Sexuality: One Wo/man's Meat is Another Wo/man's Poison
Sexuality: One Wo/man's Meat is Another Wo/man's Poison
Recent controversy over ordination of gay priests and the blessing of gay marriages in the worldwide Anglican Communion has cause serious doctrinal and church practice schism between conservative and liberal wings of the church. See it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7015390.stm
The conservatives detest the presumed laxity and liberal interpretation of Christian doctrinal positions on homosexuality as a life style, which is considered a sin; and on the ordination of homosexuals as ministers within the communion, which they regard as unacceptable. Furthermore, they insist that, marriage is only possible between a man and a woman, and for the purpose of procreation. Anything outside of this is regarded as unnatural and irredeemable sin as reported here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6189089.stm
and here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7479255.stm
These controversies are not limited to those in Uganda and Africa, but find ready proponents among my small community of Acholi diaspora. One would expect that, given their persecution in Uganda for simply being who and what they are-Acholi and of Luo / Lwo ethnicity- the Acholi as a whole and the Acholi daspora in particular, would be more tolerant and accepting of difference and diversity. But going by the homophobic dispositions displayed by some on Acoli Forum, a popular listgroup for Acholi diaspora, you would be forgiven if you thought you were living in the time of Jesus and you were caught in the midst of animated polemical debates between the Pharisees and Christian adherents at Jewish temples and market places.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7244196.stm
Few seem to recognize that homosexuals do bear children after all. It is common knowledge that there are exchanges of ova and semen among gay and lesbian communities or purchased from fertility clinics. In a lot of ways, reproduction, through reproductive technology, has been commoditized; it is possible for any wo/man-with or without a husband or wife-to have children.
Some in this debate do not even seem to be aware that with advancement in reproductive technology, you do not need to marry anybody's son or daughter in order to have children of your own.
There is already a bustling market doing brisk business in human eggs and semen and accounting for more than 1% of some country's births. All one has to have is the ability to purchase such services. Most of this has been to help heterosexual couples who cannot have children the natural and normal way. Moreover, those who do not want their wives to go through the barbaric natural processes of pregnancy and childbirth can purchase a womb -euphemistically termed surrogate motherhood-for another woman to carry their child to term. Others may conceive naturally and carry their own babies to term, but opt for caesarian births. All these are done sometimes for health reasons, but in most cases, it is cosmetic and aesthetics reasons. Some go through the procedure so their wives are not aged and disfigured by the vagaries of childbirth. It is the same reason other women do not breastfeed so their breasts can remain firm and gravity-defying. These technological responses to problems within heterosexual relationships have been serendipitous for gay couples who want children and a fulfilling family life.
Being heterosexual, I consider homosexuality tasteless, but that is not sufficient reason for me to categorize it as a sin; and less even less so, would I advocate that people should adopt it. However, I unconditionally accept and respect those who find themselves inclined that way, and I would even forgo my rights and give my life, if it would ensure that their civic and human rights are protected as much as mine and the next wo/man. This is because there is nothing-scientific or spiritual, and I do not think there will be any-to suggest that gays and lesbians are less human, less civic citizens than I am and undeserving of the moral, legal, constitutional, social, and moral protection and privileges heterosexuals claim for themselves.
We would all be happier if we recognised the wisdom in the axiom that one wo/man's meat is another wo/man's poison. I came face to face with this truism in my sojourns through southern Africa-Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Bophutoswana. Caterpillar is to them as white ants (ngwen) are to us and vice versa. I could not help being sick for days and could hardly eat anything.
In Acholi itself, food culture differs a lot. For instance, the Lamogi in southwest Acholi are reputed to eat bats; the Padibe in north-northwest Acholi, are famous for eating certain species of rats. While those in Agoro, from where my own mother came, crabs are delicacies which my own people from Opei detest vehemently and ridicule them for. And yet, throughout the world, food is food and what does not kill you, must certainly be good for you and welcome nourishment for your body, mind, and soul. Food cultures are akin to sex cultures.
The inability to recognize and celebrate social and sexual difference among some Acholi, Ugandans and Africans, can be chalked up to the lack of a good liberal education. Were it possible for me to influence educational curriculum in Acholi or Uganda, the Bible; Darwin's origin of species; Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' The Communist manifesto; Lewis Mumford's The City and the Machine; Thomas More's Utopia; Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas; Sergei Eisenin's Soviet Russia; Allen Ginsberg's Howl!; J.K. Galbraith's Labour, Leisure and the New Class; Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis; H.G. Wells' A Modern Utopia; and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, would be compulsory readings.
As Africans, we have overplayed the mythologies of creationism and the bible is wielded as the answer to all our problems, struggles and interpretations of events and as source for moral rectitude. This has constricted and enfeebled our minds and given us up to fatalism and the belief in the unsound proposition of a life after death and that some things on this earth must have always existed; which seems to console many Acholi who are suffering in this world. We need to step outside of ourselves and believe in our ability to create our heaven on earth, and if there happens to be a life after death, why not; we should enjoy it as a bonus. I am sure the Lord Jesus will understand the predicaments and difficult choices those with wives or husbands and children and the struggles of daily life they have had to make. As Kingsley Amis said in Should You Come Again, Jesus never had a wife or children for him to have understood the sufferings and pains and heartbreaks that many of us have had to go through in this world. Whether because of the death of a parent or a young child or a brother brutally murdered in social and political strife; or the wife that ran away with that good-for-nothing man from her workplace or the philandering husband, who after sapping your youth and seven children later, decided to become a teenager again and set up house with a twenty-one year old trump across the street.
Carefully considered, the Christian faith rest on very shaky grounds propped up by myths and blind, unquestioning and mystic faith. Again as Kingsley Amis sneered, if all of us knew that prophecies must be fulfilled and that our father had supernatural powers and would raise us from death, all of us would be willing and ready for the spectacles of being nailed to the cross; knowing fully well on the third day we would arise and ascend and be with our father. Who would not be Christ, in such circumstances?
However, given the uncertainties, some people are terrified of the thought of venturing out of the ordinary and into the realms of self-doubt and religious skepticism. And until the Acholi and Ugandan Christians can interpret their experiences and aspirations not only on the teachings and morals of the bible but also on factual and observed phenomena and material life- outside the mysticisms of Christianity, we will have to put another two thousand years behind us before we can break free of the shackles and limitations of mysticisms and nature. Given our state of social, economic, political and philosophical development, homosexuality is the least of our worries and vices in Uganda, than irrational religious dogmas that enfeeble our minds.
Recent controversy over ordination of gay priests and the blessing of gay marriages in the worldwide Anglican Communion has cause serious doctrinal and church practice schism between conservative and liberal wings of the church. See it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7015390.stm
The conservatives detest the presumed laxity and liberal interpretation of Christian doctrinal positions on homosexuality as a life style, which is considered a sin; and on the ordination of homosexuals as ministers within the communion, which they regard as unacceptable. Furthermore, they insist that, marriage is only possible between a man and a woman, and for the purpose of procreation. Anything outside of this is regarded as unnatural and irredeemable sin as reported here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6189089.stm
and here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7479255.stm
These controversies are not limited to those in Uganda and Africa, but find ready proponents among my small community of Acholi diaspora. One would expect that, given their persecution in Uganda for simply being who and what they are-Acholi and of Luo / Lwo ethnicity- the Acholi as a whole and the Acholi daspora in particular, would be more tolerant and accepting of difference and diversity. But going by the homophobic dispositions displayed by some on Acoli Forum, a popular listgroup for Acholi diaspora, you would be forgiven if you thought you were living in the time of Jesus and you were caught in the midst of animated polemical debates between the Pharisees and Christian adherents at Jewish temples and market places.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7244196.stm
Few seem to recognize that homosexuals do bear children after all. It is common knowledge that there are exchanges of ova and semen among gay and lesbian communities or purchased from fertility clinics. In a lot of ways, reproduction, through reproductive technology, has been commoditized; it is possible for any wo/man-with or without a husband or wife-to have children.
Some in this debate do not even seem to be aware that with advancement in reproductive technology, you do not need to marry anybody's son or daughter in order to have children of your own.
There is already a bustling market doing brisk business in human eggs and semen and accounting for more than 1% of some country's births. All one has to have is the ability to purchase such services. Most of this has been to help heterosexual couples who cannot have children the natural and normal way. Moreover, those who do not want their wives to go through the barbaric natural processes of pregnancy and childbirth can purchase a womb -euphemistically termed surrogate motherhood-for another woman to carry their child to term. Others may conceive naturally and carry their own babies to term, but opt for caesarian births. All these are done sometimes for health reasons, but in most cases, it is cosmetic and aesthetics reasons. Some go through the procedure so their wives are not aged and disfigured by the vagaries of childbirth. It is the same reason other women do not breastfeed so their breasts can remain firm and gravity-defying. These technological responses to problems within heterosexual relationships have been serendipitous for gay couples who want children and a fulfilling family life.
Being heterosexual, I consider homosexuality tasteless, but that is not sufficient reason for me to categorize it as a sin; and less even less so, would I advocate that people should adopt it. However, I unconditionally accept and respect those who find themselves inclined that way, and I would even forgo my rights and give my life, if it would ensure that their civic and human rights are protected as much as mine and the next wo/man. This is because there is nothing-scientific or spiritual, and I do not think there will be any-to suggest that gays and lesbians are less human, less civic citizens than I am and undeserving of the moral, legal, constitutional, social, and moral protection and privileges heterosexuals claim for themselves.
We would all be happier if we recognised the wisdom in the axiom that one wo/man's meat is another wo/man's poison. I came face to face with this truism in my sojourns through southern Africa-Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Bophutoswana. Caterpillar is to them as white ants (ngwen) are to us and vice versa. I could not help being sick for days and could hardly eat anything.
In Acholi itself, food culture differs a lot. For instance, the Lamogi in southwest Acholi are reputed to eat bats; the Padibe in north-northwest Acholi, are famous for eating certain species of rats. While those in Agoro, from where my own mother came, crabs are delicacies which my own people from Opei detest vehemently and ridicule them for. And yet, throughout the world, food is food and what does not kill you, must certainly be good for you and welcome nourishment for your body, mind, and soul. Food cultures are akin to sex cultures.
The inability to recognize and celebrate social and sexual difference among some Acholi, Ugandans and Africans, can be chalked up to the lack of a good liberal education. Were it possible for me to influence educational curriculum in Acholi or Uganda, the Bible; Darwin's origin of species; Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' The Communist manifesto; Lewis Mumford's The City and the Machine; Thomas More's Utopia; Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas; Sergei Eisenin's Soviet Russia; Allen Ginsberg's Howl!; J.K. Galbraith's Labour, Leisure and the New Class; Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis; H.G. Wells' A Modern Utopia; and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, would be compulsory readings.
As Africans, we have overplayed the mythologies of creationism and the bible is wielded as the answer to all our problems, struggles and interpretations of events and as source for moral rectitude. This has constricted and enfeebled our minds and given us up to fatalism and the belief in the unsound proposition of a life after death and that some things on this earth must have always existed; which seems to console many Acholi who are suffering in this world. We need to step outside of ourselves and believe in our ability to create our heaven on earth, and if there happens to be a life after death, why not; we should enjoy it as a bonus. I am sure the Lord Jesus will understand the predicaments and difficult choices those with wives or husbands and children and the struggles of daily life they have had to make. As Kingsley Amis said in Should You Come Again, Jesus never had a wife or children for him to have understood the sufferings and pains and heartbreaks that many of us have had to go through in this world. Whether because of the death of a parent or a young child or a brother brutally murdered in social and political strife; or the wife that ran away with that good-for-nothing man from her workplace or the philandering husband, who after sapping your youth and seven children later, decided to become a teenager again and set up house with a twenty-one year old trump across the street.
Carefully considered, the Christian faith rest on very shaky grounds propped up by myths and blind, unquestioning and mystic faith. Again as Kingsley Amis sneered, if all of us knew that prophecies must be fulfilled and that our father had supernatural powers and would raise us from death, all of us would be willing and ready for the spectacles of being nailed to the cross; knowing fully well on the third day we would arise and ascend and be with our father. Who would not be Christ, in such circumstances?
However, given the uncertainties, some people are terrified of the thought of venturing out of the ordinary and into the realms of self-doubt and religious skepticism. And until the Acholi and Ugandan Christians can interpret their experiences and aspirations not only on the teachings and morals of the bible but also on factual and observed phenomena and material life- outside the mysticisms of Christianity, we will have to put another two thousand years behind us before we can break free of the shackles and limitations of mysticisms and nature. Given our state of social, economic, political and philosophical development, homosexuality is the least of our worries and vices in Uganda, than irrational religious dogmas that enfeeble our minds.
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