you betta watch it honey!

So here’s yet another repost…another in/direct relay of the shit that our east afrikan “media” personalities spew….as with everything else nowadays,we ain’t agonising, so much as, using this homo & trans phobic backlash to organise ourselves & advocate for queer/trans rights.

in other words, we’re  TAKING BACK SPACE!

you’re right Caroline, we have much more important shit to deal with. I resent that folks like you, who getting paid plenty nuff to get people’s attention and sell stuff, that you would waste airtime with such ignorance and (mis) understanding, that you would trigger me to JUS HAVTA  respond

……tolerance is not equated with sticking your head in the sand or allowing for hate to flourish. I told this to John Allan Namu, and I’ll tell this to you, sometimes you just need to go by a really simple rule of thumb. if you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t say nothing at all. (and yes, that one is another tricky principle to negotiate…but I’ll show you an example of the power there is in language….I’mm check you, en still keep it positive….practise long enough and you can do it too)

both you (en John Allan Namu) need to sign up for our upcoming AO101  workshops. If like you say, Caroline, there are so many  “gay” folk that you support, and kudos for trying, then I’m sure you would jump at the chance of educating yourself on anti-oppression issues.

we all gots learning to do. and this will be my gift to you. I offer you a 2 – 3hr workshop, for you and your colleagues in March…at your convenience, where we will challenge homo/les/bi/trans phobia in a decolonization framework.

In other words, we’ll interrogate the intersections of our diversity and oppressions, and teach you more appropriate words than gay, like queer, & ” so gay” like neo colonialism & the masters tools will never dismantle the master’s house……and you can learn more about the role of allies, and all those folks in the closet…..most importantly, you’ll hear from people who’re OUT  of the closet, and won’t take you shoving us back inside…relegating us to sensationalist news items on the latest western craze and 2 gay men getting married in the  UK.

and dear reader, this post is for you too,  judge for yourself if Caroline needs any checking on her “issues”..

here’s what she had to say, in her own words.

THIS IS WHAT CAROLINE MUTOKO OF KISS FM wrote last week concerning an issue that was raised by many listeners of their sister station- CLASSIC 105 when the on air presenters went on and on poking fun at the gay community and concluding by telling their listerners to SLAP THE GAYNESS out of any gay person they meet in Kenya…………………..

*The violence in Kenya in 2007 can never be compared to the intolerance Kenya and Africa have for gay people. It trivializes the issues we underwent politically and ethically. The very people who suffered in 2007 would be shocked and disgusted to think some small minded people think it’s the same thing. How you chose to have sex cannot and does not compare to the suffering of our IDPS.*

*I am tolerant of homosexuals, period. When I start getting garbage in the name of the “persecuted minorities” then I have to put an end to it. There’s a threshold to how tolerant I or anyone can be of something that whether you like it or not, goes against the very sensibilities of more than 90% of humanity, let alone Kenyans.*

No single media personality has given the homosexuals in this country more air-time or space to speak and be heard without judging them than I have. So spare me the crap and the moral high-ground on what I can or cannot say and whether or not Nick and Marcus were right or wrong. There are homosexuals who work with us how do you want to know I care? Would you like to me “out” them so you can ask them if Caroline is legitimate.

What Kenya went through in early 2008 and this nonsense with the homosexuals cannot and should not be compared at all. How fickle can you be.

I can be tolerant, and tolerant I am, but I don’t have to embrace it and I sure as hell don’t have to apologise for saying it’s a none issue if I think so. There are bigger issues in this nation to deal with right now and the fact that afew homosexuals are hurt because Marcus and Nick said, give them a quick slap is beyond logic.

(NO SHE DI(UH)N!!!!!!)

From [*Name*], to [*Name*], to [*Name*], [*Name*], the organisation called Forgotten Sheep, [*Name*], [*Name*], [*Name*], to [*Name*] and [*Name*], to [*Name*] and [*Name*], to [*Name*] and [*Name*] and not to mention [*Name*] and [*Name*] who still rely on me for cash and jobs, I am very tolerant of homosexuals in Kenya. I’m not some silly little talking head looking for cheap publicity, I actually keep their confidences, respect their secrets and accept they want to remain in the closet.

(Yes! This is ironically THE  Harvey milk moment of this rant)

They come to my show, call me and take me into confidence because they know I get it. I’m their go-to-person. But when some air-heads thinks this is their new soap box to get mileage, you’ve got another think coming.

Incidentally, can you all get back to work, Paul Ilado, Patrick Quarcoo and myself have real issues to deal with. Caroline.

PS- SHE HAS WRITTEN ANOTHER LONG ARTICLE TITLED-  SO YOU’RE GAY, SO WHAT????

in todays THE STAR newspaper…..

 

on taking up space: repost/ed

here’s the blog discovery of the day, forwarded from a/nother MWA  dada. ase m’khana.

below is, michael mumo on the issue of the (heavy) backlash against queer/trans afrikan communities in recent times.

watch this blog for the delayed reaction.kesho.

This is one of those blogs that I know will provoke derision but I will throw prudence out of the window and write it nonetheless.

I’ve quietly been following debate on the gay partnership between two consenting Kenyan adults in the UK over the past few days and feel compelled to say the following;

The Kenyan media has unfairly demonised occupants of a homestead in Murang’a over the sexual orientation of one of their own who has chosen a particular (or is it odd?) lifestyle.

What moral authority does the media hold to dictate what is correct or incorrect in society?  Haven’t they told us that one man’s meat may be another man’s poison?

For a start, the civil union was conducted in the UK where the act is legal.As such, the couple has not committed any crime.  They did not cement the union here in Kenya where such an act is still unlawful.

Let me pose this… If you were to count the number of thieves sitting in the so-called Grand Coalition government you’d fall asleep before you’re done.Why haven’t we made it a big deal as we have this particular gay saga?

Why haven’t I seen the media troop to the homes of those politicians to demand to know from their mothers if they know their sons and daughters are crooks? I think I have the answer…  It’s because it is not the business of my folks to determine what I decide to do once I turn 18.It is also none of your business! 

If our TV crews expended so much energy on the moral high ground as we did on this story, then we would have changed Kenya for the better decades ago.

We should leave Charles Ngengi and his ‘bride’ Daniel Chege Gichia to enjoy their honeymoon on the sunny beaches of Brighton in the south of the UK. They are roughly 7,000 kilometers away from us and their partnership is unlikely to influence our way of life.

For what it’s worth, theirs would have been a quiet union had it not been for the prying media who intruded our quiet ‘moral’ lifestyles, which they have now ‘polluted’ with ‘normal’ goings on in a part of North London.

We should accept divergent orientations and views, especially if they do not affect you and pose no risk. This world is not about what you imagine to be right or wrong – right according to whom?  What you imagine is right may be wrong according to someone in Islington – or Kawangware for that matter.

There! I’ve said it.  Bring on the affection or hate.

For the record; I’m not anywhere near gay.

 

the most important thing in life is….

to learn how to give love and to let it come in.

 in the spirit of love en resistance,

here’s another gift (yes yes y’all! tis’ the giving season)

more s/heroes waxing LIBERATORY  about  OUR  stories.

iS.I.S: you are beautiful

 

Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill is “UnDemocratic” & “UnAfrican”

By Nthateng Mhlambiso (BTM managing Editor)

UGANDA – 16 October 2009: Frustrations are mounting among Ugandan gays and lesbians over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill tabled in Parliament of Uganda on Wednesday, prohibiting homosexual acts, distribution of gay related material, any public discussion or expression of gay and lesbian lives and any organizing around sexual orientation.

Sexual Minorities Uganda, an umbrella organisation of gay rights organisations has said that this “repressive” Bill is a blow to a “steady” progress of democracy in the country.

It stated that the Bill violates the basic rights to freedom of expression, conscience, association, and assembly, as well as internationally recognised protections against discrimination.

“its [the Bill] intention is to divide and discriminate against the Ugandan homosexual population, and exclude them from participation in public life, which goes against the inclusive spirit necessary for our economic as well as political development. Its spirit is profoundly undemocratic and un-African”, SMUG said in a statement.

SMUG revealed that increasing campaigns against gays and lesbians have led to severe violence resulting in many unwarranted arrests and several deaths of homosexual people.

I added “this bill aggravates stigma and hatred and renders all promised protections enshrined in the constitution for all Ugandan citizens void.”

Uganda has, according to SMUG, repeatedly pledged to defend these fundamental freedoms in the Constitutiom, has signed treaties binding it to respect international human rights law and standards including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

“As part of the community of nations forming sexual minorities we urge Ugandan parliamentarians and government to continue to respect these principles and reject this bill, which establishes a new and totally undemocratic level of policing private life.”

“These positions will further set a dangerous precedent and send a signal that any Ugandan’s privacy is unguaranteed -that all of our civil society could be put under attack. If this bill is passed into law, it will clearly endanger the work of all human rights defenders and members of civil society in Uganda”, SMUG said.

“As the Sexual Minorities in Uganda, we urge you to act on that obligation, and to
further the growth of our democracy. Kindly vote against this bill”, SMUG concluded.

 

that thing YOU do!

 

now sit down David Bahati, sit down parliament of Uganda,

(all homophobes line up here)

and just SHUT UP  en listen!

 

the most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love….

 

the state of trans organising in Toronto

consider this an illustration of a case study in differences. and ask yourself the question when do you think we’ll have something similar in East Afrika? is it necessary for us?

should we get SRS enlisted first? should we pressure the government to enable trans & intersex people to change the sex on their birth certificates? shoud we advocate for all the constitutional rights that trans & intersex Afrikans need before taking to the streets? what would our numbers be? who would come out and support?

I confess, I have many more questions than answers, and I’d love to recruit ever single person that walked in this parade to walk a similar one in solidarity with the ongoing campaign to repeal sodomy laws throughout the continent and fight that anti homosexuality bill in Uganda.

what do you think we can do to continue making the lives of queer/trans people throughout the world safer?

Tdot’s 1st Transgender March Friday June 27th 2009

 

the state of queer & trans organising in East Afrika

this is part of what I’m going to be talking about tomorrow at the, aforementioned, roundtable discussion……this interviews was part of the original series that I was going to release this week, but if you’ve been following the posts. there’s been drama. therefore as life is, as my pal lynn always likes repeating to me, everytrhing changes….nothing remains the same.

 

it doesn’t matter what I had intended. it matters what is important now. like that impending anti homosexuality bill in Uganda. have you heard the latest? I’m still waiting for more details, which speaks volumes about the gaps we face in organising, because, I for one, should know better.

 

my partner works in Uganda, has been dealing with repurcussions of all these acts. and yet we hardly talk anymore. we both so caught up. so busy. looking for money. looking for people to listen to the case of this person who was arrested for…..and this other one who was assualted for….and other one who dies….we are faced with the multitasking goliath of conferences, capacity building, fundraising, interviews, arguments, and ltos of fighting. you get used to secrecy.

 

if you;ve been paying attention, I’ve been exploring the subject of secrecy and truth telling. but enough about what was, or is, here’ something else…

 

another teacher.

we are the survivors.

we are the ones we’re looking for.

 in this post, I (re) introduce you to Audrey Mbugua,

one of my comrades, who’s one of the  foot soldiers & village intellectuals at the forefront of queer & trans activism in East Afrika today.

ase.

She is one of the founders of Transgender Education and Advocacy,

 the only organisation focused on working on intersex & trans issues in Kenya.

how can you help?

donate money.

donate your time.

share your resources.

find out for youself what you can do.

 

warriors