“Panic among Kenya’s gays”

Kenya’s Prime Minister wasted no time in abusing the abysmally horrid policy shift made recently by the UN to remark that Gays in Kenya should be arrested.

Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya board member Nguru Karugu said Monday the office has received calls from concerned members, some of whom are HIV-positive and fear they will be arrested when they collect life-prolonging medicine from government clinics.

Are you planning a safari to Africa some time soon? Please avoid Kenya and Uganda. A tourist boycott in those two countries would be effective.

More here.

Comments

#1 Paul Murray
November 29, 2010

We are dealing with people that believe in witches that *steal your penis*.
#2 Greg Laden
November 29, 2010

Paul, that is not the problem. Try to be more culturally sensitive, will ya? This is the fault of the missionaries, not the traditionals. http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/missionaries/
#3 Phil L
November 29, 2010

I don’t understand why these two countries are so against homosexuality. Though there are many people here in the US that are against it, these people in Uganda and Kenya do seem to be taking it much more seriously? Is it cultural, based on religion, or what?
#4 Phil L
November 29, 2010

I don’t understand why these two countries are so against homosexuality. Though there are many people here in the US that are against it, these people in Uganda and Kenya do seem to be taking it much more seriously? Is it cultural, based on religion, or what?
#5 Greg Laden
November 29, 2010

Phil, it is religious. The form of Christianity that has been promulgated in Uganda and Kenya and elsewhere in Africa is fundamentalism. Those in Africa who are calling for the arrest of gays (and execution in some cases) are saying nothing different than the fundamentalist Christians in the US, except that there is no moderate form of the church (of significance) to temper them.

Please see the link in my comment above for some information about Africa’s missionary problem.
#6 Erp
November 29, 2010

Those few moderates in the churches are viciously attacked (in Uganda these would include Bishop Christopher Senyonjo [or former bishop as the Anglican church in Uganda stripped him of his privileges when he opposed the persecution of gays] and Canon Gideon Byamugisha). Demographically Uganda is about 42% Catholic, 36% Anglican, 12% Muslim, and 5% Pentecostal as of 2002 with the last probably rapidly rising. In Kenya about 42% are Catholic, 58% Protestant (which would include Anglican and Pentecostals), and 10% Muslim.

To be fair a very few conservative American Christians have been fighting hard against the proposed law in Uganda and putting pressure on the American allies of the Ugandan proponents. A voice from within Uganda (non-religious) would be the anonymous blogger at Gay Uganda.
#7 Greg Laden
November 29, 2010

Erp, to be totally fair, this business in Uganda was initiated by a US based right wing fundementalist organization called The Family. Under political pressure, The Family has made a show, or maybe a bit more than a show, of pressuring highly placed individuals in the government and churches of Uganda to at least make a show of backing off on their stated plans to execute gay Ugandans.