Ugandan TV aired highly charged and biased debate on LGBTQ rights
The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) sparked intense reactions during a live debate on LGBTQ rights on 1 February 2023. The two-hour discussion on the government-owned television station occurred on the talk show “Behind the Headlines” hosted by Charles Odongtho. Revealing the shows’ bias against LGBTQ people, the segment was titled “The LGBTQ Debate: An attack on our social fabric.”
By Joto La Jiwe
The debate occurred as Ugandan officials were busy arousing fears about homosexuality, leading up to the Ugandan parliament’s recent focus on a new Anti-Homosexuality bill.
The debate included:
- Minister of State for ICT (Information Communication Technology) and National Guidance Geofrey Kabyanga;
- MP Ojara Mapenduzi from Gulu;
- Rev. Canon John Awodi from the Kampala Diocese of the Anglican Church of Uganda; and
- Dr. Sarah Bireete, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Governance.
A fifth announced panelist, Imam Kosozi, did not show up.
Minister Kabyanga went first with very strong anti-LGBTQ statements.
“It is not something we should see emerging and we just keep quiet,” he said. “We should start fighting it as fast as possible. It is a bad habit that is coming up which we must stop as early as possible. It is a big problem in schools. Therefore, we shouldn’t keep quiet about it.”
Rev. Awodi described LGBTQ rights as detestable, sinful and punishable by God.
“It is an attack on our norms, principles and practices,” MP Mapenduzi said.
The anti-LGBTQ party was spoiled by Dr. Bireete who, instead of bashing LGBTQ rights like her fellow panelists, challenged those who accuse LGBTQ rights activists of using money to lure Ugandans into homosexuality.
“Can the President go to visit any community without envelopes? And who created that culture? Talking about gay community using money to corrupt Ugandans, what about the political leaders? There is no moral high ground!” she said.
Bireete also challenged the panelists’ assertion that homosexuality goes against family values.
“Many people think that the Western world has weak family values. We forget that it’s us who have vulnerable value systems that are easy to disrupt,” she said.
She challenged Minister Kabyanga’s claim that homosexuality was brought in Uganda by Arab slave traders, noting that different tribes in Uganda have names/words that they use to refer to those individuals that indulge in acts of homosexuality.
“This is proof that indeed these acts existed before foreign influence/contact,” she said. “Anthropologists have suggested that homosexuality in Africa existed long before even the coming of slave trade and colonialists. We have anthropological evidence backed by names in our local languages ‘ebisiyaga,’ ‘ebitingwa.’ Did these words come with Arabs?”
Watch the debate below:
Joto La Jiwe, the author of this article, is a Ugandan correspondent for the African Human Rights Media Network. He writes under a pseudonym. Contact him at info@76crimes.com.
