Blantyre — A decision by Malawi authorities to suspend anti-homosexual laws in the predominantly religious southern African nation of 13 million is sparking heated debate. While human rights activists applaud the announcement, some socially conservative Malawians feel their government should not be copycatting everything from Western countries or nodding to whatever donors demand.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 22, and Steven Monjeza, 28, once faced a 14-year prison sentence with hard labour. The alleged crime? Being gay. The couple was arrested after holding a wedding engagement ceremony at a hotel in the commercial hub of Blantyre.
But that was four years ago. And last week, Malawi's Justice Minister who doubles as Attorney General, Ralph Kasambara, ordered police not to arrest any people for same-sex acts until legislators repeal the law on homosexuality. Legislators are expected to meet next month, though it is unclear whether this issue - and its maximum 14-year jail sentence - will be tabled at parliament's December sitting.
Chimbalanga and Monjeza's conviction drew international condemnation, even causing donors to withhold their contributions to Malawi. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon flew to Lilongwe to warn of the consequences that arresting the couple would have. He also urged Bingu wa Mutharika to pardon the couple, something the erstwhile Malawian president eventually did.
Still, Mutharika and his proponents refused to bow down to demands to decriminalize same-sex marriages. They described such convocations as "un-Malawian". At one point, the president even asked priests to pray for the country to rid it of what he saw as a new phenomenon. Since Mutharika's reign, Malawi has felt intense pressure from donors and development partners to decriminalize same-sex relations.
But in April, following Mutharika's fatal cardiac arrest, Joyce Banda took over. As president, she has assured donors that Malawi would repeal what they have called "bad laws" - including anti-gay laws. This would be one way to normalize strained relations with the West. On top of that, some saw it as a manner of baiting back donor confidence - a significant factor, considering 40 percent of the country's budgetary support is financed by development partners.
Overdue legislation
Undule Mwakasungura, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), thinks that the decriminalization is long overdue. "People need to understand that homosexuality is not going away. We encourage society in Malawi, especially religious institutions, to reconsider ways to address the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We mention religious institutions because this is where most homophobia originates," he says.
Mwakasungura calls for more drastic changes to the law, bearing in mind that a large section of society in Malawi displays homophobic tendencies. This was especially obvious following the Chimbalanga-Monjeza case when a majority of Malawians interviewed said they saw nothing wrong with courts condemning the couple to the maximum prison sentence.
Wary of the West
"God did not create man-and-man or woman-and-woman. These cultures we are importing from outside Malawi are dangerous and will only make God angry and punish us. I know that government is under pressure to repeal some laws, but to accept homosexuality in Malawi is going too far," says Austin Chole.
The 23-year-old computer student in the southern city of Zomba believes the effects of neo-colonialism are at work, making Malawi beholden to "countries that help us attach strings to every donation we receive".
According to Billy Mayaya, a member of a Presbyterian church in Lilongwe: "While we recognize that homosexuality is a process of socialization and exists in Malawi, we believe that in a pluralistic society, opponents to it must be allowed to state their opposition without the heavy cloud of Western dogma and imposition obscuring their rights to a culturally driven view."
A traditional Christian leader in central Malawi, who opts for anonymity, echoes the sentiment. He says parliament must not accede to changing the legislation on homosexuality as this would "Westernize" the country.
Referendum
"They can only start deliberating on gay rights after seeking our views. Otherwise, the way they are handling this issue is unfair and undemocratic," says 21-year-old Selemani Msamala. The student from Zomba says the government should call for a referendum before legislators start deliberating on the contentious issue that threatens to divide the country.
Msamala adds: "I already see our legislators passing the law to accept homosexuality because they are under pressure from donors. This is not how we want to run our country."
But it remains to be seen how Malawi's legislators will handle the bill once it is tabled for parliament deliberations.
Gift Trapence, executive director of the NGO Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), thinks that suspending anti-gay laws is a step in the right direction, although nothing much has so far changed. "We are cautious of the fact that the laws have not been repealed and are still in the penal code," he says.
Meanwhile, although Tiwonge and Monjeza are free, they are no longer together. It is rumoured that Tiwonge is in Canada and Monjeza is still in Malawi.
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It's always humorous to hear Christian leaders in Africa claim that homosexuality is a western import and against their cultural traditions. Hate to clue you in but Christianity is not indigenous to Africa and was imported and imposed on you by your colonial overlords. Why don't you reject Christianity as a colonial relic and go back to your indigenous religions (many of which accepted gay people)? Why do you feel that western donors should just give you economic support without strings attached? He who pays the piper calls the tunes. You don't like western nations attaching restrictions to their money then don't take it.
I look at the irrational scapegoating of homosexuals in Africa as no different from the scapegoating of Jews in Europe, or black people in the US. In a decade or so, when LGBT rights are mainstream across the continent, Africans will be absolutely ashamed of their irrational prejudice against gay people, they're going to realize anti-gay prejudice has hurt millions more people across the globe than homosexuality ever has. The truth is that gay neighbors work, go to school, farm, experience joys and occasional hardships, and have lives that are not much different from straight neighbors. Being gay is NOT immoral. Gay rights are human rights.
Dear Malawians blessed be those who seek the light, your authorities have! am a Kenyan and strongly surpport the suspension and eventual abolishing the so called "human rights" of homosexual......and Gaysim! God bless u God bless Malawi! job well done!
When Same-Sex Marriage Was A Christian Rite': [Excerpts] "Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual." ,..., "Records of Christian same sex unions have been discovered in such diverse archives as those in the Vatican, in St. Petersburg, in Paris, in Istanbul and in the Sinai, covering a thousand-years from the 8th to the 18th century." ,..., "While homosexuality was technically illegal from late Roman times, homophobic writings didn’t appear in Western Europe until the late 14th century. Even then, church-consecrated same sex unions continued to take place." ,..., "Prof. Boswell's academic study is so well researched and documented that it poses fundamental questions for both modern church leaders and heterosexual Christians about their own modern attitudes towards homosexuality. For the Church to ignore the evidence in its own archives would be cowardly and deceptive. The evidence convincingly shows that what the modern church claims has always been its unchanging attitude towards homosexuality is, in fact, nothing of the sort. It proves that for the last two millennia, in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Christendom, from Ireland to Istanbul and even in the heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as valid expressions of a God-given love and committment to another person, a love that could be celebrated, honored and blessed, through the Eucharist in the name of, and in the presence of, Jesus Christ." (Source: http://www.christianity-revealed.com/cr/files/whensamesexmarriagewasachrist ianrite.html)