By Jesse Steele
This summer I was blessed with the opportunity to spend my summer break in Rwanda. The first month of my trip was spent with a class learning about developing enterprise (a field that may be on the horizon one day) and it was great, getting to meet some of the most amazing people. Once they left the rest of my time was devoted to my internship with the International Justice Mission and exploring everything the country had to offer. Safe to say it was the best summer to date.
In the midst of all my adventuring and office work things back in the states began blowing up following the religious exemption letter submitted to President Barak Obama. Now, I’m not going to continue the conversation on this, it’s been pulled apart enough already, but during this time I began working with other students on drafting a petition to submit to President Michael Lindsay. While Googling court cases to use I came across an article that reported in Uganda, the country two hours away from me, men and women reveled to be homosexuals were being sentenced to life in prison.
AFRICAN HOMOSEXUALITY
Known by westerners as the “Kill the Gays” bill, the Parliament of Uganda passed legislature back in December 2013. Before being signed into law in February of 2014, the proposal for a death penalty sentence was reduced to life in prison. This law put a target on the back of every Ugandan who participated in same-sex relations, even outside of the country.
The bill described homosexual behavior through two categories: the singular “offense of homosexuality” and the repeated “aggravated homosexuality.” The former was punishable by life imprisonment, but if it was discovered the perpetrator was HIV positive, a parent or authority figure, or had just performed these acts multiple times, then the sentence was increased to a death penalty. Any Ugandan who performed these acts outside of the country would be extradited back and sentence in Uganda. And anyone who was aware of the homosexual acts taking place had 24 hours to report it or be fined and sentenced to at least three years in prison.
The international backlash against this resulted in countless petition and rallies. Soon, countries like Denmark and Norway began retracting aid from Uganda. The United States followed suit, but only suspended partial aid because of the favoritism for the country as an import partner. Eventually a Ugandan court convened and struck down the law, but that does not mean discrimination and violence has ended.
While this may seem shocking it isn’t anything new; same-sex attraction has been criminalized in Africa since their colonization. Europeans entered the once free lands and established Christian based societies to try and purify these natives. In some tribes, same-sex relationships were not abnormal, but to the Europeans they were unnatural and immoral. Across the continent these colonies changed the perspectives of the people to fit what they deemed right, and in doing so began a ripple effect that would one day result in Uganda’s bill.
Even in recent years Christian missionaries have promoted discrimination against LGBTQIA+. In March 2009 a workshop took place in Kampala, Uganda, and featured three prominent American evangelicals – Scott Lively, an author and advocate for the criminalization of homosexuality; Don Schmierer, at the time a board member of Exodus International; and Caleb Brundidge, a self-proclaimed former gay who conducted sessions to heal homosexuality with the power of Christ. The conference discussed the “gay agenda” and endorsed the idea that, “the gay movement is an evil institution whose goal is to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity. They also connected homosexuality with divorce and HIV rates, compared it to child molestation and bestiality, and warned of the threatening recruitment of African youth.
Homosexuality isn’t seen as an orientation, rather it is perceived as a diseased life choice. A local Rwandan newspaper compared same-sex relations to prisoners who use rape to establish hierarchies. “The reasons go beyond the fact that homosexuality goes against the Rwandan cultural norms and morals. Homosexuality is harmful for society since it endangers reproduction, thus threatens the survival of society.”
REALITY CHECK
Realizing all of this was happening around made it pretty hard to focus on fighting the job discrimination policy, especially when I experienced the hatred first hand. One night I was at a Rwandan club, watching a world cup game, when my friend was approached by one of the men there. He asked her why I had my nose pierced; whether it was for fashion or because I was homosexual. To be safe she told him it was just the style back in America, but then asked what would happen if it was the other reason. His response: I would be arrested and killed.
PAUSE, this was the only time I was treated poorly because of my appearance so don’t use this as an excuse to write all of Rwanda as homophobes, but I will admit that I got out of that place as soon as I could. I had dealt with people calling me a fag and telling me I would burn in hell since coming out in middle school, but never had my life been put on the line. Since that experience I have never been able to forget that our LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters are facing so much more than not being able to get a job.
This isn’t to say the fight for job equality isn’t justified, but there are bigger battles being fought by smaller troops. My challenge for you: read what you can on the LGBTQIA+ situation in other countries. While some are welcoming most developing nations continue to have a stigma against same-sex attraction. During my time in Rwanda I was able to study development philosophy and the idea of Westernization. We need to distinguish “first world free thinking” from basic human rights, and from there build bridges between both sides. To make this into a war for equality would only create an even worse depiction of LGBTQIA individuals. It’s hard to say, but we need to prove that we are regular humans, just like any heterosexual.
RESOURCES
Gettleman, Jeffrey (3 January 2010). Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push, The New York Times. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
Rwembeho, Stephen and Eugene Mutara (12 March 2008). Homosexuality in Rwanda? Yes, it lives. The NewTimes.
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Jesse Steele is a senior studying communications and political science. Over the past few years he has fallen in love with the developing world, especially Latin America, and plans on doing work in the field of public health. For now, you can find him running Chester’s and planning Gordon’s first Model UN conference.
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