cineplex, homosexual movies are harmless!

 By Kevin O'Connor

March 13, 2006:  I find the idea of sex with another man as seductive as putting my head down a shallow, over-used, pit latrine. But this does not stop me recognising that some people are born with a genetic homosexual inclination.

The movie, Brokeback Mountain, was nominated for eight Oscars. It ended up winning three, including the prestigious best director prize. It has won countless other awards, such as those at the Golden Globes. But we will not be seeing this acclaimed film in a cinema in Uganda. Why is this? The movie deals with a love affair between two men, and the thought police at Kampala's Cineplex have adjudged that "there are certain things that our society is not ready for, like the content of this movie." So says Cineplex's Managing Director, Marion Etyang.

Yet, we live in a society where underage girls are defiled left, right and centre. Further, recent HIV/Aids statistics show that the most at-risk category is wives in their 20s and 30s, infected by their polygamous husbands. Heterosexual threats The threats to Ugandan society are fundamentally heterosexual, not homosexual. It seems that our society is "ready for" such nasty heterosexual behaviour, but "not ready for" a film about a tender, loving relationship between two men.

Oh the hypocrisy is enough to make one vomit into Pastor Martin Ssempa's collection box! However, before we proceed any further into an article featuring homosexuality, let me get the normal boring stuff out of the way. I like beautiful babes - black, brown, white, Asian - if you are attractive, I am attracted. I am heterosexual through and through. I find the idea of sex with another man as seductive as putting my head down a shallow, over-used, pit latrine. But just because I am a heterosexual does not stop me recognising that a significant proportion of the human race is born with a genetic homosexual inclination.

One in ten is one statistic I have seen. Ridiculous argument The most ridiculous arguments are that homosexuality is something that has been imported into Africa from the First World. So let's turn to Njoroge wa Kamau, who, in a letter to The East African newspaper, stated that the proposition that male homosexual relationships are alien to African culture is refuted "by ample anthropological evidence …… from Sudan to Zululand." And as regards historical Uganda, let us return to the 1880's, and use a quote about its realities from none other than Pastor Martin Ssempa (The New Vision, June 3 2005, Page 8). "Mwanga's homosexuality is an issue we tip-toed about for fear of offending the Buganda monarchy, which abhors homosexuality.

But all historical accounts agree that Mwanga was a deviant homosexual who used his demigod status to appease his voracious appetite for sodomy by engaging in these unmentionable acts with his pages at court." Given its historical timing, presumably we cannot lay responsibility for such homosexual behaviour on: An Oscar-winning film? The Internet? American gay bishops? Or on anyone or anything else outside Africa which often gets "blamed" for homosexuality here.

But if I had to turn to an African to make some sense of the homosexual debate on this continent, it would not be to the prejudices of Pastor Martin Ssempa, but to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and former head of the South African Anglican Church. In explaining his fervent support for the rights of homosexuals and lesbians, Tutu has argued, "it is a matter of ordinary justice. We struggled against Apartheid in South Africa because we were being made to suffer for something we could do nothing about (being black).

Matter of choice "It is the same with homosexuality. The orientation is a given, not a matter of choice. It would be crazy for someone to choose to be gay, given the homophobia that is present." But, at the end of the day, my objection to the Cineplex decision has less to do with my support for gay rights and more to do with my support for freedom of information and freedom of speech. Nobody would be forcing anybody else to go and see Brokeback Mountain. It would be a matter of personal choice. By all accounts it is a brilliant movie, but we are being denied the opportunity to see it, partly because the Cineplex management fears a possible backlash, no doubt from the likes of Pastor Martin Ssempa. We now have no choice. Our choice has been censored by the thought police