Homosexuality: You Can Overrule the Law, But can you overrule the mind?

[Slender Agenda]

Towards the end of the year we saw the lifting of the anti-gay bill in Uganda that was proposed, signed and brought into existence by Ugandan President Museveni. This bill made homosexuality illegal with death as punishment should you be caught indulging in homosexuality or “attempted homosexuality”, whatever that means.


Interestingly enough, this ban was not just for domestic Ugandans but applied to those outside the country. Ugandans involved in same sex acts outside the country were meant to be extradited for punishment back inUganda. This also extended to media organizations and non-governmental organizations that supported LGBT rights.


In Tanzania, we are not too far from this, according to the Penal Code, acts between men are illegal with a 14 year to life sentence in prison. Hon, Ezekiel Wenje, member of parliament claims that homosexuality in our country is running rampant because we do not have stricter laws in the country against homosexuality.


After a lot of activism, and withdrawals of funds from their major donors, Uganda officially took off the anti-gay law. But what does this mean for the homosexuals?


Brizan Ogollan, founder of Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp that harbors fleeing homosexuals from Uganda said of the lifting of the bill, “they knew at an international level and at the diplomatic level, the decision is going to have an impact, but at the local level, it wont really.You can overrule the law, but you cant overrule the mind.”


When it comes to social morals and norms, it is interesting to note how things are only as relevant as they are needed to be in a particular moment. Things are only as significant as they are required to be to serve a particular group of persons interest.


An illustration: during the colonial era, colonialists, sold us religion in exchange for our land. We discarded our former methods of worship, lost track of one-ness amongst ourselves and each other. Now that they are done with serving their purpose, they are bringing up conspiracy theories against religion and selling it to us.


Another illustration: I'd like to believe that every religion, regardless of who they worship advocates the “loving” of one another, of humanity and that “God” is the supreme judge of all human actions. Taking Christianity as an example, people are called to“love one another” and all sins are considered the same, regardless of how small your action. Divorce is wrong, fornication is wrong, lying is wrong, but for some reason no one is getting up and signing petitions to put to death people who divorce.


Does this not say something about the shallowness of society, the rules we live by and how they are all there to further one group's interest? When we say homosexuality is wrong because the Bible/religion says so, why are we not getting up in arms and fighting for all the other things that religion says is wrong?

 

[Elizabeth Dominic]

I say life is about discrimination. Just delve deep into it you'll find that the struggle isn't really against homosexuality but rather the West's imposition.

 

[Slender Agenda]

True. But what i find interesting is how religion (christianity) is in fact a western "imposition" and people forget that. whereas homosexuality is something that has been happening and still happens in african cultures in both male and female genders. There are tribes in western africa where women are more powerful than the men and are therefore allowed to come together and be a family.

 

[Elizabeth Dominic]

True. But what i find interesting is how religion (christianity) is in fact a western "imposition" and people forget that. whereas homosexuality is something that has been happening and still happens in african cultures in both male and female genders. There are tribes in western africa where women are more powerful than the men and are therefore allowed to come together and be a family.

To me Religion is right to promote/influence morality but nature is nature you can't escape the products of nature what you ought to do is always try to find balance. Everyone and everything get to be discrimanated. Just look, people are being discriminated based upon their age, gender, race etc
We will spend/waste hours talking about the West and their ways. How about discussing our ways?

 

[Ishmael]

Take a look at these statistics and note that the mental health issues are not due to social pressure and rejection by the majority of society who considers homosexuality to be aberrant.

• " . . . homosexuals are about 50% more likely to suffer from depression and engage in substance abuse than the rest of the population, reports Health24.com . . . the risk of suicide jumped over 200% if an individual had engaged in a homosexual lifestyle . . . the lifespan of a homosexual is on average 24 years shorter than that of a heterosexual . . . While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressures, empirical tests have shown that there is no difference in homosexual health risk depending on the level of tolerance in a particular environment. Homosexuals in the United States and Denmark--the latter of which is acknowledged to be highly tolerant of homosexuality--both die on average in their early 50's, or in their 40's if AIDS is the cause of death. The average age for all residents in either country ranges from the mid-to-upper-70s." (onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=255614)
• 73% of the psychiatrists in the American Psychiatric Association who responded to a survey by Harold I. Lief said that they thought that homosexual men are less happy than others. 70% percent said they believed that the homosexuals' problems were due more to personal conflicts than to social stigmatization. Study by Harold I. Lief, Sexual Survey Number 4: Current Thinking on Homosexuality, Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality 2 (1977), pp.110-111 (Cited in Growing Up Straight by George A. Reker)." (exodusglobalalliance.org/ishomosexualityhealthyp60.php)

 

[MR UNINFORMED]

All...in all...homesexuality is wrong by itself....not bse of religion...law or morality....is simply unnatural...!!

 

[Slender Agenda]

Dear @MRUNINFORMED and Ishmael thank you for getting us those statistics. First of all, those statistics in no way prove that homosexuality is "unnatural". My favourite part of your piece is "70% percent said they believed that the homosexuals' problems were due more to personal conflicts than to social stigmatization" i would like to ask you, what exactly results in people having "personal conflicts"? One cannot over rule the power that society plays on the mental health of people such as these. Personal conflicts are result of what one believes to be true versus what one has been taught to be true. And who exactly teaches one who to be and what to become if not society? Is it not then society that plays a role in these personal conflicts they have? How does one have "personal conflicts" except through interaction with society?

 

[Slender Agenda]

Pray do tell, what exactly are "our" ways? Do we still have "our" ways in a society that has become so intergrated with other cultures?

 

[Ishmael]

Dear @MRUNINFORMED and Ishmael thank you for getting us those statistics. First of all, those statistics in no way prove that homosexuality is "unnatural". My favourite part of your piece is "70% percent said they believed that the homosexuals' problems were due more to personal conflicts than to social stigmatization" i would like to ask you, what exactly results in people having "personal conflicts"? One cannot over rule the power that society plays on the mental health of people such as these. Personal conflicts are result of what one believes to be true versus what one has been taught to be true. And who exactly teaches one who to be and what to become if not society? Is it not then society that plays a role in these personal conflicts they have? How does one have "personal conflicts" except through interaction with society?

Professional psychiatrists say homosexual men are less happy: "A major study by Bell and Weinberg revealed that 78% of male homo-sexual "affairs" (relationships entered into with an intent of commitment) lasted less than three years. Only 12% lasted five years or longer.

You see, they have issues within which causes them not keep their unions. They are acting against nature. Most of them if not all, have "emotional health", "psychological health", and "physical health".

David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison conducted a non-random study of 156 stable committed male homosexual couples. They found that none of the over 100 couples that had been together for more than 5 years had been sexually monogamous or exclusive. The authors, themselves a gay couple, argued that for male couples, sexual monogamy is a passing stage of homophobia and that many homosexuals separate emotional fidelity and sexual exclusivity. What matters for male couples is emotional not physical faithfulness. Reference - D McWhirter and A Mattison, "The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop", (Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall).

 

[Slender Agenda]

Ishmael "You see, they have issues within which causes them not keep their unions. They are acting against nature. Most of them if not all, have "emotional health", "psychological health", and "physical health"." I think that that is an unfair study and we should take time to be analytical of studies and facts that are presented to us by "professionals" as they are not always acurate. Allow me to digress and give an illustration of the inaccuracies of "professionals" the first being Charles Darwin whose evolution theory stated that we as humans are origins of primates, because he is a "professional" do you thereby believe that you came from monkeys and the like of them? A second illustration is of a one celebrated Nobel Prize winner James Watson that says he did a DNA study that proved that Africans and black people are less intelligent that their white counter parts, do you therefore believe that Africans are not as intelligent as white people?

With all this, you argument on the basis of what "professionals" have said is null and void to me. Lastly, are you therefore saying that straight people do not experience "personal conflicts" or psychological or emotional effects? If you take the number of straight people in this world (note that their research was based on a sample taken from their area of the world and not the whole of it) are you saying that they do not experience the same things that they experience? If you look at the African culture that oppresses women in as many ways as possible, there are lots of un-reported and/or unrecognized cases of depression, emotional and psychological distress. But no one is doing studies on these because depression and the likes of it are not considered to be illnesses that affect black people.

 

[Ishmael]

Here is the link Gay Divorce A Higher Hurdle Than Marriage : NPR support the argument of divorce in homosexuality.

Very unfortunately, people see homosexuality as nature and norm, in contrast, we don't see animals who are practicing said diabolical acts. I don't recall seen gay Lions or gay goats if we are all animals per Charles Darwin.

Thank you Nyachiro L Kasese for putting emphasis on unnatural act of gays and lesbians, to wit. There is no scientific evidence that homosexuality is natural and people are born that way.

Gay Marriage is just a small part of the luciferic agenda to destroy humanity. Actually, the planned destruction of the economy is a LARGE part of the same agenda. Every year many homosexuals participate in public exhibitions of depravity known as 'gay pride' events. If there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, why do homosexuals need 'pride'?

 

[Slender Agenda]

Lol, Ishmael clearly you do not read enough, or rather you only read the things you find relevant and are not a wide reader. I am a sociologist by profession and a writer and a columnist. I read widely, i read things that are my business and things that are not. Now thank you very much for ignorantly and (proudly if i must add) mentioning that animals do not practice homosexuality when in fact they do. If you are too lazy to look for material to read on this, go watch some national geographic, if you do not have access to this feel free to youtube. Secondly, read about the practices of African tribes, pick up a book and get some knowledge, read about cultures in west africa, in east africa as well, read about your people before colonialisation, then come back and let's try discussing this issue again 🙂

Just a tit-bit for you my debate friend 🙂 did you know that religion on its own is a way to destroy humanity? Did you know that for centuries religion has been used to brain wash and control people? Did you know that the church works to the benefit of the government and capitalism? Get some books mahn, read.

In addition, go read about how humans are created in the womb, did you know that we all start out as females in our mother's wombs? What the clitoris is in the female elongates later to become a penis, our hormones determine whether we come out male or female. Did you also know that males have female hormones? But because their DNA reads them out as "male" the male hormones are more dominant and thus they are male. But there are cases in which males are born with excess female hormones and thus exhibit feminine qualities and there are women born with excess male hormones and therefore exhibit masculine qualities. I'm sure you are smart enough to figure how this in a way relates to homosexuality. Go figure.

 

[Slender Agenda]

LebronWade i did not say that at all, if you read me CORRECTLY i said, "in a way" i am not too sure how eloquent you are in english but that does not go to say that that is the SOLE reason for homosexuality. But as i said, y'all go pick up some books first since you believe so hard in "professionals" otherwise i cannot bring my mind to argue this any further. To each their own.

 

[Ishmael]

Lol, Ishmael clearly you do not read enough, or rather you only read the things you find relevant and are not a wide reader. I am a sociologist by profession and a writer and a columnist. I read widely, i read things that are my business and things that are not. Now thank you very much for ignorantly and (proudly if i must add) mentioning that animals do not practice homosexuality when in fact they do. If you are too lazy to look for material to read on this, go watch some national geographic, if you do not have access to this feel free to youtube. Secondly, read about the practices of African tribes, pick up a book and get some knowledge, read about cultures in west africa, in east africa as well, read about your people before colonialisation, then come back and let's try discussing this issue again 🙂

Reading doesn't mean anything, verificationism of what you read is what matters. Do you believe in Zeus? Does Zeus exist? You see, you read about Zeus, but you can not prove and or give evidence of his or her existence. So, prove to me or give me airtight evidence that gay Lions exists. Remember, your evidence must be, testable, repeatable, observable and falsifiable.

Just a tit-bit for you my debate friend 🙂 did you know that religion on its own is a way to destroy humanity? Did you know that for centuries religion has been used to brain wash and control people? Did you know that the church works to the benefit of the government and capitalism? Get some books mahn, read.

Unfortunately, I do not believe in religion nor follow any religion. I am a Christian and follow Omnipotent God. Christianity is not a region. You learn something today from me, in contrast, non theism is a religion. Refute if you can.

In addition, go read about how humans are created in the womb, did you know that we all start out as females in our mother's wombs? What the clitoris is in the female elongates later to become a penis, our hormones determine whether we come out male or female. Did you also know that males have female hormones? But because their DNA reads them out as "male" the male hormones are more dominant and thus they are male. But there are cases in which males are born with excess female hormones and thus exhibit feminine qualities and there are women born with excess male hormones and therefore exhibit masculine qualities. I'm sure you are smart enough to figure how this in a way relates to homosexuality. Go figure.

Male are creators and not the vice versa, that is why Adam was created first, and out of Adam, Eve was created. You are just confirming that the Bible is Infallible.

What did is just singing to a Choir leader.

 

[Slender Agenda]

Lol, i like your mind @ishmael, you say "reading does not mean anything" and yet you quoted and sent links from sources that you READ. Secondly i do not believe in organized religion as well, but what really fascinates me is the fact that you say you do not believe in religion AND THEN you throw adam and eve in the mix! So much contradiction in your arguments :""")

Ps: you cannot say you do not follow religion BUT you are christian, you do know that christianity is a religion, right?? :""")

 

[msemakweli]