homosexuality

So,

first day interning for an awesome women's NGO in Kampala. Looking forward to spending the next three days taking part in some grassroots organising in the village. I am sitting at lunch, being the new girl when horror of horrors, the conversation turns to the latest bee in my bonnet; homosexuality.

One girl is talking about how she went to a meeting discussing homosexuality, and could not keep her head up because they were actually advocating for the rights of gay people. Which she believes is wrong. To paraphrase her words; if the meeting had been about how homosexuality is wrong, then she would have been able to put her head up without fear of being seen by the TV cameras present.

Returning to Africa after 3 and a half years in university in the United States comes with a certain amount of “reverse culture shock”. Not just culturally but personally because my views on life have grown and expanded due to the immeasurable impact of higher education and expatriate living. Coming home for me has had to include the unfortunate experience of wrapping some of my more radical opinions in tissue paper and putting them away, until I am better able to express them and the society I live in is more ready to accept them. When people are still struggling with the issue of basic human rights; having enough to eat and electing political representatives whose sole purpose is not self-aggrandizement, then the more abstract issues must be set aside, or at least related to this bigger picture.

No, really. Take a read of this conversation.

I know, I know, it starts out with some of the pretty familiar, by-the-script banter, but it gets "better".

Dad: "We [Jehovah's Witnesses] don't have anything against homosexuals."

Me: "But I mean, if I wanted to become a Jehovah's witness- what, God would just lift the desire out of me or something?"

Dad: "No, you would have to do what many in our religion already do, and refrain from having sexual relationships. Or choose to get married heterosexually. No one is going to question a decision of celibacy; many who are NOT homosexual already do so that they can serve Jehovah better."

Me: "So you, on the virtue of being heterosexual, would get to experience the wonderful joy of being in an intimate relationship with someone, but I wouldn't?"

Dad: "Jehovah made man and woman to be together. That was his original intention, with Adam and Eve.

I am so sick of hearing the words, "That's so gay," in the halls, in the classroom. It is hurtful and discriminatory, and is an epidemic that needs to stop.
It drives me crazy when I'm sitting in class and I hear the kid in the corner of the room saying that the assignment we're working on is "gay." They talk about it like it is a disease, and how anything unfair or stupid or wrong must be gay, because apparently all gays are diseased, unfair, stupid, and wrong. It's sickening. I almost cussed that kid out. He was ignorant, and obviously didn't realize that he was hurting people around him. Or he didn't care.

... you're not paying attention.

[So I had planned to head over to the computer lab after class and type up a blog about the Linguistics lecture I attended Friday on the differences in speech between males and females, which contained more sexism than one can possibly fit into 90 minutes. But then I realized that I'd forgotten the handout with the quotes I intended to use at home. So while I was contemplating going back after class to get them, the class started and I was presented with an alternative topic for my blog - rather than sexism, today's special will be homophobia. Clearly, there is no shortage of aggravating lectures.]

So I'm sure some of ya have heard the name Joy Williams and some of you haven't. As a point of reference she's sort of the latest christian popstar singer. I'm not a huge fan but my sister is and our families know eachother. Anyway we went to eat at her Mommy and Daddy's house one day down at Mount Hermon. My claim to fame? Meh...

So while we were packed in this house of God, my siblings and I happened to be in the living room randomly discussing due to lack of internet or gaming console, and we struck up a bit of conversation that might have better been put off until we got home. It seems worth sharing though I think. To add to the context, Joy's dad happens to be a big hunter. He had pelts and deer heads everywhere. It put my green nature on edge sort of. They seemed unusually accustomed to it though. "The hollow of death," seemed a fit name to me. Anyways, from there stemmed this conversation.

I've been ruminating on this for a long time... As some of you know, April 26 was the national Day of Silence. A couple of my friends and I were planning on participating, so in order to avoid getting in trouble for leading an unorganized student protest, which is against the rules in my school, we went to our principle and vice principle. We showed them the information, and had a discussion. John* isn't the best speaker, and Tasha* isn't normally someone you'd look to for guidance. So the principle ended up talking to ME. Trying to explain the reasons for participating in the Day of Silence when everyone's reason differs slightly is difficult. But I did my best. I showed them the pages we had printed out, full of information. Told them why we wanted to do it as LGBT youth. Lo and behold, being the conservative rulers of a conservative school, they told us they would have to think about it, talk for awhile. That was the first thing that made me a little angry. I just sat there while the principle told us that they would get back to us.

Feminism is such an interesting and controversial issue.

At fifteen, many people would call my feminist ideas typical teenage rebellion. Well, it’s not.

When I was seven, my parents divorced because my mother is homosexual. I did not know this until the next year or so, because no one particularly thought it pertinent to tell a seven year old why her family is being ripped to shreds. But that moment, when my sister and I were sitting on top of a concrete drain tube in the woods on our property, I realized so many of the injustices in the world, and I began to see how many of them dealt with women in general.