Zambia's First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata Stuns By Speaking On Behalf Of Gays | God Loves Uganda Documentary
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Zambia President Michael Sata with First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata in JapanAnne is reading …
It’s been several years since AOC touched down in Zambia, but we simply had to address an event so unexpected that LGBT activists in Africa are calling it “a miracle”. All Africa wrote Zambia: Miracles Do Happen In Zambia.
The ‘miracle’ in question was a call from Zambia’s First Lady, Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata around the topic of HIV and gay sex.
Speaking at a UNAIDS hosted reception, she said that the “silence around issues of Men who have Sex with Men should be stopped and no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. Rather, we should address reproductive health issues around this issue.”
Not stopping there, Dr Kaseba-Sata, assured people working in the sexual and reproductive health sector that both she and her husband President Michael Sata support their efforts.
Her statements come as Zambia’s tabloids are ‘outing’ gay and bisexual men.
President Michael Sata defeated in 2011 then president Banda, whose government threatened to jail newspaper editor Chansa Kabwela for five years because she sent (not published) photos of a woman dying in childbirth during a hospital strike to Zambia’s health minister. President Banda called Kabwela’s actions pornographic.
Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata
South Africa First Lady Bongi Ngema-Zuma (right) with Zambia First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba-SataZambia’s First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata is one of Zambia’s most recognized specialists in obstetrics and gynaecology. She has practiced as a physician at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka for more than 25 years, and has served as a lecturer at the University of Zambia School of Medicine for over 15 years.
Dr Kaseba-Sata currently serves as a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador against Gender-based Violence and also serves as chairperson of the Forum of African First Ladies against cervical and breast cancer.
In 2010 PEW Research Center released one of the largest surveys on attitudes to religion and morality in Africa, comprised of 25,000 people in 19 countries. Pew wrote that Africa is probably the world’s most religious continent with about 80% of people believing in Good in most countries.
Disapproval of homosexuality in three countries — Zambia, Kenya and Cameron — was 98%.
A separate research report The Culture Wars Come to Zambia Intercepting the International Human Rights Agenda, concludes that America’s Christian fundamentalists who are “militant biblical literalists” have dominated the values of Christianity across the developing world and in Zambia specifically.
LGBTI activist Paul Kasonkomona is currently on trial for speaking on TV about the rights of gay people in the battle against HIV, while two to four men including Philip Mubiana and James Mwape are facing charges of sodomy and prison sentences of up to 14 years.
If a Zambian resident is accused of being gay, police can conduct a raid without having a warrant. As is the case in Uganda, family members and friends are encouraged to report each other.
Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill
No where are the repressive fingerprints of America’s Christian fundamentalists more visible than in Uganda, which has finally adopted the stalled anti-homosexuality bill originally promoted by Scott Lively and his colleagues.
The bill, which originally prescribed the death penalty for cases of “aggravated homosexuality” by persons infected with HIV, has allegedly reduced the penalty to life imprisonment.
Clauses that criminalize the “promotion” of homosexuality have both activists and doctors treating gay patients with HIV concerned that they could go to prison.
Before passage of new legislation, homosexuality was punishable by a prison terms of 14 years in Uganda. Lawmakers in Uganda say that western lifestyle risks threaten the country’s family units.
“What we are convinced and sure of is that nobody can in one’s right conscience and consciousness choose to be homosexual,” said Simon Lokodo, Uganda’s minister for ethics and integrity. “This must be under pressure or conditions because we know that the natural tendency is always for a male to go for a female and vice versa.”
The New York Times reports that ‘God Loves Uganda’, a documentary about the role of American evangelicals in fomenting homophobia in Uganda is a short-listed Oscar candidate. Director Roger Ross Williams says that coverage of his film — and most definitely an Oscar nomination — could persuade Uganda president Yoweri Museveni to not sign the bill in the allocated 30 days. If unsigned, the bill returns to the Uganda Parliament for further debate.
Previously:
Fears Grow That US Evangelists Ignite Anti-Gay Hatred in Africa
The World Wakes Up To Evangelical Support for Uganda’s Craconian Law Against Homosexuals
