Some of the films in The Encounters Documentary Film Festival which kicks off its 13th year in Cape Town and Johannesburg today (till June 26), that I hope make it over here sometime:
And finally, “Robert Mugabe: What Happened?“
The Lion King Moment
May 12, 2011 By 2 Comments
Great scene from ABC’s “Modern Family,” a comedy series about a very traditional family.
The scene is featured on Sphere of Influence, a blog about stereotypes, by one of my students, Loren Lynch. Check out the blog.
The Life and Death of David Kato
January 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
By Heather Doyle
I first had the opportunity to meet David Kato three years ago when he and another colleague from the gay rights organization Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) flew from Uganda to Kenya to help us understand better the human rights situation in the country. David came to the meeting with his arm in a homemade sling after he was beaten by an angry mob who accused him of immorality because he was gay. After the attacks, he continued his human rights work with serious personal sacrifice.
Coming Out in Uganda
January 26, 2011 By 2 Comments
Frank Mungisha, an Ugandan gay rights activist included in The Advocate’s “Forty Under 40” list last year, will speak at The New School in Manhattan tomorrow night about his experiences. From the promotional material:
He has played a leading role in combating the “Anti-Homosexuality” bill proposed by the Ugandan legislature that threatens lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and their family members, with harassment, imprisonment and even death. In November 2010, Mugisha was targeted for elimination by the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, which urged the public to hang him along with 100 other suspected homosexuals.
More information here.
Everyone’s an African
September 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Brett Davidson
Regional lobby group, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), has drafted an equal rights manifesto in conversation with civil society, cultural and religious leaders from around the continent. It presents the arguments for why equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are a crucial element of African culture and Christian philosophy, in addition to being a public health and human rights imperative.
The manifesto goes into detail on four aspects of homophobia in Africa: African Culture, Christianity, Public Health, and Human Rights.
ARASA is calling for comments on the document by the 14th of October, after which they will invite individuals and organizations to endorse it and make use of it to begin changing attitudes and policies. Go check it out.
Working Class and Gay in South Africa
February 27, 2010 By 1 Comment
CNN has a story on why despite South Africa’s progressive laws, lesbians and gays are still under attack there. The basic moral of the piece is that if you’re middle class, you can form your own safe, comfortable communities even if other middle class people want to discriminate against you. If you’re working class–and South Africa is a very social conservative country, with the working classes holding some objectionable views too–and gay, then you condemned to a more precarious life.
Homosexuality is Illegal in 37 African Countries
February 2, 2010 By 3 Comments
Radio Netherlands International has a 51-minute, really good, program on the hysteria and violence against gay people on the continent. Guest include Ian Swartz, founder of a gay rights organisation in Namibia, and Scott Long from Human Rights Watch in New York.
KENYA TO CONDUCT “CENSUS” OF GAY POPULATION
October 29, 2009 By 2 Comments
So Uganda, with the help of their rightwing, American Christian boosters, want to “wipe out” gay people by making laws that bans even thinking about it. Now Kenya wants to do a “census” of its gay population. Their excuse is this is a way to fight AIDS. This is when it is common knowledge that most people infected with HIV and AIDS are straight and being gay is illegal (homosexual activity is punishable by up to 14 years in jail in Kenya).
UGANDA WANTS TO “WIPE OUT” GAYS
October 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Uganda’s Parliament–encouraged by American evangelicals (who converted Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni above)–last week introduced new draft legislation, The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, that will “… greatly expand criminal penalties against lesbians and gays.” Currently, “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” carries a sentence of up to 14 years imprisonment in Uganda’s penal code. The proposed legislation seeks to imprison anyone convicted of “the offense of homosexuality” for life, while “aggravated homosexuality,” will incur the death penalty.
More information:
AFRICA, AIDS AND HOMOPHOBIA
October 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Edwin Cameron, the first openly gay judge on South Africa’s Constitutional Court (the equivalent of the US Supreme Court; try that on the US court) is in New York City next week to receive a prize (The James Robert Brudner ’83 Memorial Prize worth $5000) from Yale University and give two lectures: one on LGBT Rights and a second on “Africa, AIDS, and Homophobia: The Other Epidemic.” You may remember that Cameron is also HIV positive and was one of the first people to call out former President Thabo Mbeki on the latter’s disastrous AIDS policies.
Here is a link to the event details.
The organizers is billing Cameroon as “… the man who wrote sexual orientation into South Africa’s Constitution.”
