NUBIAN KNIGHTS NETWORK: Ugandan Anti-homosexual BillThe Black Men's Xchange-New York (BMX-NY)e-Newsletter Editorial by John-Martin Green

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson

"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil

"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Ugandan Anti-homosexual Bill
The Black Men's Xchange-New York (BMX-NY)
e-Newsletter Editorial by John-Martin Green

Ugandan Anti-homosexual Bill
Editorial by John-Martin Green

In Uganda, legislation aimed at eradicating homosexuality is being considered by the government.

In her coverage of the story, MSNBC news analyst, Rachel Maddow has reported that a U.S. organization, "The Family" has conducted an anti-gay campaign in Uganda. Under the program, Ugandan President Museveni and lawmakers have been led to believe there is an "International Gay Agenda" at work in their country. In fact, as quiet as it's kept, there is. And, while we owe Maddow a profound debt of gratitude for her courageous coverage of this horrendous turn of events, I wonder that she doesn't realize that there is indeed such an agenda, and that she (inadvertently or otherwise) is a part of it.

Sylvia Tamale, a law professor at Makerere University in Uganda says it best: "Homosexuality or same-sex attractions have been part and parcel of African communities for time immemorial. But the terms 'homosexuality,' 'lesbian,' 'gay' - those are relatively new. And those are terms many Africans attracted to people of the same sex never use or never identify with."

Mind you, there is nothing sinister in the "International Gay Agenda." It is a natural extension of Gay Liberation, the homosexual self-determination movement started here in America. Part of the challenge for Africans is the gay liberation movement's advancement of gay identity, the cultural and political bearings of which are Eurocentric. Gay identity, as Professor Tamale reminds us, is not indigenous to Africa, but is a U.S. import. Even leftist NPR references the issue as one of "gay rights" in Uganda. While same-sex-attraction has been there from time immemorial, when did gay get into Uganda?

At the same time, and more importantly, there is an insidious International Anti-homosexual Agenda being advanced by reactionary American Evangelical Christians, including U.S. Senators and Congressmen with ties to Uganda (The Family) which has sparked this bill. It is in response to this neo-colonialist and potentially genocidal imperative that, as same gender loving African Americans, we are duty bound to reach out to our brethren and sisteren in Uganda in an effort to pull the wool from their eyes about their exploitation in this regard, and raise their consciousness about natural diversity among human kind.

The Black Men's Xchange-NY recognizes same gender loving experience as an intrinsic facet of everyday Black life and, as such, same gender loving people are deserving of the same respect and dignity as all other facets of human kind.