I’m so irritated right now I can not even begin to tell you how I feel. I heard a story on the radio this morning that has been making a few headlines around the world over the last two weeks – and it’s the recent update that has me annoyed.
Anyone heard about the gay couple in Malawi who got married some two weeks ago, only to be prosecuted by the government – because homosexuality is illegal in the country? So, the world gets all up in arms about it and people are rallying behind this gay couple shouting “Equal Rights” and all that jazz… only, now I hear this couple have split. Two weeks later.
Oh, it gets better. The one dude is now miraculously straight! And in love with a woman he intends tying the knot with. I can not actually fully convey how much this displeases me.
And why? Not because “maybe” he is in love (I’m all for love) – but because I feel that this just fucks up the entire situation. Throws a spanner in the works. Sets Gay Rights one times MASSIVE leap back for all gay couples in the country, because the way I see it these two are now just playing a very silly game.
I’ve taken the liberty to do a bit of a cut and paste here. You can follow this nice long link here to read the original article… http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3095&art_id=nw20100608162610615C301288
“Lilongwe - A gay Malawian couple whose 14-year prison sentence for their love affair led to international condemnation has split over a girl, a newspaper report said on Tuesday.
Malawi's leader pardoned the two men in late May on humanitarian grounds after a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who applauded the move and urged the country to amend "outdated" laws on homosexuality.
Steven Monjeza, 26, told The Nation, a major local daily, he had left his partner, 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, because he had been coerced into the gay relationship and found a better match with a 24-year-old woman named Dorothy.
"I am looking forward to a future with him. I don't care what people say. But I am yet to tell my parents," she told the paper.
Neither of the two men were immediately available for comment.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga were arrested after celebrating their engagement in a traditional ceremony in late December.
They were tried and found guilty in May of sodomy and indecency. The trial became a test case for gay rights in the southern African country.
Activists and the international community welcomed their pardon, with the White House urging an end to "the persecution and criminalisation of sexual orientation and gender identity".
Homosexuality in Africa, which is illegal in most of the continent's 53 countries, has become a contentious issue in recent months after a Ugandan lawmaker proposed a bill including the death penalty for some acts, police raided a gay wedding in Kenya and the Malawian couple were arrested.
Major donors to aid-dependent Malawi had condemned the jail sentence as an abuse of human rights and warned it could hurt support for Malawi's economy”
• Reporting by Mabvuto Banda
8 comments:
Really? I didn't know about this development of the story! That's simply bull$&£t!!!!
Nik, the thing is that this just makes Gay people almost seem fickle, or “changeable” I’m rightfully irritated I think. They made a huge news of this all round the world, only to “smack us in the face” with it. I’m very disappointed.
You have every right to be iritated. I agree with you.
What's next? He's going to say that Church or psychotherapy 'cured' him and that he needed to be 'cured' from being a homosexual?
That is my concern. For years us as gay people have maintained that there is no “fix”
You can not fix something that’s not broken. I just think they made a huge mess of it all.
I completely agree - assholes should have thought about which side of the fence they wanted to sit on before going down this treacherous path .... justified indignation! pisses me off!!!
Maybe the problem is that they were never a gay couple in the first place, despite being reported that way in the mainstream press. Tiwonge Chimbalanga identifies as a woman, as she has repeatedly told reporters (who nevertheless went on to describe her as gay - see for one of many examples this New York Times report: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/africa/14malawi.html?pagewanted=1). So, if her partner leaves her for another woman - under intense pressure that I think we would do well not to underestimate - is it so surprising?
Perhaps it the gay press hadn't appropriated this story in the first place they might not be feeling so cross about how it's turned out.
thanks for the comment Charlie, I like the train of thought there.
I cant even get angry at this. It just makes me laugh at human stupidity and lack of self-respect.
cheers
Post a Comment