Surrounded by “school children and teachers” (it’s not clear where they got them from in the middle of a school day, during examinations time), Uganda’s foremost homophobes have written a lengthy communiqué demanding that the Bahati anti-gay bill is debated and passed by Uganda’s Parliament as a Christmas gift to … themselves.
It’s time for their wish to be granted.
I have actually come to the conclusion that the best possible outcome IS for the Bahati Bill to be passed. Within hours, it’ll be in constitutional court, it’ll be repealed without a doubt (as it is in breach of several constitutional provisions), and everyone will be able to get on with their lives. The actual reality is that Ugandans pretty much stopped caring a long time ago, that is, assuming they ever did. … … The bill is a red-herring. Always has been. (James Onen aka Fat Boy)
There are a number of reasons why debating and passing the bill is now the best outcome:
1. It is time for this bill to stop hanging over the gay community like a nuclear cloud. If it is passed by Parliament, as it surely will, then we can deal with its consequences “as is” as opposed to as we guess it might be.
2. All these so-called pro-children pastors and politicians have used this bill to enhance their profiles, raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from evangelical extremists abroad, all in the name of saving children and Christianity as we know it, and will continue to do so as long as the bill lies comatose in Committee. The dishonesty this bill has engendered needs to finally be stopped.
3. Even the gay community needs to get closure on this bill one way or the other. As things stand, we have all these rag
It’s time for my close-up Mr. DeMille
tag LGBTI organizations, some with just one executive and a fictitious list of members, who talk to well wishers in yonder lands and ask for money on behalf of the gay community in Uganda ostensibly to fight this bill. If it is settled by Uganda’s courts, the bona fide gay lobby could then focus on raising awareness for issues that actually impact the gay community in Uganda such as HIV/Aids plus other health and wellness crises that have taken a back sit because they don’t grab the headlines, don’t make for sensational copy.
4. The Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, peripatetic Rebecca Kadaga, (who I must admit I like a lot) is currently riding high in Uganda on the back of just this bill. She seems busier than a bee these days; turning up one morning in Quebec to spar with Canada’s foreign minister, the other she’s getting off the plane at Entebbe Airport to a hero’s welcome, the next she’s chairing human rights meetings in London, and the next she’s dancing the Tamenaibuga on top of a pick-up truck in Kamuli.
It is time for this bill to pass so that we can examine her stalking horse candidacy critically in the light of more deserving national concerns. It is very well for a politician to milk a vote-getting issue dry, albeit it one that tramples the human rights of a cross-section of her fellow citizens, but it is quite another for her to be given a free ride on everything else simply because she stood up to a boorish Canadian foreign minister.
I find myself on the extreme spectrum of those who want the damn bill to pass. I am curious to see how in the hell they’d enforce such a crappy law. (not to mention I plan to abuse it, BUM-CHECK road blocks … (Kim Bakugan John)
5. Last but not least, Sebaspace is sick and tired of talking about this bill. Let’s get it debated, passed, thrown out by the courts and then I can finally work on my edifying tome that I know will win me the Nobel Literature prize that I so deserve but which I can’t quite focus on yet because of all the din surrounding whether I will be in jail or alive once the damn bill is passed.
In fact it will be in my literary interest if I am thrown in jail or killed on account of this bill. Imagine those worldwide headlines … and my adoring fans screaming my name to the Pope to make me a saint …
Gay literary genius a martyr! Uganda’s foremost gay literary genius jailed for life … Homophobic mob flashes gay literary genius in middle of a pot-holed street! … Jailed Ugandan gay literary genius up for a Pulitzer Prize … Ugandan gay genius the new Oscar Wilde … Sebaspace aced by Bahati Nazi law!
Let this bill be passed.
All right Mr. DeMille, I am ready for my close-up.
Related articles
- A freshly rejuvenated Ugandan homophobic lobby goes to work (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
- Canada’s Baird gives Ssempa and Bahati a new lease on life (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
- Kadaga, Canadian minister in gay row
Kale, imagine I was just thinking the same thing. No, not about the Nobel scribblers prize, but about year 1 PBB (post-Bahati bill). Let the kuchufobes have their day. Uganda’s new found ” sexual morality” covers a multitude of well known sins and is but a fig-leaf, which will need more than parliamentary posturing to stay put.
Yes the anti kuchi bill will be debated in the House with passion. Everyone is primed to support it. One or two pointless contrary interventions will be made…
And then…
The Bill will be passed to thunderous applause. Bahati and Our Lady of the Chair will be carried shoulder high. There will be triumphant street processions in Kampala and services of thanksgiving in our churches.
Museveni may find himself on a sticky wicket. If he assents to the Bill, Ugandas in her foreign policy dealings with the west and in diplomatic fora will be at a disadvantage. This will not just be a passing storm.
Then there’s the tricky business of implementing the bill. Where does one begin?.
And as Seba says, there will be a plethora of court actions, brought by human rights groups at home and abroad. Court actions will be mega-funded by supporters both at home and abroad.
Then of course they will have to deal with the likes of us, who will have daggers well and truly drawn.
Yah man. Me cyant waiiit!
Fa’az Musa’allah
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