu, Zambian’s Home Affairs Minister made this memorable pronouncement: ‘Those advocating gay rights should go to hell, that is not an issue we will tolerate. There will be no such discussion on gay rights. That issue is foreign to this country.’ In Zambia, like in Russia, the level of homophobia has been moving in the wrong direction. At least until now. This week, an extraordinary thing happened; an event so unexpected LGBT activists all over Africa are calling it “a miracle.” At a reception hosted by UNAIDS in Lasaka, Zambia’s capitol, First Lady Christine Kaseba-Sata called for an end to discrimination against sexual minorities. “Silence around issues of men who have sex with men should be stopped,” said Dr. Kaseba-Sata. “And no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation.” All Africa called the First Lady’s remarks “astonishing”, “remarkable”, and a “game changer”. But the First Lady didn’t stop at announcing her own support. She told the audience that in matters of public health issues, (like HIV) the gay community has the support of her husband, President Michael Sata. First Lady Christine Kaseba-Sata’s pronouncement may carry more weight that the average political wife, as she is a medical doctor, specializing in obstetrics and gynaecology. Before she became first lady in 2011, Dr. Kaseba-Sata practiced at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka for more than 25 years. Richard Lee, an activist with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, said of the First Lady’s surprise announcement: ‘It is hard to overestimate the importance of what the first lady said, in a country where the vast majority of people are opposed to gay rights.’ Dr. Kaseba-Sata will have many opportunities to spread her anti-discrimination message, since she serves as a Goodwill Ambassador Against Gender Based Violence and as chairperson of the Forum of African First Ladies Against Cervical and Breast Cancer. One interesting note: Dr. Kaseba-Sata statement came a few days after another respected physician, Dr. Manase Phiri, championed gay rights at Zambia’s Evelyn Hone College. Could medical doctors be the way to change minds in Africa? thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/first-lady-of-zambia-stuns-the-continent-by-calling-for-an-end-to-homophobia/news/2013/11/08/78342#.Un_RhduF9fdallafrica.com/stories/201311060732.html
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Post by podp on Nov 11, 2013 7:38:33 GMT 3
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 1:04:13 GMT 3
Not funny, but funny. This article had me laughing, so here let's share in the laughter... Memoir: I came out to my Muslim family after a decade of silence—and the fallout was brutal By Sabrina Jalees | Illustration by Cat Yelizarov Coming out is like cliff jumping. The longer you wait to take the plunge, the more time you have to envision your guts rising to your throat, the burn of a belly flop, your head smacking a rock. I realized I was gay when I was 18, though the signs were there long before. As a kid, I opted for softball instead of ballet and felt like a drag queen when I wore a dress. In middle school, I baked a cake in the shape of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s face, sent a poem to her PO box and clipped her pictures out of Teen People like it was my job. I was either a lesbian or a murderer. The summer after high school, I got a gig at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, where I developed a crush on one of the female staffers; it turned out she liked me, too. For the next year, I led a double life. Every week, I’d leave class at Ryerson, skip along Dundas to the Greyhound station and, eight hours later, I’d be in the Montreal gay village with my girlfriend, speaking French at dépanneurs and wearing rainbow bracelets to lesbian dance parties. At home, I was in the closet. My dad grew up in a village in Pakistan, my mom in a Swiss farm town. There were mosques and churches and cultural norms. In both cases, any liberal views on sexuality were obscured by mountains. The day I decided to tell my parents, I was trembling. I walked into the kitchen, where my mom was chopping onions, and blurted it out: the girl “friend” I’d been visiting in Montreal was actually my girlfriend. I told my dad soon after. “I’m in love with a girl,” I admitted. There was a beat of silence. “Well, we love you and we’ll have to deal with this,” he finally replied. Still, it was hard for my parents; they thought the future they’d envisioned for me was lost. They had no reference point for a gay white picket fence. In 2009, I met Shauna at a bar in San Francisco. I looked up from my drink and saw a gorgeous woman with a million tattoos, dancing by herself. It took me two hours to work up the courage to introduce myself. First impressions matter when you’re meeting your future wife. Four years later, after we were married in Vermont, I decided it was time to come out to my extended family. We were a tight-knit group; my cousins and I lived together when they first emigrated from Pakistan. When we were kids, I was like their big sister. I hoarded loonies and quarters to buy them a Toys “R” Us basketball net and taught them routines to Dance Mix ’95. I was so proud of these kids that I brought one of them in for show and tell in Grade 2. I was tired of lying to them. My dad spent weeks trying to talk me out of it. To most of my relatives, marrying outside the faith is taboo—never mind marrying inside the gender. But I was married now. What was I going to do—show up to family events introducing Shauna as my “white best friend who loves Ramadan”? I decided to do it via email. It didn’t take long to write—I’d been drafting it for a decade. I cc’d my uncles, aunts and cousins, who are dispersed throughout Canada and the U.S., and explained that I was gay, married and happy. I told them I understood it would be hard to accept and that I was available to talk. The email made a big, gay explosion in 28 inboxes, followed by a silence so loud it hurt. No one wrote back. One of my aunts referred to my email as “the bombshell” and cancelled a family get-together at my parents’ house—presumably for fear that their tap water was also gay. Some of my favourite cousins defriended me on Facebook. Defriended. It sounds silly, but it made me bawl. I was too gay for their newsfeeds. According to one cousin, some relatives were upset that I was being “loud” about our family troubles. While I understood their perspective, I refused to suppress mine. I responded to their silence by producing my first solo stand-up comedy tour, Brownlisted, where I riffed on my sexuality, ethnicity and family. As a gay Canadian comedian with supportive parents, I was in a unique position to be vocal about something most people had no choice but to hide. My announcement created a rift between my parents and the rest of our relatives. My father was devastated that his family was falling apart, but he and my mom insisted we were a package deal: if the family wanted a relationship with my parents, they’d have to accept me, their gay side order. My brother sent out an impassioned letter in my defence: “Saying that you can’t accept someone for pursuing happiness given their God-given definition of that pursuit is nearsighted, closed-minded and just plain bad conduct as a human being,” he wrote. “If you’re ever having trouble accepting others’ harmless pursuits of happiness, think back to the opportunities your parents afforded you by moving to this part of the world.” Some of my family members are gone for good. But others are starting to come around; I’ve heard from relatives I thought would never speak to me again. In October, I got a phone call from the show and tell cousin, the one whose reaction had hurt the most. He was devastated, he felt horrible, he was sorry; by the end of the conversation we were both crying. He kept promising that he’d do whatever it took to make things right. He already had. Sabrina Jalees (@sabrinajalees) is a comedian and writer in Toronto. www.torontolife.com/informer/columns/2013/12/10/sabrina-jalees-memoir/
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2014 7:29:06 GMT 3
Another-Happy Pride to peeps out there!encore on this Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, feat. Mary Lambert song. here feat Madona Toronto is hosting World Pride 2014. Here's the city's big-up with the light up of the CN Tower.
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