Ethiopia: Homosexuality Debate as Capital Hosts AIDS Conference
An upcoming conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted infections in Africa has sparked controversy after religious leaders and government officials in Ethiopia held a meeting on Tuesday 29 November, 2011, over whether or not to ban gay rights activists gathering on the fringes of the international meeting. The meeting came after religious leaders canceled a news conference called to denounce the planned conference of gay rights activists.
The 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa will be held in the capital Addis Ababa this coming Sunday, where more than 200 activists, experts and UN officials are expected to participate.
Following the attempt by the religious community to ban the conference, Ethiopian netizens turned to Facebook to discuss homosexuality in their country. Homosexuality in Ethiopia is a crime and is punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment.
ICASA 2011: Own, Scale-Up and Sustain. Image source: ICASA 2011 site.
According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 97% of Ethiopian residents said that homosexuality should be rejected by society, which was the second-highest percentage rejecting homosexuality among the 44 countries surveyed, exceeded only by Mali with 98%.
However, some Ethiopians netizens on Facebook start to have a different perspective on homosexuality.
Hallelujah calls for a civilized public debate about the issue:
Sooner or later we need to have a civilized public debate about the issue. We shouldn't hate or discriminate,but rather be bold,articulate and critical enough to express our disapproval of the practice of Homosexuality from a spiritual,moral,social,health and nature and survival perspectives.
Below is a comment thread that followed Hallelujah's message on his wall.
Lilly Kidane thinks that we need to be compassionate about the issue:
We need to address it and try to be compassionate about it as well, we have created God in our image and what ever we dont like and we dont understand and we judge we say God doesnt like it either, but God should be, in my opinion, beyond all this small stuff of who is sleeping with whom. We all need to find what makes us happy and be greatful for it
She adds:
how boring would it be if the whole world be the same. It takes all kinds of people to fill up the world
Bisrat Teshome says emotional reactions to homosexuality are unacceptable:
As to me, i don't consider homosexuality as a problem by itself. It is preference of people. People are rational and have the right and full knowledge to choose what is good for themselves (of course under the umbrella of the legal system of the country). These types of emotional and discriminatory reactions from religions are unacceptable.
Osman Mohammedsiraj says that the debate should be on how to protect Ethiopians from “the spread of the epidemic”:
Gay and lesbian rights are among issues that are not worth discussing in Ethiopia, since it is forgone conclusion that everyone across all religious affiliation disapproves them. But the discussion should rather be how to protect our people from spread of the epidemic
Nuhamin Getachew believes homosexuality has no place in Ethiopia:
i am thanking God for those of us who still believe it is an utterly unnatural act. Also,i CAN NOT believe i am reading approvals for it from ETHIOPIANS?? Guys please,let us keep the dignified country our proud forefathers handed to us and not confuse civilization and plain immorality!!
Markos asks:
I think we are missing the ONLY point here….Since when people treated so awfully like this for THINGS they practice on themselves?
Mesfin Tekle says that Africa needs to deal with the issue:
This issue is very complex but sooner or later our country and the continent of Africa will have to deal with it. This is not a curable disease like polio that you can prevent with a vaccination.
Bob Herold asks:
Something to think about. What if one of your children who you have LOVED, nutured, and provided for came to you and said, ” I am gay”. Could you just turn your back on them. Does this make them a terrible person. As a matter of fact does this change them in any way other than what they do in the PRIVACY of there on home. Hmmm.
Selam Araya sees homosexuality as a sign of a confused generation:
I was trying to read the comments and debates above. and just wondered “what would be the response of the past generation to this issue.” I would guess completely against homosexuality” even better, how about the next generation. I would guess completely pro to it. we are the confused generation!
Sewinet Belete posted the following protest message in Amharic on Facebook:
A message of protest against the conference
Agenda of the Meeting at Jupiter hotel revealed.
For the World HIV conference which will be held at millennium hall, the main point of the agenda is “To stop the spread of HIV AIDS and homosexuality as a solution” … another objective of this meeting is to influence the Ethiopia government to make a supportive law to accept this extremely bad practice which leads to corrupt families and the country.
To do this, they are trying spend a lot of money and plead support of the international organizations.
Well respected, rich and educated people in Ethiopia are actively participating in this as if this is the peak of their knowledge and wisdom.
And anyone who believes in the existence of God …. anyone who knows how to live in a society should object/protest this bad practice which spoiled Europe and the Western world.
The debates continues on Facebook, which more than 90% of Internet users in Ethiopia have access to.
30 comments
I respect people’s choice; however, I don’t want to see gay meeting in my country.
I am not saying I don’t believe in human rights everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, values and choice of lifestyle. I accept as true that what anyone does in close doors is their own business as long as it is does not involve unlawful behaviour. I also prone and promote very strongly the issues of peace, tolerance, non violence and equality for all. It is just that I personally feel I cannot sit quietly while such a thing is going on, literally by my doorsteps.
Now I am not saying these people are not subject to human rights or that they should be discriminated I just feel that I have to have my say about these subject since it has been brought up. Please note that I speak in complete honesty here revealing my personal beliefs and my fellow Ethiopians sincere and candid concerns towards the subject. I am not setting out to intentionally offend or show prejudice to anyone.
However I believe I have to set my peace and say what I truly feel. Like so many of my fellow countrymen and women I strongly believe that such demeanour is going against natural laws and is in opposition to my country’s traditions . Shouldn’t the people’s wishes be respected? If 97 % of the people are against it, it is and will not be part of our cultural portfolio. Certain traditions should come out unscathed of the process that is progress if a nation is to keep its identity.
This issue here, I feel, for me as a young Ethiopian, African and a citizen of this amazing and diverse world of ours, is not just about human rights, tolerance, conserving traditions etc,…
It also about the form of globalization taking place in this world today and its complete disregard to both nature, the ecosystem and the values, state of mind ,ethics , ways of operating , norm, interests, philosophy , well being of developing and poor countries. Now I can assure you that this question of homosexuality has not been completely resolved in many developed countries of the west, having the lavish luxury of time, manpower and resources to deal with such an issue. Dispute, disagreements, controversies and general discomfort surround the subject. Medias and other public institution: private, civic, non profit, governmental of these developed and rich countries have been trying from a very long time to persuade the masses about it however many are still holding on to the belief that this form of sexuality is completely aberrant and clearly contradicting nature. That is because this issue is not just about human rights this issue is about human nature , deeply rooted beliefs and the conviction that I and most of my countryman also share and hold on to so dearly, with so many other citizens of the world , that homosexuality is not part of our behavioural traits or our essence of being .
How can my country be expected to be part of these social experiment when it has been bringing disputes everywhere else. How can my country which has other life and death situations in its heart be expected and required to deal with this particular issue with such urgency?
My country has other pressing matters to deal with like communications, education , food, electricity and clean water for all , fighting HIV/AIDS , poverty ,corruption, avoiding famine and so many others ,instead of getting worked up over such a subject. No one should mess with any country’s internal affairs let alone deeply coveted values and traditions. I say it again I am not encouraging to discriminate or hate nevertheless such a lifestyle in my opinion should not be endorsed or encouraged in my country, or by my countrymen and women. I feel we have enough problems as it is we do not have the luxury or the time or the luxury of time to start a dispute over this issue.
Thank you
I apologize for any punctuation or grammatical errors (e.g. I am prone to, etc…) or any other errors but I think I got my point through. Peace
Please, please people don’t speak in behalf of God. You have no consent. It is easy to see how we make our lives the way they are. This gay people are not asking you to sleep with you or influencing you to be gay. They just simply want to live and have a freedom the one you enjoy.
All freedoms come with responsibilities. your freedom ends when it infringes on someone else’s.
Instead of doing what you guys are doing, I rather accept others the way they are and live my life better by watching something like this:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4773590301316220374#
nesanet is fikir
Hi All,
I don’t say individuals who are practising homosexuality should be killed,beaten, stigmatised or so on ………but as an Ethiopian I am strongly against the idea of allowing groups to have this kind of meeting which is against the cultural and the moral value of a society.I strongly disagree with ideas who would like to make it legal in front of the law.I don’t want my kids to see and think this kind of thoughts which is against nature,culture and spirituality.I believe our government would never dare to raise this issue as a right issue while it is against 97% of Ethiopian’s interest.My last message is youngsters let us try to differentiate between westernisation and civilization.Now the game is changed,colonization is not with weapon rather with media.So let us keep our purity and our country.
It is not the time to talk about homosexuality in Ethiopia. Because we Ethiopians are fighting the poverty in every aspect. If homosexuality takes place in our country, it can be the begining pont to come down to deepest povert than the existing one. Please every Ethiopian say No! No! No! No! No!… for homosexualism. it can not be solution for HIV AIDS .
Dear Ethiopians,
We ethiopians are amazing people and we have an amzing country. But our knowldge about the world is the worst than anyother country. Awareness or information is powerful ,saves life and build society. if i say that how many Ethiopians have an access or information about what homosexuality exactly it is rather than what the bibles said.We never heard about that on a tv or radio. Never been spoken. We never experienced/ see a homosexula person even if it was there from the beginning of life. Why we talk about that thanks to internet and other medias we start to recognize the existence of such thing.
I am a 24 years young men and who believe in God “not in religion” and who happen to be a gay just like you that you happen to be heterosexual,ofcourse if you are. I grew up in country side.When i was like 17 I was really wondering why i am so attracted to the same sex when my friends chase a girls. I have never had sexual contact with a girl or a boy but I know I am a gay. i really want to search and know what it is, i try to look up in the books or other materials about homosexuality.There is no material that talk about homosexuality ,what really sad is even the English Amharic dictionary does not have a definition in Amharic. The only book i get is bible which tells me that am a sinner and need to be burned even though i have no sexual contact. But my friends who changes girls and have the right to enjoy life .There fore I lived my precious age period (17-22) with fear and hopeless future. I am sure your mind is enough to understand how it hurts to be discriminated and hated by people you have in your life. Therefore it was reasonable for me to live in fear and secret .I am still in secret but my knowledge about who i am is very clear. I have a clear sexuality and I know who I am. It is the responsibility of the society to develop it self ,tolerate and accept people who are different. Our history is full of discrimination and hatred. We have been discriminating the blacksmiths, the disables ,people with disease. It is totally on the undeveloped and uninformed society not on me. The more you know the more reasonable person you become. Are you the one who born to make peoples life miserable go ahead and full this world with hate but please never mention God as a reason he never asked your help.
Love doesn’t cost you a thing!!!!
Best of luck, and know that there are many who are silently with you. Don’t give up, and know that we were all blessed to be made in God’s image.
Bushti/Luti (Gay) is sickness, stop it! But the sickes may need psychological treatment!!!
If the religious leaders in Ethiopia and in Africa in general fail to effectively protect the public from the sin of Bushti and Luti (Gayism or Sodom and Gomora), they are enemies of the faithes and man kind like Satan and they have to be punished for it both here on earth and in the after life.
Homosexuality is sin. It is a learned behaviour which is against human conscience and nature. If there are practitioners, they should be treated/ helped to go out of the sickness brought by the Westerns. Spread of the disease should be stopped now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!