Opinion: In Zimbabwe, Gays Are Worse Than Dogs and Pigs
By Kwapi Vengesayi – Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe once said, “It degrades human dignity. It’s unnatural, and there is no question ever of allowing these people to behave worse than dogs and pigs. If dogs and pigs do not do it, why must human beings?”, He would go on to call it an offense to the laws of nature and the morals of religious belief.
The debate in Zimbabwe is not even about whether or not the Gay and Lesbian community should be allowed to marry or have Civil Unions; the debate is about whether or not they should even be allowed to exist. In a country in which homosexuality is illegal, one soon realizes that regardless of what party gets into power, the Gay community will remain an endangered species; a population that will continue to feel the stubborn and sometimes violent tendencies of an uncompromising society.
I still have not shaped my views on the issue of Gay Marriage and Civil Unions; with that stated however, I do believe that the Gay and Lesbian community should be allowed to live freely and openly without fear of discrimination and persecution. People run to the bible to use scripture to mask their prejudices, picking and choosing the scriptures that suite their agenda well while subconsciously and sometimes intentionally omitting the teachings that contradict them and sometimes highlight their own hypocrisies. We call homosexuality a sin and according to my religious beliefs it is; but those same scriptures also state that we’re all sinners and therefore have no right to pass judgment on others. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone Jesus said.
Someone once asked me, “Did you turn gay? why do you stand up for Gay rights?!, don’t show your face in Zimbabwe if they changed you” and so in response I said, “No, I’m not Gay. But let me ask you this, I also stand up for Women’s Rights, does that make me a woman? I stand up for the Mexican immigrant, does that make me Mexican? I hate the state of affairs in Israel and Palestine, does that make me Israeli or Palestinian?!”. About a month ago, Jesse Jackson told me, “Always remember the story of the Good Samaritan”; we cannot keep on obsessing about those things that divide us, our purpose on this earth should be to simply stand up against injustice and inequality regardless of race, ethnicity, politics, sexual orientation, disability or religion.
Sincerely yours,
Kwapi
