Rabid homophobia continues in Kenya and is being actively promoted by political and religious leaders. Police had to 'rescue' three men accused of being gay in a coastal town. When you are 'rescued' by Kenyan police, you know you are in trouble. There was also a case of two men said to be getting married being arrested by police after neighbours complained about them being 'notorious gays'. Meanwhile, a Muslim and a Christian leader are united in their opposition to their town being turned into 'Sodom and Gomorrah'.
These religious leaders feel that if gays are not persecuted, their community will be 'doomed'. This is odd, because Kenya currently faces numerous instances of massive criminal acts being carried out by the country's most powerful and wealthy people. The country is, in a sense, already doomed. At least, a lot of people's lives are doomed.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for education, HIV and internally displaced persons have been stolen, the people behind the post election violence have yet to be tried and will probably never be punished, the power sharing government is a farce, the constitution promised in the first hundred days of 2003 is as far away as ever, millions are facing starvation while donated food is being stolen by politicians and surpluses are being destroyed because of lack of storage facilities. The list goes on and on.
Facing these conditions, why are religious and political leaders so obsessed with homosexual activity? They seem to think that the practice of men having sex with men or women having sex with women is going to turn the heads of heterosexuals and make them into homosexuals too. They imagine that same sex practices are un-African and that they didn't exist before being 'imported' by colonials.
They see homosexuality as a crime but who are its victims? The victims of corrupt politicians, church leaders, police, businesspeople, both foreign and indigenous, are clear enough. Most Kenyans are victims of the excesses of the wealthy and powerful. But who are the victims of the 'crime' of homosexuality?
Of course, there are victims of rape and sexual assault. But perpetrators of sex crimes are already covered by the law. It's just that these laws are not usually upheld, especially when the crimes are carried out by the rich and powerful. The police, who are so quick to go after people who are accused of being gay, are not usually interested in ordinary everyday crime, unless they happen to be involved in it themselves.
Just why is the public so ready to become a baying mob of vigilantes when their target is a defenceless individual or group of individuals? They would achieve a lot more by objecting to the real criminals in this country but the most they do is complain about them. Not that I'm advocating mob justice, but there seems to be no sense of proportion in people's reactions to crimes.
Meanwhile, a politician in Uganda, Otto Odonga, has said he would agree to be the executioner even if the person being tried for homosexuality was his own son. Another politician there seems to think bisexuality is something that has been 'imported' into Africa. But thankfully, at the same meeting, someone else said that he had seen homosexual activity when he was young and that it was not a new thing. Like in Kenya, people in Uganda seem content to be living in one of the poorest countries in the world, made poorer by greedy leaders, as long as they can let loose their mob law against homosexuals or those thought to be homosexuals.
Interestingly, the Ugandan politician who wants to introduce draconian laws against homosexual activity, even against those who witness or know about homosexuality (or who are suspected of witnessing or knowing about it), David Bahati, thinks that everyone is susceptible to being turned into a homosexual. This means that it is possible for him or his friends, colleagues or family members to be 'made into' a homosexual, given the right influences. This seems like a very odd for a homophobe to hold.
What these Kenyan and Ugandan politicians should really be asking about is where the homophobia was imported from. Homosexuality exists in every country and always has, as far as anyone knows. You can't 'import' it. But homophobia is actively encouraged by religious groups, especially extreme right wing Christians. Several prominent American Christians and Christian groups are said to have been backing Bahati and people like him. No doubt they will support anyone who promotes their bigotry. Homophobia is the curse that Kenyans and Ugandans should be worried about, not homosexuality.
Showing posts with label women who have sex with women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women who have sex with women. Show all posts
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, April 17, 2009
HIV is the Problem, Except for Everything Else
The received view about men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with women (WSW) in African countries is that it is not common and certainly not as common as outside Africa. I have yet to come across any evidence that these phenomena are really less common in Africa than in other continents. However, most African countries have laws against such practices.
In Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, for example, MSM have been persecuted. WSW are even less often talked about, but they face many dangers and often have to go to great lengths to keep their sexuality hidden. Thus, MSM and WSW often get married, to pretend they are heterosexuals. In marriage, some repress their sexuality, some don’t.
And that’s where some of the mystery about the numbers of non-heterosexuals in African countries arises. It’s not that long ago that in Western countries, non-heterosexuals would pretend to be heterosexual and behave accordingly, at least for some of the time. In East Africa numbers are a matter of speculation, really. People who choose to be frank about their sexuality face abuse, even imprisonment.
Those who choose to keep their sexuality a secret, and who could blame them, also face dangers. They may follow their sexuality and put their partner and themselves at risk; they may be exposed at any time, etc.
In countries where HIV prevalence is high, everyone needs to be careful. As an advertising campaign pointed out, if you sleep with someone, you also sleep with all that person’s partners. MSM, WSW, intravenous drug users (IDU) and other groups who face special risks are not as neatly compartmentalised as such acronyms may suggest. As to the percentage of people who are actively bisexual, either through orientation or necessity, it’s anyone’s guess.
HIV is often exceptionalised as if it were more threatening than any other health issue. This is not the case; sexual health in developing countries is a much bigger issue. HIV is only a small part of sexual and reproductive health, which itself is only a small part of the health of whole populations. And more people’s lives and welfare are threatened by the manipulation of a few rich multinationals than by HIV; the same could be said for the manipulation of a few international institutions, a few rich countries, global warming, etc.
One of the problems with exceptionalising HIV is that other important messages get lost. In some age groups in Kenya, nearly half of all sexually active people have herpes simplex virus (HSV), many others have various sexually transmitted infections (STI) and there are so many reproductive health problems, why concentrate on HIV at the expense of all others?
There’s a particularly horrifying statistic about human papilloma virus (HPV) among gay men in Asutralia; nearly 80% of them were found to have some form of HPV in a recent study. This virus causes anal cancer, although anal cancer is rare. HPV is particularly common among those already infected with HIV, standing at 94% in the Australian study. One wonders what the prevalence of HPV is among gay men in African countries. The same question could be asked about other STIs that are associated with anal sex, especially where gay men either need to or choose to sleep with women as well.
Things must be very different in Australia. Non-heterosexuals are free to express their sexuality, there are laws against discrimination and persecution, they have access to health services, legal protection and support of various kinds. This is not the case in East African countries, where men in Uganda who protested recently about the lack of HIV services for gay men were arrested. Non-heterosexuals continue to be excluded from HIV prevention and other services that are aimed at almost entirely at heterosexuals.
In addition to decriminalising commercial sex work (discussed elsewhere), those who are not heterosexual and who wish to express their sexuality need the protection of the law. They need access to health services, especially sexual health services. They are not isolated ‘groups’. They are, ultimately, an integral part of the whole network of people that make up a country. Their sexual health is everyone’s sexual health, just as the sexual health of the heterosexual community is also part of the sexual health of non-heterosexuals.
Persecuting people for their sexuality, denying them the protection of the law and access to health and social services, is as damaging as persecuting commercial sex workers and denying them some of their most basic human rights. The moral crusade against whatever target happens to present itself is doing more to spread HIV than the groups of people who are being targeted.
In Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, for example, MSM have been persecuted. WSW are even less often talked about, but they face many dangers and often have to go to great lengths to keep their sexuality hidden. Thus, MSM and WSW often get married, to pretend they are heterosexuals. In marriage, some repress their sexuality, some don’t.
And that’s where some of the mystery about the numbers of non-heterosexuals in African countries arises. It’s not that long ago that in Western countries, non-heterosexuals would pretend to be heterosexual and behave accordingly, at least for some of the time. In East Africa numbers are a matter of speculation, really. People who choose to be frank about their sexuality face abuse, even imprisonment.
Those who choose to keep their sexuality a secret, and who could blame them, also face dangers. They may follow their sexuality and put their partner and themselves at risk; they may be exposed at any time, etc.
In countries where HIV prevalence is high, everyone needs to be careful. As an advertising campaign pointed out, if you sleep with someone, you also sleep with all that person’s partners. MSM, WSW, intravenous drug users (IDU) and other groups who face special risks are not as neatly compartmentalised as such acronyms may suggest. As to the percentage of people who are actively bisexual, either through orientation or necessity, it’s anyone’s guess.
HIV is often exceptionalised as if it were more threatening than any other health issue. This is not the case; sexual health in developing countries is a much bigger issue. HIV is only a small part of sexual and reproductive health, which itself is only a small part of the health of whole populations. And more people’s lives and welfare are threatened by the manipulation of a few rich multinationals than by HIV; the same could be said for the manipulation of a few international institutions, a few rich countries, global warming, etc.
One of the problems with exceptionalising HIV is that other important messages get lost. In some age groups in Kenya, nearly half of all sexually active people have herpes simplex virus (HSV), many others have various sexually transmitted infections (STI) and there are so many reproductive health problems, why concentrate on HIV at the expense of all others?
There’s a particularly horrifying statistic about human papilloma virus (HPV) among gay men in Asutralia; nearly 80% of them were found to have some form of HPV in a recent study. This virus causes anal cancer, although anal cancer is rare. HPV is particularly common among those already infected with HIV, standing at 94% in the Australian study. One wonders what the prevalence of HPV is among gay men in African countries. The same question could be asked about other STIs that are associated with anal sex, especially where gay men either need to or choose to sleep with women as well.
Things must be very different in Australia. Non-heterosexuals are free to express their sexuality, there are laws against discrimination and persecution, they have access to health services, legal protection and support of various kinds. This is not the case in East African countries, where men in Uganda who protested recently about the lack of HIV services for gay men were arrested. Non-heterosexuals continue to be excluded from HIV prevention and other services that are aimed at almost entirely at heterosexuals.
In addition to decriminalising commercial sex work (discussed elsewhere), those who are not heterosexual and who wish to express their sexuality need the protection of the law. They need access to health services, especially sexual health services. They are not isolated ‘groups’. They are, ultimately, an integral part of the whole network of people that make up a country. Their sexual health is everyone’s sexual health, just as the sexual health of the heterosexual community is also part of the sexual health of non-heterosexuals.
Persecuting people for their sexuality, denying them the protection of the law and access to health and social services, is as damaging as persecuting commercial sex workers and denying them some of their most basic human rights. The moral crusade against whatever target happens to present itself is doing more to spread HIV than the groups of people who are being targeted.
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