A court in New Jersey in the US, the Supreme court of the state has ruled that gay couples need to be on par in protection of their relationships like heterosexual couples. It has left it up to the legislature to name the relationship. Gay rights activists wanted the word marriage. They did not get it. But it was a partial victory.

It is funny.

I am a Ugandan. Living and working in Uganda. But I am a gay Ugandan, and this decision which is happening that far away does affect me.

The last tine that such a thing happened, it came down to Uganda, again.

Let me tell you about how that  came to be.

It was in 1994 I think. Again, a Supreme court of a state in the US came down heavily on the side of gay rights. The issue was that gay people also needed protection in their partnerships. It left it to the legislature to name the partnership, but it would have to be the equivalent of marriage.

There was an immediate backlash. The outrage in America led to the homophobia which led to many states in the US adopting anti gay marriage constitutional amendments. They are on the ballot in many states again. And George W Bush roared into a second term in office years later on the strength of the homophobia, or at least his image to protect ‘family values’

Here in Uganda, something happened too.

Few people understand how connected to what happens in America we are. I mean, when it was Clinton as president, the wind blew liberal. And we did reverse the HIV prevalence. When it became Bush at the helm, the winds of change were read. And our politicians turned, again. They started listening to the Christian fundamentalists more. And these guys now had the money. And of a sudden, the war against HIV became a ‘moral war’. To be fought with moral weapons. The condom is not really moral. It promotes promiscuity. And of course there are things which are not to be mentioned but with condemnation. Including homosexuality, masturbation, and prostitution.

The wind blew gale force. They had the money. They had the ability. And they had the political power.

In 2005, the country’s parliament wrote an anti-gay marriage ban into the constitution. It was the first country in the world to do it. And the Members of Parliament were so incensed that they made the ban stronger. They outlawed any and all homosexual relationships. Other African countries have followed us. I mean like Nigeria, DRC (Zaire) and others.

It was a surprise. We have literally no political gay scene in Uganda. We are invisible. We have not been pressing for marriage. We have other more pressing needs indeed. We are gay, kuchu, and we risk life in prison every time we make love. We risk more, stigma, and being thrown out of our families, simply because we are gay. It was not on our mind to advocate for marriage.

So, why did our parliament see to it that such a provision is written into the constitution? Why did it have such urgency?

It is a global village, the world we live in. So it does matter to us if the American Democratic party does win the mid term elections. It does matter if Bush, a fundamentalist Christian with a real dislike for us, happens to continue doing what he has been doing in his first 6 years in office.

It is a fact that our society is homophobic. But this underlying fear and stigma is driven by something more. No one would believe it without coming to Uganda, but the media is owned by Christian fundamentalist. The amount of fundamentalist, and I mean fundamentalist, programming is impossible to believe. The TV stations, the radio stations, they are always doing it. We possibly have had the biggest push towards evangelising that has happened in years. And know where the money is coming from? America.

More evangelists than tourists. Churches have been built. The pastors do make policy. They endorse the president. They are important in elections. We are close to being a theocracy. A Christian theocracy.

So, it does matter. In a good way, and in a bad way. Anyway, the law of unintended consequences will hold sway here. Whatever happens, I rejoice for the guys and gals in New Jersey. They have brought reason to their side of the argument. And they have won. Fuck the consequences.

It is so disgusting, being treated and thought of as part human because we are different. It is happening. It will continue to happen. And that is one of the reasons we just have to stand up and be counted. Especially in Uganda, and Africa. We are bombarded by the reasoning that we are extra bad because we are gay. For our sakes we must stand up and affirm that we are gay. That it is something that is not bad, and that we are still human beings.

That is a moral call to all Gay Ugandans. If we want to realise the fullness of our promise as human beings, we need to affirm that we are human and normal. It is for us to do it. And I gain when I say I am okay. I am gay, a Ugandan, and human.