Let me say at the outset that I do not think that prostitution is a healthy way to earn a living. Apart from being morally wrong and exploitative, prostitution is fraught with risks. Male and female prostitutes are under constant threat of being physically abused by their clients, of being beaten, arrested, and harassed by the police and of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Because prostitution is illegal, prostitutes are seen as criminals, and therefore have to operate under the cover of darkness — literally. But apart from the physical hazards associated with
the profession, there is the psychological trauma of having sex with multiple partners with whom one has no emotional relationship.
There is something deeply degrading and soul-destroying about being paid to perform sexual acts for strangers. Women, in particular, need intimacy and emotional connection during sex. Prostitutes have to shut down this emotional side in order to do their job.
Then there is the stigma associated with the profession.
Prostitutes are looked down upon — there are derogatory words in every language for
women who engage in prostitution. (Ironically, there are no such words for the clients of prostitutes.)
The dark — and often unrecognised — side of this profession is that many prostitutes are trafficked and sold. Many do not enter this area of work voluntarily — they are often threatened,
drugged, forced, and beaten into submission. They tell harrowing stories of being victims of rape or incest, of drug addiction induced by pimps (who then use the addiction to extract money
from them), and of being sold into prostitution by their own relatives.
Some voluntarily become prostitutes simply because they cannot find other types of work. When children have to be fed and schooled, the single mother with no job may turn to prostitution to
put food on the table. Having said that, it is also true that prostitution — often referred to as the
oldest profession in the world — will not go away simply by criminalising it.
Throughout the world, red light districts have formed an integral part of cities. Brothels, pimps, and high class “escort services” can be found everywhere, from London to New Delhi. Even in very conservative societies, where women’s sexuality is heavily guarded by social mores, prostitution is seen as a necessary evil that allows young men to gain sexual experience. In
fact, in these societies, men often have their first sexual experience with female (or male) prostitutes. (Women have to wait till they get married.)
During Mughal rule in India and in Japan’s geisha culture, for instance, prostitutes had a special,
elevated place in society. They were trained not only in the art of pleasing men physically, but cerebrally as well. Many undertook years of training in the arts, such as dancing, singing, and
poetry.
As long as there is a demand for paid sex, prostitution will exist. This does not mean it should be encouraged, but it does warrant some sort of regulation so that the so-called sex workers are not exploited and abused. Legalising prostitution will mean that prostitutes would be able to conduct their business without fear of harassment by the police. They would be able to sue clients and
pimps who physically abuse or exploit them. Because it would be recognised as a legal profession, prostitutes would be able to form unions and associations.
With labour rights, they could demand leave days and pensions from brothel owners. And because they would not have to lie about what they do, prostitutes would be counted in surveys
and targeted appropriately by social services, including HIV counselling.
Moreover, since they would be part of the formal economy, prostitutes and their clients would be subject to taxation, thereby contributing to the national economy.
It was perhaps these thoughts that crossed Nairobi mayor George Aladwa’s mind when he recently suggested that prostitution be legalised. Perhaps he should also extend this debate
to other towns as well, especially tourist resorts.
In Mombasa and Malindi, tourists openly pay for sex with girls and boys, while locals look on helplessly. Wrinkled octogenarian mzungus can be seen “dating” Kenyans young enough to be their grandchildren. The legalisation of prostitution could curb child prostitution as regulatory bodies would, ideally, play an oversight role.
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Rasna Warah - Proposal to legalise prostitution is based on reality, not mere morality
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John Sibi-Okumu: Let's tolerate gays like India and USA - The Star
I noted that on July 2, 2009, the High Court in Delhi had ruled to decriminalise homosexuality, pinpointing a 148-year-old statute in section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which defines homosexual acts as, carnal acts against the order of nature' and deeming it' an antithesis of the right to equality.'
True, this ruling did not apply countrywide, it was still subject to appeal and the Constitution was yet to be changed to accommodate it.
October found me in America as director of the Kenyan musical MO FAYA that was a guest production at the New York Festival of Musical Theatre.
Having a keen interest in local journalism, my attention was drawn to a second, gay scenario from a discarded newspaper in the subway.
A news brief from Washington on the weekend of October 9-11,2009, said 'The House voted Thursday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, expanding the hate crimes law enacted' after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. With Senate passage expected, federal prosecutors will be able to intervene in cases of violence against gays.'
I returned to Kenya to register my third gay scenario: Two Kenyan Men Wed in London' declared a weekend daily on its Society page on October 18,2009. With the sub-heading 'Couple make history as first to be recognised under 2005 British law on same sex relations.'
This news triggered vitriolic responses. Newspaper rubrics in the same newspaper flowed fast and furious.
In responding to these scenarios, I was challenged to think about what I myself thought.
India is the country that seems to have tackled-the excesses we have in common head on. It has had invariably capable and selfless leaders, has welcomed individual initiative while seeking to expand the quality of life amongst all its citizens.
With one hundred or so TV channels, India has championed the role of the media as watchdogs of the people. And now we saw a judge who, instead of saying 'We're doing what we're doing because the British colonialists told us so,' had the guts to confront tradition when it needed to be confronted. Good for India!
It was noteworthy that Americans were making linkages between human freedoms. That the struggle for racial equality that came to a head with the Civil Rights Movement, preceded one for equality of gender, which in turn was leading to a fight against homophobic acts in all their manifestations. Good for the USA! .
The Kenyan scenario led me to question the more harshly opinionated views of my relatives, friends and acquaintances: Yes, indeed, homosexuality to the 'born again' Christian was an abomination unto the Lord. Read the Word of God in Leviticus 23:13, I was told.
I did: 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.'
Read the Word of God in 1st Corinthians 7:9, I was told.
I did: 'Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral-nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.'
There were more condemnations spread across the Bible. So what if your own child proved to be gay? I would disown them, came the reply.
At that point we agreed to abandon the urge to become armchair theologians. The irony that one of the newspaper headlines in this season of debate proved to be 'Caught in the act - Bishop and lover stripped naked by mob in Kisumu,' was lost on my righteous friends.
Then there were the traditionalists whose mantra is that homosexuality is against African tradition and a pernicious import from the White Man. In other words, that black people have genetic coding that makes them entirely different from everybody else in the world.
The irony that such an argument had led and still leads some to label black Africans as hopeless primitives was lost on them. With these diehards, of whom there were surprisingly many; the admission that some of my best friends, some of them black like me, were homosexuals held no sway.
The conjecture that I myself might be gay, hiding against the sexual carapace of heterosexuality held no sway. Bad for Kenya!
To nail my colours well and truly to the mast, I think that on the high road to tolerance and accommodation we Africans are amongst those holding up the rear. We would do well to try and catch up with others elsewhere as quickly as humanly possible. There! I stand to be condemned.
John Sibi-Okumu is a teacher, writer and media personality. This article was first published in the quarterly Awaaz Magazine.
True, this ruling did not apply countrywide, it was still subject to appeal and the Constitution was yet to be changed to accommodate it.
October found me in America as director of the Kenyan musical MO FAYA that was a guest production at the New York Festival of Musical Theatre.
Having a keen interest in local journalism, my attention was drawn to a second, gay scenario from a discarded newspaper in the subway.
A news brief from Washington on the weekend of October 9-11,2009, said 'The House voted Thursday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, expanding the hate crimes law enacted' after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. With Senate passage expected, federal prosecutors will be able to intervene in cases of violence against gays.'
I returned to Kenya to register my third gay scenario: Two Kenyan Men Wed in London' declared a weekend daily on its Society page on October 18,2009. With the sub-heading 'Couple make history as first to be recognised under 2005 British law on same sex relations.'
This news triggered vitriolic responses. Newspaper rubrics in the same newspaper flowed fast and furious.
In responding to these scenarios, I was challenged to think about what I myself thought.
India is the country that seems to have tackled-the excesses we have in common head on. It has had invariably capable and selfless leaders, has welcomed individual initiative while seeking to expand the quality of life amongst all its citizens.
With one hundred or so TV channels, India has championed the role of the media as watchdogs of the people. And now we saw a judge who, instead of saying 'We're doing what we're doing because the British colonialists told us so,' had the guts to confront tradition when it needed to be confronted. Good for India!
It was noteworthy that Americans were making linkages between human freedoms. That the struggle for racial equality that came to a head with the Civil Rights Movement, preceded one for equality of gender, which in turn was leading to a fight against homophobic acts in all their manifestations. Good for the USA! .
The Kenyan scenario led me to question the more harshly opinionated views of my relatives, friends and acquaintances: Yes, indeed, homosexuality to the 'born again' Christian was an abomination unto the Lord. Read the Word of God in Leviticus 23:13, I was told.
I did: 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.'
Read the Word of God in 1st Corinthians 7:9, I was told.
I did: 'Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral-nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.'
There were more condemnations spread across the Bible. So what if your own child proved to be gay? I would disown them, came the reply.
At that point we agreed to abandon the urge to become armchair theologians. The irony that one of the newspaper headlines in this season of debate proved to be 'Caught in the act - Bishop and lover stripped naked by mob in Kisumu,' was lost on my righteous friends.
Then there were the traditionalists whose mantra is that homosexuality is against African tradition and a pernicious import from the White Man. In other words, that black people have genetic coding that makes them entirely different from everybody else in the world.
The irony that such an argument had led and still leads some to label black Africans as hopeless primitives was lost on them. With these diehards, of whom there were surprisingly many; the admission that some of my best friends, some of them black like me, were homosexuals held no sway.
The conjecture that I myself might be gay, hiding against the sexual carapace of heterosexuality held no sway. Bad for Kenya!
To nail my colours well and truly to the mast, I think that on the high road to tolerance and accommodation we Africans are amongst those holding up the rear. We would do well to try and catch up with others elsewhere as quickly as humanly possible. There! I stand to be condemned.
John Sibi-Okumu is a teacher, writer and media personality. This article was first published in the quarterly Awaaz Magazine.
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Gwvnne Dyer: Africans May Soon Openly Discuss Sex: The Star
It was ostensibly about obscenity, but it was really about corruption and censorship — and in the end, justice prevailed.
On Monday a Zambian court found journalist Chansa Kabwela not guilty of "distributing obscene material with intent to corrupt public morals."
What obscene material?
She had sent photographs of a woman giving birth in a hospital parking lot during a nurses' strike to senior government officials.
President Rupiah Banda called a press conference and declared the photographs "pornographic."
Soon after, Kabwela was arrested on obscenity charges. She faced a five-year jail sentence if she were found guilty — but Banda's real motive was probably the fact that the newspaper Kabwela works for, the Post, constantly accuses him of corruption.
The Post is probably right. Banda succeeded Levy Mwanawasa, a President of unquestioned integrity, after the latter died of a stroke last year.
But unlike Mwanawasa, he has failed to pursue the previous President, Frederick Chiluba, a monumentally corrupt man. An unsympathetic observer might wonder if some of Chiluba's stolen millions have bought Banda's complicity.
The Post wonders that out loud, so Banda went after its news editor, Kabwela. The pictures she sent out were not pornographic. Rather, they were horrific: images of a woman in the midst of a breech birth, the baby's legs dangling out between her own while its head was still inside her.
It all happened in a hospital parking lot (she had already been turned away from two clinics), but nobody would help her because of the strike, and the baby suffocated.
Her appalled and furious relatives brought pictures of the scene to the Post. Kabwela did not publish them because they were so upsetting, but she sent copies to senior officials together with a letter urging them to intervene and settle the strike. That's when Banda declared the images pornographic and had her arrested.
The courts are still independent in Zambia, and in the end Kabwela was found not guilty — but many of the witnesses were genuinely more shocked by photographs of a woman naked from the waist down than by the horror of what was actually happening.
As one witness said: "We are all Zambians here. We all know this is not allowed in our culture."
The word you're looking for is "prudish," and it applies to a lot of African popular culture.
Never mind what's actually happening. We don't want to hear about it, and we certainly don't want to see it. The Zambian elite has been devastated by HIV/Aids — the higher the social class, the worse the death rate — and yet nobody wants to talk about sex, let alone about the links between sex, power and violence.
Go a thousand kilometres (miles) south to South Africa, and the gulf between appearances and reality is even wider.
Last June the country's Medical Research Council published a study about rape and HIV which reported that 28 per cent of South African men admitted to having raped a woman or a girl. (A further 3 per cent said they had raped a man or boy.)
Almost half the rapists said they had raped more than one person, and three-quarters of them said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20. They didn't use condoms, and they were twice as likely to be HIV-positive than non-rapists.
This is a national calamity that is killing more people than a middle-sized war, and causing a huge amount of pain and grief. Yet few South Africans are even willing to talk about it.
Many Africans will be feeling very defensive at this point, but a lot of this reminds me of where I grew up. There was an amazing amount of low-level violence around — you saw it literally every day — and there was also a huge amount of sexual predation.
In the boys' school I went to, the male teachers molested the boarders on an industrial scale, although day-boys like me were fairly safe. And none of it was ever admitted or discussed in public.
Now I live in a culture where we are no longer prudes. Everything is out in the open, including trivialised, commercialised sex.
Around half of all marriages end in divorce, but gays, once persecuted and forced to hide, can also get married if they want to. You can still mugged in the street, but the level of casual violence — usually men beating up on women or kids — is sharply down. I bet that the real figures for rape are down a lot too.
I like the transformed culture I live in now a lot better — and it occurs to me that what we are seeing in Africa now may be as transitional as what I grew up with in Newfoundland.
In which case the moral and cultural changes that socially conservative Africans see as a descent into darkness may actually be a move towards the light.
Dyer is a UK-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
On Monday a Zambian court found journalist Chansa Kabwela not guilty of "distributing obscene material with intent to corrupt public morals."
What obscene material?
She had sent photographs of a woman giving birth in a hospital parking lot during a nurses' strike to senior government officials.
President Rupiah Banda called a press conference and declared the photographs "pornographic."
Soon after, Kabwela was arrested on obscenity charges. She faced a five-year jail sentence if she were found guilty — but Banda's real motive was probably the fact that the newspaper Kabwela works for, the Post, constantly accuses him of corruption.
The Post is probably right. Banda succeeded Levy Mwanawasa, a President of unquestioned integrity, after the latter died of a stroke last year.
But unlike Mwanawasa, he has failed to pursue the previous President, Frederick Chiluba, a monumentally corrupt man. An unsympathetic observer might wonder if some of Chiluba's stolen millions have bought Banda's complicity.
The Post wonders that out loud, so Banda went after its news editor, Kabwela. The pictures she sent out were not pornographic. Rather, they were horrific: images of a woman in the midst of a breech birth, the baby's legs dangling out between her own while its head was still inside her.
It all happened in a hospital parking lot (she had already been turned away from two clinics), but nobody would help her because of the strike, and the baby suffocated.
Her appalled and furious relatives brought pictures of the scene to the Post. Kabwela did not publish them because they were so upsetting, but she sent copies to senior officials together with a letter urging them to intervene and settle the strike. That's when Banda declared the images pornographic and had her arrested.
The courts are still independent in Zambia, and in the end Kabwela was found not guilty — but many of the witnesses were genuinely more shocked by photographs of a woman naked from the waist down than by the horror of what was actually happening.
As one witness said: "We are all Zambians here. We all know this is not allowed in our culture."
The word you're looking for is "prudish," and it applies to a lot of African popular culture.
Never mind what's actually happening. We don't want to hear about it, and we certainly don't want to see it. The Zambian elite has been devastated by HIV/Aids — the higher the social class, the worse the death rate — and yet nobody wants to talk about sex, let alone about the links between sex, power and violence.
Go a thousand kilometres (miles) south to South Africa, and the gulf between appearances and reality is even wider.
Last June the country's Medical Research Council published a study about rape and HIV which reported that 28 per cent of South African men admitted to having raped a woman or a girl. (A further 3 per cent said they had raped a man or boy.)
Almost half the rapists said they had raped more than one person, and three-quarters of them said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20. They didn't use condoms, and they were twice as likely to be HIV-positive than non-rapists.
This is a national calamity that is killing more people than a middle-sized war, and causing a huge amount of pain and grief. Yet few South Africans are even willing to talk about it.
Many Africans will be feeling very defensive at this point, but a lot of this reminds me of where I grew up. There was an amazing amount of low-level violence around — you saw it literally every day — and there was also a huge amount of sexual predation.
In the boys' school I went to, the male teachers molested the boarders on an industrial scale, although day-boys like me were fairly safe. And none of it was ever admitted or discussed in public.
Now I live in a culture where we are no longer prudes. Everything is out in the open, including trivialised, commercialised sex.
Around half of all marriages end in divorce, but gays, once persecuted and forced to hide, can also get married if they want to. You can still mugged in the street, but the level of casual violence — usually men beating up on women or kids — is sharply down. I bet that the real figures for rape are down a lot too.
I like the transformed culture I live in now a lot better — and it occurs to me that what we are seeing in Africa now may be as transitional as what I grew up with in Newfoundland.
In which case the moral and cultural changes that socially conservative Africans see as a descent into darkness may actually be a move towards the light.
Dyer is a UK-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
Charles Ngengi and Daniel Gichia: Media Scandalised our Union as Gays - The Star
Over the last 10 days or so, the media have presented our lives in the UK in both a sensational and misrepresented way.
At no time did they show either respect or bother to check out the accuracy of the information that they have been reporting.
We are extremely disappointed and concerned about what the media, and specifically the Daily Nation, are telling Kenyans. We are fully aware of the laws in Kenya, when it comes to homosexuality.
Have you ever thought that one's sexuality is something that you are born with? Of course you can try to suppress it or simply mislead people in an attempt to protect yourself from the homophobic elements within the Kenyan society as a whole.
It is sad but many people have to do this. Or you can leave your native country and go and live in a place where gay people can live in peace without extreme prejudice or, worse than that, the fear of survival.
We have chosen to live our lives based on love rather than hatred or fear. God knows we would have liked to have had freedom in our own country but the media has made it quite clear that our lives could be at risk simply because we have done something outside of Kenyan law, as it currently stands, noting that our old colonial masters have updated their laws on this matter.
The facts are as follows. It is true that on October 17, we entered into a partnership under the Civil Partnership Act, which came into effect as a legal statute within British Law in 2005.
The background to introducing this law was based on the rulings made in The Hague regarding human rights, specifically to cover co-habitation outside of marriage as a religious ceremony recognised by the church.
If marriage (as a religious ceremony) is taken out of co-habitation then the sexuality of two people co-habiting is not relevant. Our own civil partnership had no religious significance whatsoever so words like 'husband' and 'wife' should not be used when reporting such events.
Civil Partnerships are meant to illustrate the legal rights of two people, co-habiting within society as a whole.
At no time did anybody working with the Kenyan news-papers make contact with either of us to discuss this subject from a balanced and legal point of view. Clearly the media simply decided to focus on the sensational side of the story and to make matters worse decided to put totally unreasonable pressure and embarrassment on our parents, immediate family and close friends in order to whip up bad feelings and potential acts of violence towards them.
Knowing that homosexuality is against the law in Kenya, we made the decision not to advise or involve our immediate friends and family in Kenya of what we had been planning to do.
This was not an easy decision as we would prefer to be totally transparent and honest with all concerned but our fear of recriminations on the people that we truly love forced us to keep quiet.
Of course the unbelievable actions of the media has proved beyond all doubt that that concern of ours was totally justifiable and now we pray to God that no harm will come to those who have had no input whatsoever on our decision.
The media has gone beyond the limits, in an outright attempt to increasingly scandalise the situation, by going directly to our parents in order to try and gather more details from them. Their objective is to try to discredit us by any means whatsoever and they feel justified in doing this.
Quite simply, our parents, family and friends have absolutely nothing to do with our private lives as we are both well over the legally stated age of 'consenting adults' and have not lived with our parents for many years.
It is unreasonable and shameful to think that we should live in denial or simply hide our feelings just to keep Kenya and the so-called Kenyan image clean.
Perhaps the image of Kenya should be viewed from another perspective. One of tribal differences and political animosity, such as the recent troubles that came very close to civil or tribal war, destroying both lives and property, jobs and business opportunities for many in January 2008. Surely that is where the energy to make Kenya 'clean' should be directed.
We ask the media to stop harassing and interfering with our private life, although we wish to put on record that we are willing to be interviewed professionally and non-judgmentally.
We ask the media to respect our wishes and decisions as mentioned above and will therefore treat us accordingly.
Gichia and Ngengi are civil partners under British law.
At no time did they show either respect or bother to check out the accuracy of the information that they have been reporting.
We are extremely disappointed and concerned about what the media, and specifically the Daily Nation, are telling Kenyans. We are fully aware of the laws in Kenya, when it comes to homosexuality.
Have you ever thought that one's sexuality is something that you are born with? Of course you can try to suppress it or simply mislead people in an attempt to protect yourself from the homophobic elements within the Kenyan society as a whole.
It is sad but many people have to do this. Or you can leave your native country and go and live in a place where gay people can live in peace without extreme prejudice or, worse than that, the fear of survival.
We have chosen to live our lives based on love rather than hatred or fear. God knows we would have liked to have had freedom in our own country but the media has made it quite clear that our lives could be at risk simply because we have done something outside of Kenyan law, as it currently stands, noting that our old colonial masters have updated their laws on this matter.
The facts are as follows. It is true that on October 17, we entered into a partnership under the Civil Partnership Act, which came into effect as a legal statute within British Law in 2005.
The background to introducing this law was based on the rulings made in The Hague regarding human rights, specifically to cover co-habitation outside of marriage as a religious ceremony recognised by the church.
If marriage (as a religious ceremony) is taken out of co-habitation then the sexuality of two people co-habiting is not relevant. Our own civil partnership had no religious significance whatsoever so words like 'husband' and 'wife' should not be used when reporting such events.
Civil Partnerships are meant to illustrate the legal rights of two people, co-habiting within society as a whole.
At no time did anybody working with the Kenyan news-papers make contact with either of us to discuss this subject from a balanced and legal point of view. Clearly the media simply decided to focus on the sensational side of the story and to make matters worse decided to put totally unreasonable pressure and embarrassment on our parents, immediate family and close friends in order to whip up bad feelings and potential acts of violence towards them.
Knowing that homosexuality is against the law in Kenya, we made the decision not to advise or involve our immediate friends and family in Kenya of what we had been planning to do.
This was not an easy decision as we would prefer to be totally transparent and honest with all concerned but our fear of recriminations on the people that we truly love forced us to keep quiet.
Of course the unbelievable actions of the media has proved beyond all doubt that that concern of ours was totally justifiable and now we pray to God that no harm will come to those who have had no input whatsoever on our decision.
The media has gone beyond the limits, in an outright attempt to increasingly scandalise the situation, by going directly to our parents in order to try and gather more details from them. Their objective is to try to discredit us by any means whatsoever and they feel justified in doing this.
Quite simply, our parents, family and friends have absolutely nothing to do with our private lives as we are both well over the legally stated age of 'consenting adults' and have not lived with our parents for many years.
It is unreasonable and shameful to think that we should live in denial or simply hide our feelings just to keep Kenya and the so-called Kenyan image clean.
Perhaps the image of Kenya should be viewed from another perspective. One of tribal differences and political animosity, such as the recent troubles that came very close to civil or tribal war, destroying both lives and property, jobs and business opportunities for many in January 2008. Surely that is where the energy to make Kenya 'clean' should be directed.
We ask the media to stop harassing and interfering with our private life, although we wish to put on record that we are willing to be interviewed professionally and non-judgmentally.
We ask the media to respect our wishes and decisions as mentioned above and will therefore treat us accordingly.
Gichia and Ngengi are civil partners under British law.
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Betty Caplan: Gay Bashing Shows our Backwardness - The Star
The much-hyped wedding of two gay men in London has provoked much comment in this country and brought it into shame. It shows that many of us are way behind the times.
For a start, look at the way it was described: Daniel Chege, 39, and his "bride" Charles Ngengi, 40, were joined in holy matrimony.
Why use the word "bride"? He is a year older. Is it because he has dressed in female clothing at times and looks more effeminate? This shows a complete misunderstanding of the nature of human sexuality, evidenced, sadly, even by some of the most intelligent members of our society.
Human sexuality is a far more complex and multilayered thing than their limited imaginations can possibly grasp; yet Plato, the great Greek philosopher, long ago argued in Symposium about a "third sex" — one which had facets of male and female in different proportions, expressed in varying ways.
Incidentally, the Greeks were famous for their love of young boys and not a bit ashamed of it. It was part of a boy's development to be "initiated" by an older man and there are exquisite vases and other works of art to prove it. "Pederast" comes from ancient Greek: "pais" is boy and "erastas" lover.
This did not automatically stamp either as "gay" for life; they were able to move from one stage of sexuality to another, just as African men routinely have at least one mistress outside marriage, but this is okay because polygamy has always been accepted, despite the missionaries.
Somewhere God (who always intrudes into the conversation) sanctions that. Just as He seems to be happy with girls getting married at 13 against their will, rape, maternal mortality and child prostitution. These appear to be sanctioned in the Bible. But not homosexuality. Did you know that a certain percentage of animals are also attracted to the same sex?
Then there is that old myth: "this is a Western thing — don't bring it to Africa" by Robert Mugabe. What nonsense! You only have to look at the Coast to see that homosexuality is rife but hidden. The cost is terrible.
Foreign dirty old men have quietly killed off several young boys in Lamu by infecting them with Aids but the subject is taboo. Hypocrisy kills! Imagine if it was your son who had lost his life just to earn a few shillings. It seems that Kenya wants to ape the most backward country in the world — Saudi Arabia — where they lash people for such things, or if they're female, stone them to death. Somewhere in the Quran this has apparently been approved but I kindly request someone to quote me chapter and verse.
Homosexuality among men is extremely common in the Arab world, but not being an open society, they keep it secret. So a man will marry for appearance's sake and produce offspring but his real affection will be for his male lover.
What does this do to wives, daugh-ters, families? Or to the man who wears a false
face? You can't find out about lesbianism in these countries because it is too shocking even to be mentioned. But rest assured, it exists.
How can Kenya purport to be a modern democracy and yet deny its citizens such basic rights? What is presently before the parliament in Uganda is nothing short of antediluvian and will make East Africa the laughing stock of the world if it is passed.
Asking people to own up on "deviant" members of their families?
Is this godly behaviour? Look at Brazil where the great annual Carnival at Lent embraces all sorts, where cross-dressing is tolerated just as it is in Haiti where voodoo and boy lovers are part of the culture. Perhaps the Anglophone countries inherited their attitudes from the cold northern British legacy of Puritanism?
And speaking of God, the Pope's invitation to the disenchanted Anglicans was nothing less than a cynical move to drive out gay priests forever and to deny women a role beyond the humble and submissive.
They can make tea and run bazaars to fundraise as much as they like, but let them not dream of having real power, though in the Middle Ages there were Abbesses like the one in Shaftesbury, who were towers of strength and brooked no nonsense from any man.
Not today. No wonder people aren't queueing up to join the ranks of the church! Yet Mary is elevated to the holiest position of all: Mother of God, Virgin, Immaculata, untouched by the dirty hand of sex. If this is the ideal role model for women, where does the family come in? Does it make sense?
Caplan is a consultant educationist and freelance writer.
For a start, look at the way it was described: Daniel Chege, 39, and his "bride" Charles Ngengi, 40, were joined in holy matrimony.
Why use the word "bride"? He is a year older. Is it because he has dressed in female clothing at times and looks more effeminate? This shows a complete misunderstanding of the nature of human sexuality, evidenced, sadly, even by some of the most intelligent members of our society.
Human sexuality is a far more complex and multilayered thing than their limited imaginations can possibly grasp; yet Plato, the great Greek philosopher, long ago argued in Symposium about a "third sex" — one which had facets of male and female in different proportions, expressed in varying ways.
Incidentally, the Greeks were famous for their love of young boys and not a bit ashamed of it. It was part of a boy's development to be "initiated" by an older man and there are exquisite vases and other works of art to prove it. "Pederast" comes from ancient Greek: "pais" is boy and "erastas" lover.
This did not automatically stamp either as "gay" for life; they were able to move from one stage of sexuality to another, just as African men routinely have at least one mistress outside marriage, but this is okay because polygamy has always been accepted, despite the missionaries.
Somewhere God (who always intrudes into the conversation) sanctions that. Just as He seems to be happy with girls getting married at 13 against their will, rape, maternal mortality and child prostitution. These appear to be sanctioned in the Bible. But not homosexuality. Did you know that a certain percentage of animals are also attracted to the same sex?
Then there is that old myth: "this is a Western thing — don't bring it to Africa" by Robert Mugabe. What nonsense! You only have to look at the Coast to see that homosexuality is rife but hidden. The cost is terrible.
Foreign dirty old men have quietly killed off several young boys in Lamu by infecting them with Aids but the subject is taboo. Hypocrisy kills! Imagine if it was your son who had lost his life just to earn a few shillings. It seems that Kenya wants to ape the most backward country in the world — Saudi Arabia — where they lash people for such things, or if they're female, stone them to death. Somewhere in the Quran this has apparently been approved but I kindly request someone to quote me chapter and verse.
Homosexuality among men is extremely common in the Arab world, but not being an open society, they keep it secret. So a man will marry for appearance's sake and produce offspring but his real affection will be for his male lover.
What does this do to wives, daugh-ters, families? Or to the man who wears a false
face? You can't find out about lesbianism in these countries because it is too shocking even to be mentioned. But rest assured, it exists.
How can Kenya purport to be a modern democracy and yet deny its citizens such basic rights? What is presently before the parliament in Uganda is nothing short of antediluvian and will make East Africa the laughing stock of the world if it is passed.
Asking people to own up on "deviant" members of their families?
Is this godly behaviour? Look at Brazil where the great annual Carnival at Lent embraces all sorts, where cross-dressing is tolerated just as it is in Haiti where voodoo and boy lovers are part of the culture. Perhaps the Anglophone countries inherited their attitudes from the cold northern British legacy of Puritanism?
And speaking of God, the Pope's invitation to the disenchanted Anglicans was nothing less than a cynical move to drive out gay priests forever and to deny women a role beyond the humble and submissive.
They can make tea and run bazaars to fundraise as much as they like, but let them not dream of having real power, though in the Middle Ages there were Abbesses like the one in Shaftesbury, who were towers of strength and brooked no nonsense from any man.
Not today. No wonder people aren't queueing up to join the ranks of the church! Yet Mary is elevated to the holiest position of all: Mother of God, Virgin, Immaculata, untouched by the dirty hand of sex. If this is the ideal role model for women, where does the family come in? Does it make sense?
Caplan is a consultant educationist and freelance writer.
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