KUFANELE KWENZAKALENI? WHAT MUST HAPPEN? : A RESPONSE AND OPINION PIECE TO THE LGBTQIA+ BILL IN UGANDA
[photo source : The Guardian]
LURNAY TSHABALALA-MAVUSO | 24 MARCH 2023 | Politics, Law & Society
I was about to go to bed as the news about Uganda having passed a bill that imposes hate crime and worst of it all, a DEATH SENTENCE upon Ugandian citizens who identify themselves as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. My question of distraught and shatteredness to the Ugandian government is , KUFANELE KWENZAKALENI which translates to in English – WHAT MUST HAPPEN?
What Must Happen with what? What must happen with the people whose rights to live and to be free ,when they are infringed by the very same government that is supposed to love and protect them. The very same government that should ensure safety and security for all the citizens of Uganda, or rather let me say that, the very same government that claims to ensure safety and security for its citizens. The very same government that claims to be the seekers of peace and most importantly the government that claims to be believers of Christ. Does Christ support human judgment and hate crime? Isn’t it the very same Christ who said the greatest commandment from the Lord is to “Love One Another”?, or maybe I am not knowledgeable enough when it comes to the bible that hate crime offenders always seek to reference when committing their crimes of hate towards God’s children that are being secluded from taking part in praising and also paying respects to their God, Lord and Saviour.
Kufanele kwenzakaleni? To the people who have many rights and among those rights they have the rights to Life, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Movement and Freedom of Citizenship and Existence. Where must these people go? What must they do? Should they spend the rest of their lives protesting and begging other humans whose mind is full of pride and power and mostly hate, probably hate of themselves because they aren’t courageous enough to live out to be their trueselves and see the need and necessity to shun queer people who are living their truths down. When will Queer people be respected? I ask on respect because I believe that queer people do not owe anyone any explanation on why they are queer and also because queerness does not need to be accepted or tolerated but it needs to be respected. Queer people do not need to be accepted by the society but need to be accepted by their families. What the society needs to do is to practice respect with everyone else without the thought of gender and sexuality coming to mind first. The principle of life and living is that we ought to respect each other regardless, followed by the Christian principle that we need to ‘Love One Another’
Kufanele kwenzakaleni ngempela? How many queer people must die before queer people who are stern and strong enough to take the pain get to see the day where they will be respected and seen as equals in their own spaces and country of birth?
This new bill in Uganda is nothing but a great injustice to humanity and a huge crime against humanity too. Humans do not treat other humans like that, particularly Humans who call themselves Christians.
#TOHELLWITHTHEUGANDABILL
