Who did The River and the Mountain benefit? 2

Until a couple of hours ago when a friend on another forum brought him to my attention, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you who David Cecil was. Before you engage in any hasty conjecture, no, he is not Cecil Rhodes and he certainly didn’t give Zimbabwe its colonial name.

Once the name appeared on my radar, I did a little, non-representative survey on Google and Yahoo search. Everything of import that you will find written about David Cecil relates to a play, The River and the Mountain, that he staged ostensibly to highlight the terrible existence gay men and lesbians suffer in Uganda. It was banned by the authorities after a couple of productions and Cecil was thrown into jail for a few days for ‘promoting homosexuality.’

David Cecil’s moment of limelight – behind bars in a Ugandan jail

Really? A dramatic director capable of shaking up governments in Africa is only known worldwide for one play? I found that hard to fathom so I tried checking around for Cecil’s body of work. All I can come up with is that he is associated with Tilapia Culture, a bar cum night spot, in Uganda. He is widely cited as  a theater producer but I failed to find any other theater he has produced other than the gay stage production that landed him in jail and all over the front pages of the international media.

I have been to the Tilapia Culture once and I thought it a rather nice place to relax. Other than being oddly and inexplicably called Tilapia, it had the sort of artsy, bohemian, atmosphere that I found rather alluring. I don’t recall if David Ceil was there when I visited but there was a dreadlocked, inscrutable, barman who had me thinking ungodly thoughts.

So, it seems as though until he staged The River and the Mountain David Cecil was not known in Uganda or anywhere else for much else. Nothing terribly remarkable thus far, and in fact one could argue that Cecil has done better than most people in this world. I have never put on a theatrical production in Uganda and have never been arrested in a blaze of publicity either.

What got me wondering was something tangential but intriguing. In the link  provided, the actors in the now banned gay play seem to have conflicting views about how useful the play was.

Money quotes:

‘I question the effectiveness of discussing homosexuality the way we did,’ [Nanfuka] told Radio Netherlands. … ‘I am not sure anymore if the people to whom we are preaching, are interested in change at all.’ The 26-year-old actress added that she thinks the play ‘has only alienated Ugandans further from homosexuals.’

But co-star Okuyo Joel Atiku ‘Prynce’ insists he would play the role of a gay factory worker again despite all the responses he received being negative. ‘I partook in the play because of the artistic challenge and to drive debate, to make people realize that gay people are part of society too,’ the 28-year-old told the Dutch radio station.

The question for the David Cecils of this world thus has to be: If you haven’t convinced your own cast about the value of the production they are taking part in, how do you hope to convince the wider audience that what you are doing is worthwhile? With such discordance, did Cecil really do his homework before embarking on this production? Who did he consult with? What advice was he given as to whether such a play would foster understanding (or debate) between the gay community and the rest of Uganda?

In this case Cecil’s play seems to have made him more known around the world than the play itself or the cause for which it was intended. A few weeks after it was staged, and banned, hardly anyone in Uganda is talking about  the play. But a lot of people worldwide have certainly talked about David Cecil, yours truly inclusive.

Was that the intention? If so, it was all not in vain then.

Related articles:

• Uganda frees British producer over gay play
• British theatre producer says gay Uganda play ‘was supposed to be funny’ (guardian.co.uk)
• Banned play “only made things worse for gays”
• What form should gay activism take?

 

Frank Ocean’s open-heart venting coming to you in Africa

A kiss in the dark/A  certain time I can call you/A letter of love/But no name did you sign/Pretending to all that we were just friends when I saw you/I didn’t know that you wanted me to be/I didn’t know that you wanted me for your, to be/Your secret love … (Luther Vandross)

There are  singers/musicians in Uganda that I know are gay. I have interacted with them as gay men and women, have seen them seeking gay love, have witnessed their hopes for love, struggles and  disappointments with their  gay relationships and listened to  their doubts about same-sex loving in a country where the entire phenomenon is all too often defined by the empty-mind din of people like Martin Ssempa, James Nsaba Buturo and Simon Lokodo.

And so it doesn’t surprise me at all when I now see those erstwhile gay men run around with girls,  professing undying love for one after the other, often in their songs. There is nothing for it but to fall into line and toe the straight line if you wish to remain musically relevant in Uganda.

But is there really nothing for it?

Attitudes towards homosexuality in Uganda are indeed changing. The views of the younger generation are discernibly more sophisticated than those of their parents where homosexual loving is concerned. Since life is about the young replacing the old, it stands to reason that It should only be a matter of time before gay Ugandan musicians are pouring their hearts out a la Frank Ocean.

About a year ago, I had a discussion with one of the most successful musicians in Uganda today who is, I should guess, about 15 years younger than me. Having met in an environment where my sexuality was not a concern, I was introduced to him as ‘our gay friend.’ He didn’t miss a beat, and we went on to discuss why being gay was such a big deal in Uganda etc. His enlightenment was as refreshing as it was, in my mind, an eye-opener that the struggle for acceptance even in Uganda is heading in the right direction. This musician already knew some of the gay musicians I knew and wasn’t fazed in the least that they ‘swung on the other side’ to use Ugandan parlance.

And, of course, as Uganda’s schools seek to attain international standards, the issue of homosexuality has to be tackled in classrooms as part of the curriculum. British GCSEs and other international curricula demand that human differences be acknowledged and tolerated. This might send shivers of horror down Simon Lokodo and Martin Ssempa’s spines but there is nothing they can do about it if their government is authorizing private schools to adopt international education standards. Those come with, among very many other things, requirements that children be educated to appreciate  that being gay is part and parcel of life.

So, it will be only a matter of time before we dance to thinly veiled homosexual-loving lyrics from one of our young gay singers in Uganda. The views expressed by our young people especially give me confidence that if we are alive long enough, we shall have a Frank Ocean heartfelt gay outpouring in Uganda in my lifetime.

So, I only have to pray for time since … where there is time, there is life.

Related articles

• Anderson Cooper and Frank Ocean: A Tale of Two Comings Out (ideas.time.com)
• Simon Lokodo heads a quasi-Gestapo unit in Uganda (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
• Religious studies GCSEs to have questions on homosexuality, binge drinking and drugs
• R&B singer, Frank Ocean, comes out (sebaspace.wordpress.com)

Would you sleep with your friend’s man?

Disclaimer: “man” is being used loosely here to represent both genders for simplicity. And, yes, this post was prompted by real-life events.

Would you go behind your friend’s back and sleep with or try to sleep with his man?

If you would, this one is for you.

Hitting up on each other is what gay men do, right? Right … and wrong.

Okay, perhaps you are desperate for sex, love, companionship, whatever. Perhaps you are hungry, literally, because you couldn’t afford to buy lunch and it is now dinner time.  Or you are not sure how you will get home because you haven’t got two cents to rub together for the taxi fare.

Is your friend's man fair game?

Out of such desperation, would you consider hitting up on your friend’s man -if only in the hope that some of your money troubles might be solved temporarily with any cash he might proffer?

In many places where people have fallen on hard times, such a scenario is fairly common. But would it justify treading on a friend’s toes in order to try and make a quick buck? What then would your friendship be based on?

What about becoming attracted to your friend’s man? Perhaps he, too, starts thinking amorous thoughts about you, and perhaps acting on them. Would that be the bell you need to proceed to take things a step further up to and including sleeping with each other? What then is supposed to happen to the friendship you have cultivated with the person you are both cheating on? Carry on as if nothing has happened?

In other words, if we don’t have any compunction about sleeping with our friend’s men, where exactly would we draw the line?

I am sure you’ve seen it. Some cocky wannabe playboy sidles up to everyone, and before you know it, is taking down numbers and acting as though he is God’s gift to mankind. Even if he is, which of course he never is, it is unseemly, arrogant and ill-bred to hit up on anyone you know is seeing your friend. I was about to say disrespectful but the kind of people who do such things usually have limited understanding of the word respect because they think life is about them.

So what should you do if someone you thought was your friend hits up on your man? The answer came to me the other day when someone, somewhere, said that friendship is ‘voluntary.’ Most times, if your man succumbs, it is up to you to decide how you handle that. But I wouldn’t waste more time on the ‘friend’ who shimmies up your belonging like a lizard.

So, possums, if you didn’t learn it when you should have, learn it now:

Even if there is no crime as such, going in for your friend’s man is in bad taste, slimy, gross. It is a betrayal of trust, without which there is nothing left to hold together the friendship, is there?

Even if you are the one hit upon by your friend’s man, you gracefully and politely decline the advances and make it clear you will not date someone who is already dating your friend. The reason we are different from wild beasts is that we have a conscience.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, just remember that even floozies draw the line at their friends’ boyfriends.

Related articles:

• Dealing with the other man
• Married men in gay affairs
• When love becomes something else

Kabaka Mwanga – history slowly tries to catch up 2

Buganda's Mwanga was homo ... okay, bisexual

I blogged about Kabaka Mwanga’s homosexuality, okay … bisexuality, and someone from another forum refused to believe me, arguing that someone who, it is claimed, had more than 20 wives couldn’t possibly have been gay.

Yoweri Museveni, no doubt, always has Mwanga in mind when he lectures listeners about homosexuality being part of Africa’s fabric well before the advent of the colonialists. Museveni knows his history quite well.

Even as the elephant in the room, Mwanga’s homosexuality, continues to be ignored in some quarters, it is gratifying to see that reputable papers such as Uganda’s Daily Monitor are giving a nod to what is essentially an open secret. Have a look at this photograph in the Daily Monitor of March 13, showing some of the pages killed when they stopped giving it up to the Kabaka because they had become married to Jesus Christ. Yes, the Monitor skims over the issue quickly, perhaps too quickly, but it is rare for any Ugandan media to mention this well chronicled fact so mentioning it is something of a milestone.

Some of the Uganda Martyrs with their Christian mentors

The evidence is anecdotal of course but if number 13′s beauty had nothing to do with his eventual demise, then I am the queen of Siam. Yet the last time I checked, Siam, as it was called then, ceased to exist many years ago, well before I was born.

Buganda’s Kabaka Mwanga was gay bisexual. But he was not the only one, as those of us who have taken the trouble to study these things know. But that is another story. Now, one must retire to ponder the beauty of God making a man love another so.

Related articles

• Image of the week – Kabaka Mwanga (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
• A History of Christianity in Uganda by Kevin Ward (um-bs.com)

What has Tusapa got to do with gay rights? 9

Who are these people? Gay activists don't seem to know about them

This one has just been brought to my attention by Ugandan gay activists who should know about this group but don’t! It is a youth group calling itself Tusapa and their website is Tusapa.org.

The group claims to be fighting for gay rights and is even soliciting funds from wherever they can. The problem is that the gay angle seems conveniently tacked  on to what they do – likely in an opportunistic effort to make money. The other, more worrying, problem is that their entire photo gallery is littered with youths; young people who can’t be older than 15 or 16 who were photographed at events that clearly had nothing to do with homosexuality or gay rights.

Sadly, this kind of nefarious scheme wouldn’t be new at all in Uganda. It, however, has very serious implications that go far beyond making a quick buck and one hopes that it will be nipped in the bud quickly.

Related articles

• Uganda gay activists brave stigma to honour rights leader (vancouversun.com)
• Uganda’s Minister shuts down Gay Conference (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
• Uganda minister raids gay meeting (bbc.co.uk)

Activism attempts to make a positive impact in Botswana

Here is an encouraging narrative from Behind the Mask showing how three gay activists in Botswana are trying to put into practice what they have learned from their training in Sweden.

Two of the three participants from Botswana are working on changing their community using the Health Lens programme, while the third is practising awareness-raising.

Health Lens is an innovative program that provides services to primary care practices and gives independent physicians an opportunity to engage in meaningful change. It has been described as a movement of change, helping to reshape the role of primary care, and to sustain the cognitive art of medicine.

This is a very positive step in the dissemination of information to the grassroots regarding what activists are doing, one that should be the model all over Africa.

 

 

Related articles

• Botswana’s ex-president defends gay rights
• Botswana inmate advocates for gay rights before Parliament

Listen up people: Uganda is NOT a Christian country!

I have argued this many times, most notably here, before but either I am talking to myself like John the Baptist in the wilderness, or those who keep arguing so have a copy of the Constitution no one else has.

Money quote from none other than Uganda’s The New Vision:

The misconception that Uganda is a Christian country is premised on the origins of our colonial masters, this is not the case because Article 7 of the Constitution of Uganda states that “Uganda shall not adopt a state religion”. 

This makes a total nonsense of the argument that religion can be used by politicians to legislate against homosexuality. What the Bible says or doesn’t say about homosexuality is totally irrelevant in a secular state that has to cater for all people, including atheists and believers in witchcraft. Indeed that is the same reason why these self-same pontificating legislators have, since 1964, refused to use the Bible to condemn adultery or polygamy both of which they themselves enjoy liberally and at will. The Bible, of course, espouses one man and one wife till death them do part but that is of no relevance in a secular country, isn’t it? As any cheating politicians will assure you  …. precisely.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord, the giver of life, the redeemer of lost souls.

Let’s now hear the arguments, the non-religious arguments, against homosexuality in secular Uganda.

Is that a deafening silence I hear?

Fatboy (James Onen) fights the gay fight – on Facebook

James Onen recently ignited a debate on Facebook with the following remark:

James Onen: While a lot of people in Uganda still personally disapprove of what gay people do, fewer and fewer people these days are saying ‘hang them’ or ‘arrest them’, when it comes to consenting same-sex adults. I’m hearing more of “just leave them to be”. Now that’s progress.

Below are [edited] excerpts of the some of the more than 150 responses. Just having the discussion at this level is progress indeed:

Babirye Yvonne Cuyler i agree besides that word “kulya ebisiyaga” isn’t a western word at all and to my knowledge its not a new word in the Luganda diction and am sure other tribes have a word to describe gayism,which means that our grand grand grand ancient ancestors knew about it,this confirms that gayism has been in existence in Africa 4 a long time now! The Western just become open minded about it after realizing it was reality so any sensible “not closed minded” person should follow suit..

Martin Yossa Norman David,Yvone……do u have children and if so,,what legacy will u leave behind??? the fact is u guys hate facts because u know it hurts.No one is interested in ur wolokoso [idle gossip] here in Africa.If at all the two of u and Fatboy practice same sex marriage,,,just start moving in town we see you,we wont just lynch you but even burn your remains to ashes Period. Respect the African and cultural values … and stop importing your filthy thing here.

(Name withheld on request)

People always claim stuff like God created Adam and Eve, and not Steve……But God didn’t create no Siamese Adam and Eve, nor Lame Adam and Eve, nor Mentally retarded Adam and Eve……But guess what, we have Siamese twins, mentally retarded kids and lame kids born today, so should we kill and hang them coz they are ‘abnormal’..???….before u answer that…..should we hang and kill people coz they are born gay…???. I think gay people too need rights and shouldn’t be ridiculed and criticized for their ‘abnormality’……Its our world and their world too, no one chooses their sexual orientations and therefore if they aint hitting on you or banging your straight kids, let them be…..just like we let the lame, blind, Siamese twins and other marginalized groups be…!! 

You can follow the rest of what is a very interesting exchange here. 

Bottom 101

What is about to follow is not for the squeamish but it holds a lot of truth so there is nothing for it but to wade in feet first.

AfroGay didn’t write it – someone anonymous did – so he is just going to edit it for clarity and post it more or less verbatim.

**********************************************************

There is nothing better in this world better than a good bottom. As many bottoms that we have in the world and as much as bottoms claim they love to be bottoms, I find it shocking to see how many bottoms there are out there that can’t seem to put it down.

I would like to give some pointers on what makes a bottom a good bottom.

Every bottom needs to understand cleanliness and grooming. A hairy ass is cute on some boys, but it does not work for everybody. If you are a bottom that loves getting his ass ate, there should not be any hair back there, period. For you that don’t know, anal hair sheds often and when a top is eating ass he doesn’t want a mouth full of ass hair flavored floss. Crest makes a dependable brand and it has a minty flavor. I use it faithfully.

Next cleanliness. Dicks are not made the same. Just because you been with a few dudes and you didn’t shit on them does not mean you will always be that lucky. It should be a regular practice to buy some sort of douche or some sort of analgesic to put in your ass and flush out your rectum. [Find] an enema that you can use to shoot the liquids into your ass and flush it out. That way the ass is clean inside and out.

Bottoms: I cannot stress the importance of giving good head. I have been with many bottoms who try to imitate what their friends do or what they saw on a porn movie. DO NOT DO THAT! DICK SUCKING IS AN ART FORM AND NO VIDEO CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO DO IT PROPER. The key to giving good head is listening to your top and feel his movement. Trust me, no matter how hard a top thinks he is, if you are hitting that spot he will bitch up real quick. LOL. When sucking dick what all bottoms need to focus on is the ENTIRE dick. Many bottoms love playing with the head which is cool, but baby I got a whole big ass dick and all of it needs attention.

On that note, you bottoms need to get it out of your head that a [top] will come quick off of head alone. Some bottoms got mad skills, but some people like me take forever to nut. I’ll tell you real quick if you’re waiting on me to nut you’ll be down there for a long time. The idea of oral sex is just to tease a top on what you got to give him…. namely your ass. Every top loves head, but when his dick’s hard and you got a nice clean tight ass, you ain’t gonna be giving head all night, trust me on that.

Lastly, you bottoms got to apply that same principle of the dick in your sex routines. I have yet to have had a boy to ride my dick and do it properly. The dick is supposed to slide in and come out. Two simple motions that can bring 10,000 different feelings of joy. When riding, all you need to do is to take your time and position yourself so that you can properly slide on the dick and not just bounce around with part of the dick in you.

To add, Talking and moaning during sex. Probably one of the biggest controversies about homo-sex. In my opinion, I don’t need all that hollering and screaming and moaning. It’s way too much. If it feels good and you let it out in moderation that’s cool. For you feminine bottoms who love to holler and scream, y’all really need to give that up, it’s not cute, its rather annoying. That’s probably the quickest way for a [top] to lose your number.

Concerning talking, I know many bottoms like being talked to during sex. But a lot of shit is irrelevant. Why in the fuck would you ask “How [does that] ass feel?” or “Do you like that ass?” I mean really if the ass was bad don’t you think we would have stopped by then? Asking a top where he wants to nut at is another pointless question. Do you really think a [top] cares where he nuts? Shit we’re just happy to nut without jacking off.

AMEN!

I am gay, NOT a pedophile!

Oh dear: Usher

Okay, let’s get a few facts straight.

AfroGay has been 35 for a couple years now. He likes women a lot, would never lift a finger against a woman, respects women, and wishes women were trusted more by (especially African) men to run things. He just doesn’t find women sexually appealing … at all. While AfroGay would make an excellent judge of female beauty, women appeal to him the way a beautiful flower intoxicates his senses. I, however, don’t sleep with flowers, not even in flowered sheets. So, I don’t sleep with women whether it is for love, lust, pastime or money.

Another fact: AfroGay has been gay all his life. If he were to return in the next world, he would want to return as a gay man. He is not embarrassed about who he is for the simple reason that he has had a great life as a gay man. There is no way God would have wanted me to be anything else if he has made me so happy to be a contented gay man.

Pedophile’s dream: Justin Bieber

Final fact: AfroGay doesn’t like children or men who resemble children. So, I am not a pedophile. On my flight back from LA this past weekend, I happened to watch the utterly untalented, unremarkable but nonetheless astonishingly successful Justin Bieber on the flight’s entertainment. It was the only show in the entire aircraft so I had no choice in the matter seeing that I couldn’t sleep on the red-eye flight.I already knew that I was going to watch a maniacal fest of swooning white 12-year-old girls and a lot of jumping up and down on stage masquerading for dancing. I have said this and will say it again: if Justin Bieber is what constitutes entertainment today, the rapture deserves to happen quickly and end this world where talent is the last thing one needs to have to be successful.

Child-like: Usher.

Please send this to whoever wants to understand it once and for all. Being gay and wanting to have sex with children are totally two different things. There is no correlation between finding a grown man attractive and getting the hots for a child. None!! Had I been in the crowd when Usher dropped his pants (above) I would have been more embarrassed than turned on. The reason for that is that though fully grown up, Usher looks too much like a child to me.

I am gay. For an idea of the kind of man I find attractive, please go here and (to a certain extent) here. I am ready to bet my life that you will not find any man on there that I profess to like who remotely looks like a child.

Pedophiles (gay or straight) yearn for children like Justin Bieber; cherub faced, no pubic hair, puny chests, delicately milky dispositions, childish voices, adolescent mannerisms,. Gay men who are not pedophiles like … grown men! Last time I checked, the majority of gay men were, like me, interested in adult men. That puts gay pedophiles in a completely different category.

Why is this so hard to understand?

Related reading:

1. Homosexuality and Pedophilia are not the same!