Uganda throws a party to celebrate passing of anti-gay law

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/02/uganda-celebrates-anti-gay-law

Uganda throws a party to celebrate passing of anti-gay law
Rally shows how homosexuality is being used to represent all the evils besetting the nation, says Daily Maverick
Rebecca Hodes for Daily Maverick, part of the Guardian Africa network
theguardian.com, Wednesday 2 April 2014

At a stadium in Kampala, 30,000 Ugandans gathered to give thanks to the president, Yoweri Museveni, for passing the anti-homosexuality act. Monday's event combined the fanfare of a mass political meeting with the party atmosphere of a cultural festival.

“There is a fundamental misunderstanding between us and the liberal west," Museveni told the gathering organised by the Inter-religious Council of Uganda. "They say that homosexuality is sex. But it is not sex.”

The president continued: “There are other words (in Luganda) for sex. I won’t tell you those words.” The crowd laughed. “But if you take homosexuality, they (the Ugandan people) don’t call it ‘sex’. They call it ekifire.” A neighbour wearing a Ugandan flag on her head translated: “It means they are half-dead, yet they are still living.”

Museveni spoke at the service without notes, ad-libbing with a jocularity that resonated with the mood of the crowd. Many people there had travelled from rural areas and had already endured many hours of speeches. Over the course of the morning, the crowd poured in by the thousands, filling Kololo stadium to capacity. Museveni was the highlight of the speaker’s bill, and was kept until almost the very last. The audience cheered wildly as he strode to the podium, but silence descended once his speech began.... MORE