president's homophobic utterance

March 20, 2001: We the Male Think Tank (MTT), a working group of The Rainbow Project, looking after the interests of gay, bisexuals and transgender men in Namibia would like to respond to the homophobic statements made by President Sam Nujoma on Monday, March 19, 2001.

The President made homophobic statements after stating that Namibia has a shortage of people working in science field. Has he stopped for a minute to contemplate how many of us are involved in this and many other professional fields.

As gay men we have to work twice as had to gain the same recognition as our heterosexual brothers which means, we work twice as hard.

If you want to deport us, we are sure that there are countries that will welcome us and the contribution that we will make to their economic growth.

You see gay men as an abomination. However, one of the biggest problems this country faces, is violence against women and children and practically all of these crimes are committed by men with a heterosexual orientation.

Why, Mr President, the obsession with whom and how we love? Does the constitution that you signed not guarantee us our freedom of choice? Should you not be preaching tolerance and acceptance instead of uttering your unconstitutional hate speech?

As gay men we are tired of the discrimination we face from the state. What we need is a new leader who will truly liberate all Namibians.