Ugandan President Yoweri Moseveni, an individual whom I used to hold in high regard, said that homosexuality is disgusting and that forbidding it was consistent with African values.
I am straight; but that does not mean that I am homophobic. So let me list a number of other things that are disgusting:
- Violence against women. Africa has no credible institutions to fight this problem, and many African men get away with severe violations against women. There is no strong movement in Africa to fight this problem.
- Feeding people to crocodiles. While Mr. Museveni has not been a part of this, his predecessor Idi Amin has. Not only did he not get censured for this by other African leaders, but he held for some the post of the chair of an African organization. I think we can all agree that feeding people to crocodiles is worse than homosexuality.
- Genocide. While this is an international problem, this has happened most recently in Africa in Rwanda and Burundi, Uganda's closest neighbors.
- Making women do all the hard work while being away fighting one's own African brothers. The work for woman in Africa is never done. Women do all the hard work, while the men are killing each other. And instead of rewarding the women for the hard work that they do, many African men treat them as punching bags.
- Being dependent on foreign aid. Africa has any number of people who are capable of working. For African countries to be dependent on foreign aid is bad policy, bad politics, and ultimately humiliating and destructive to African people themselves.
Every country is free to set its own policy about such things as homosexuality. But that doesn't mean that I have to agree with their policies. Homosexuality is the least of Africa's problems. And to actually solve problems, African people will need to learn tolerance and compassion so that the solutions at which they arrive are rightful ones.