Homophobia and Third World problems

Forget high child mortality, high inflation, bad roads/infrastructure, poor health care facilities, jigger problems, food insecurity and political instability, some African countries like Uganda and Zimbabwe are facing a bigger threat, according to their respective presidents and homophobic supporters, gays are a threat. They are such a threat that bills have been signed into laws to make homosexuality a crime. One might think for governments that have problems fulfilling its duties, worrying about the nature of relationship between two consenting adults and questioning their decision would be the last thing on their minds.
Religious and cultural based arguments aside; ostracizing, beating up and locking up a person for engaging in an act of love with another person with full consent without harming anyone in the society is beyond comprehension. Surely we have evolved into a society that is tolerant to existence of ruthless rebels with AK-47’s that has no value for human life than to actually respect privacy and life of society’s minority. And with anti-gay bills making headlines and rattling some feathers in these states, one cannot help but wonder, if they successfully lock away people for being gay, will malaria, inflation and doctor’s strike disappear into thin air? Or will they find a different set of people in the community to lock away then, like elderly woman, who “practices sorcery”, based on the evidence given by a villager who saw her talking to a tree while performing rituals?
The fear of homosexuals and the belief that they will influence young boys and encourage them to engage in the act is propagated by people who have failed to distinguish the line between homosexuals and paedophiles. This group of people are either blind to reality or simply hateful and fearful of the so called “unknown” that they fail to realise paedophiles in the society are mostly heterosexuals! One is simply sexual orientation and the other is well, a crime.
As simple minded as this statement might seem I came to realisation that heterosexuals who are homophobic to an extent of advocating for physical injury to the other are either not sure of their sexual orientation, thus confused by their attraction to the same sex, or simply hate gay for being content, happy and better human beings that they are, thus, rage, jealousy. Especially jealousy, imagine, a single heterosexual who has trouble settling down, finding happiness and next door is a happy gay individual who suits up beautifully, has good choice in shoes and has a lover! Yieks, that got to hurt! If not then, what makes one hate so much, fear so much? Is it because the Bible, Torah and Quran forbid it? Or is it because we have thrown away our humanity and evolved into beasts that care less about fellow human beings and other creatures we share this little blue planet with?


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