"Kill The Gays" a threat to the whole of Africa!

My schedule for the day: I get up at 5.45am, have a shower, wake up my sleepy partner, get dressed, feed the cat, pack lunches, go to work for 9 hours, finish work, go to gym or taekwondo, come home make dinner, spend time with my partner, watch t.v. and go to bed! I pay my taxes, I contribute to the economy, and I give back to my community.
The only difference is that I am a lesbian. I love a woman. I live with a woman. I am married to a woman. I make love to a woman.
In Uganda I would face life imprisonment if not death.

What is wrong with the state of the world? Has the world gone mad? Has the world forgotten about Hitler, Sadam Hussein, Idi Amin?

Have the people of South Africa forgotten about Apartheid?

Correctional rape of lesbians is rife in our country and nothing is being done about it! The police laugh at the women who report it. Is this what human rights is about.

David Bahiti is a Ugandan Minister of Parliment who has proposed a "Kill the Homosexuals and Lesbians and save our children" bill.

Yesterday a BBC World Debate and Protest was held at the Urban Studios in Johannesburg South Africa.
"Is homosexuality un-african?"

This monster is a threat not only to the Gay community in Uganda but to the rest of Africa.

He proclaims that the homosexuals are going into Ugandan schools and trying to recruit kids to be gay! and he has proof! proof that he has never published.
What was published was a list of known gay activists and all their personal details, this lead to the death of David Kato, who was killed outside his house by a hammer to the head.

Here I was sitting in an audience of people from all different cultures and back grounds, it was so scary to see how so many of the straight african men agree with this stupid, ignorant man who cannot tell the difference between human trafficking, peodaphilia and Homosexuality. There is no corollation between them!

Can they not see that this is promoting hatred, intollerence and violence against gay/lesbian people and its going against all of which our beloved Madiba tried so hard to eradicate.

Bahiti said he was a Christian and it was Gods law to punish all the gays by death.
What bible does he read? Chritianity, Judiasm and Islam promote compassion and love, its only the fundamentatlists who promote the opposite.

Speaking to friends after the show, white people in South Africa are very complacement. I was actually told by a friend of mine that this situation doesnt concern her, Politics is not "her thing".

Yes it is, if this bill passes in the Ugandan Government what stops this from spreading to the rest of Africa, South Africa included!?

Is the world going to sit back and watch just as they did during the Holocaust?

I fear for my Gay and Lesbian "family" in Africa.

Dont stop fighting! We all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity!

To Bahiti, you are a bastard, you are the same as Hitler, you are a vicious monster and do not deserve to call yourself a human being, lets hope the world recognises that too!
You have blood on your hands!

Please watch the interviews with Rachel Maddow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/rachel-maddow-bahati-uganda-gays_n_794271.html

To “come out” or not to “come out” at work is the question?

In my years of working, coming out to my bosses and company has always been a difficult decision to make.

Declaring your sexual orientation to your work colleagues and company is scary for most people.

There is the opinion of why we need to, why we need to inform people of our orientation after all straight people don’t declare that they are straight.

I recently moved to a new company 6 months ago to a fairly conservative company where there are only 4 gay people including myself at our head office of 200.
I thought I would keep it to myself and hide my relationship, I was doing well until my colleague / friend invited me to her birthday party and forgot to inform me that some of my new colleagues would be there.

I walked in with my fiancé and got such a fright, I almost walked right out of the party after seeing my colleagues. What would they say? What would they think? Would they treat me differently at work? Would they tell the rest of the company? Would they gossip behind my back?

What do I do? I did what I would normally do in an uncomfortable situation at a party, head for the bar and drink a shot of “Dutch Courage”! After that I waited until they saw me and I introduced my colleagues to my future wife and waited for their reactions.

They really surprised me, they did start treating me differently, they opened up to me and welcomed me to the company and to the team with no judgment and when I got married they all contributed towards a lovely gift.

I am very lucky but there are people who have not had the acceptance in their companies, who have lost their jobs or have had derogatory comments made to them and behind their backs.

Some pro’s and con’s to consider before coming out at work:

Pros of Coming Out at Work

- You no longer have to lie about what you did over the weekend and who you did it with.
- It may end rude jokes or comments about gays and lesbians from co-workers.
- You may become closer to co-workers now that you are more open about yourself
- The stress of living a double life may go away. Your confidence and job performance could improve.
- The stress of having to hide a part of yourself may go away.

Cons of Coming Out at Your Job

- You may be fired, or let-go.
- Some co-workers may treat you differently now that they know you are gay.
- Just because you are out at work does not mean your co-workers will treat your partner as they do partners of straight co-workers.

Before you come out of the closet wearing carrying the flag and singing “I’m here, I’m queer, where is the beer” make sure you are ready. Make sure that you are ready for the negative reactions if there are any, make sure that you are wearing your leather skin to protect your feelings for nasty comments and gossip.

Assess your company, find out if there are other lesbians or gay people working there, and try get in touch with them.

Assess whether you work in a hostile or a homophobic environment, you coming out may not help the situation.

Find out if the company has a non-discrimination policy that includes protection of same sex orientation.

Although South Africa has quite a progressive constitution, small minded, bigoted people still exist in this day and age and in the world, people who still deny the holocaust and people who still believe the apartheid was a good system and people who think that raping a lesbian will set them right.

If you know that your boss is out right homophobic and has power over you, maybe coming out to him/her might not be the right decision right now.

Good luck, be careful and always be true to yourself!