Do Not Disclose – It is Un-African!

I would like to write on the pet subject of criminalization, and how it negatively impacts on health outcomes for everyone in the society; to emphasize on the negative externalities, and why in absolute terms, criminalization, most likely affects more heterosexuals than it does homosexuals. Of course UNAIDS  and World Health Organization – WHO, have pretty much said the same thing here and here. But comming out seems to be more topical.

In recent days, many people seem to be angered by Bavinyanga’s coming out. Kwamchetsi Makokha, (albeit satirically) captures the feelings of many Kenyans when he writes that “Binyavanga Wainaina,the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, greatly embarrassed Kenyans with his public confessions and posturing about his private life” 

It is however these two video interviews  – this one and this other one that inspire this piece. In the videos, Wainaina, Eric and Anthony are asked why gay people feel the need to come out yet heterosexuals do not come out? 

I do entirely agree on the need to make a “Political Point” as Wainaina remarks or the need to normalize the gay and lesbian identities as Anthony argues and the need to disabuse the negative stereotypes associated with being homosexual as Eric points out. 

I however think also that “coming out” or self-disclosure is an important determinant of how human beings relate. Human interactions involve sharing information about oneself, history, present, emotions, thoughts and Relationships.

Information about relationships in particular is an important component of self-disclosure. When people talk about “my husband/boyfriend” “my wife/girlfriend” “our wedding” they are in fact “coming out”. Indeed wearing a wedding ring in our context not the very epitome of heterosexual coming out? One could go on and on, but I prefer to just say [possibly with a Meru heavy accent]; “these people are simply putting on heterosexual/normative blinkers.” 

Of course coming out is risky for gay or lesbian persons. Many prefer not disclose that bit about themselves and that is why in the context of criminalization, structured and institutionalized inequality between heterosexuality and homosexuality, coming out acquires its political import. It is an affirmation, that even though “the law treats us unequally, and even prohibits my sexual practice; I still decide to declare it in public.” 

Political parallel

To be political, we can draw a good parallel for this coming out with Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma who refused to give up political interest even though she knew the military would detain her or even worse. The military declared her as one “likely to undermine the community peace and stability" [sort of like, undermining traditional family accusation leveled against homosexuals] and placed her under house arrest for 15 years – just one year more than that threatened for homosexuals in Kenya. 

Nelson Mandela was not so lucky he spent 27 years in Jail. Even more unlucky are many gay and lesbian people in Kenya and across Africa, who get killed merely for being or being thought of as gay or lesbian. David Kato, Eric Ohena Lembembe and Maurice Mjomba to name but a few. Coming out is taking a stand in defiance of this legally and socially enforced silencing of gay and lesbian people, at the risk of fatal consequences. 

A word for Religious leaders

This may be counter-intuitive for the religious leaders, yet the same public health reasons for opposing criminalization, apply to religious leaders objective of extending “pastoral care and support.” How do you offer pastoral care to a population forced into invisibility? This of course is not the position of Kenyan Anglican Archbishop, who seems to believe the religious mission is best advanced by taking a categorical and non-negotiating position on the issue of gays - pastoral interests be damned!

Unfortunately, what the good Archbishop fails to realize is that this kind of intransigence only aids the secular gaols. If anyone is listening, Binyavanga Wainaina'svoice is not about coming out as gay but about Secular Voice affirming its place in the Kenyan and African scene. The good Archbishop knows that his own life may not stand to public scrutiny and while, for the moment people may not talk publicly about his private sexual life and that of many high ranking clergy – it’s only a matter of time. Time is fast approaching when the secular forces will be highlighting the steeped hypocrisy that drenches our cathedrals and presbyteries.

About Binyavanga Wainaina – Everybody is writing about him.

Everyone who writes is writing about Binyavanga Wainaina, so I might as well. First a confession, in the past I did not like him – not him the person, but the whole “Westlands [upper class] gays.” They had and continue to have, enormous social-political presence, with ability to shift the paradigm of gay identity in the country, but chose not do so [a personal choice that is to be respected]. They however felt entitled to give opinion on how advocacy should be run – by lesser mortals such as myself – I hated their pontification. 

Yet, I must admit I like the way Binyavanga creates linkage between the discourse on homosexuality with the broader economic-cultural discourse or lack of it in the African continent through his 6-series ofmonologues on Youtube. The “un-African-ness” of homosexuality is an extension of “lack of imagination” that is so pervasive in the photocopying Africa. As a writer and an artist, I think that is a legitimate framing of this discourse.

Equality legitimate framing of this discourse [I hope] is the poverty debate in the continent. In Kenya, close to 50% [perhaps even more], live below the poverty line –  living on less than 1 $ a day. The numbers rise if you raise the threshold to less than 2$ a day. 

Poverty, when defined in terms of welfare, it is seen not just as shortage of resources but as a state of vulnerability, which is marked by the lack of access to health services and education, low self-esteem and a sense of powerless. The gay and lesbian debate fits very well in this context of non-monetary aspects of poverty. A country cannot eradicate poverty while it seeks to keep an essential section of its citizens in conditions that limit their ability to access health services or education. 

Reading through many of the social media comments, on Binyavanga Wainaina’s coming out, - many were insulting, some of them extremely insulting. To be sure, the Bible, and especially Leviticus chapter 18 has never so often been quoted in the country before - [or I should say, sections of it, because other sections of the same chapter would indict the very guys quoting it- talk of speck vs plank in the eye]. For the moralists and religious leaders this is ok – it’s their job.

For the policy makers and policy advocates [including human rights activists], there are a number of pertinent issues to consider if they were to take this road. 

Impact of Group membership on Poverty: Groups may be defined in many different ways including ethnicity, living neighbourhoods and for our case sexual orientation. Whether one believes identity on the basis of sexual orientation is endogenous or exogenous [the whole nature vs nature debate], the fact is there is a gay community. Of interest to poverty alleviation is the impact of group membership such as peer pressure, role-modelling and social learning. Thanks to Binyavanga, we now know that being gay is no reason not to be a success in your chosen career path. Binyavanga’s contemporaries such as myself, will feel the peer pressure to perform and be successful [with God’s help for my case]. More importantly however the younger gays and lesbians will be influenced to perform better in their education and even build careers because of his example – role modelling. This has impact on poverty for the individuals, but also for their families and the society.

Debate “Aspirational” Argument on Poverty: Poverty stifles dreams, and the process of attaining dreams, leading to a self-sustaining trap of poverty. As individuals we are influenced by people we see as “similar” and their success then begin to be seen as “attainable.” That is why Binyavanga’s story is so useful. Now many, who identify with his story, will work hard to realize what they now see as being “attainable.” That is good for them individually but also for their families and the general society as a whole. When a society stifles opportunities for Binyavanga’s narrative, it only enlarges rather diminishes the scope of poverty. For a country struggling with a huge poverty burden, such policies are rather self-defeating.

Impact of Social Exclusion: The impact of social exclusion is not limited to the victims of exclusion. When a lesbian, who is also a single mother, is stigmatized and excluded, she suffers alright, but so do her children. She may experience layered levels of stigma and disempowerment, as a woman, a single mother and a lesbian, hence more likely live in poverty. But her children failing to get education may end up engaging in crime – possibly killing a breadwinner in a botched robbery attempt, rendering another family into a cycle of poverty and criminality. The concept of EXTERNALITIES is one that policy makers and advocates must pay heed to in this debate. 

Just to stress this EXTERNALITIES point a little more [perhaps more than necessary], it is not just about negative externalities but also and especially positive externalities. Creating positive conditions, devoid of low self-esteem and a sense of powerless, reduces poverty. The individual regardless of their sexual orientation, realize their dreams, and this positively impacts their own lives but also that of their dependents – and in Africa this could be anybody who comes from your village. 

For Kenyan policy makers, I have one point for you to consider; I have potential to create successful businesses, and my positive cash flow can attract appropriate financing. There are many individuals such as myself, but we would be the biggest fools if we were ever to take up a bank loan [hence money velocity impact]; we would immediately become targets of blackmail. That is what criminalization – The Blackmailers Charter, as the anti-gay laws are so aptly named, does. It limits economic output of openly gay individuals – and with it the entire economy. 

So next time you as a policy maker say we are not creating enough jobs [hence reducing poverty], blame it on the blackmailers charter! Is it really worth it to have the government dictating what happens in my bedroom, with another consenting adult? This impacts on my economic outcomes - limiting my potential to creates jobs; but it also impacts on my health seeking behavior and by so doing adds costs to the whole public health systems - ponder that. Is it worth it?

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT - NOTICE TO VACATE KIKUYU CULTURE

To all my public and private friends, acquaintances, official and unofficial partners; be hereby informed that today henceforth, I have vacated Kikuyu culture. You therefore must immediately cease and desist from identifying me in public or in private as a member of the Kikuyu tribe.

After coming to the full realization that my current understanding and living out of contemporary culture does not correspond to the Traditional Kikuyu Cultural Expectations, I wish to notify all and sundry that I am no longer a member of the Traditional Kikuyu tribe. 

This permanent and non-rescindable decision has been necessitated by irreconcilable differences between the traditional understanding, practice and expectations of a Kikuyu man and my contemporary understanding and practice of the following cultural elements:

Language: I no longer use the Kikuyu language as the predominant form of communication. Even when communicating with close family members, I tend to use Swahili or English. Since the latter is the official language in Kenya, and I spend over 8 hours daily in the office, I have had no other choice but to make English my primary language of communication. 

Customs & Traditions: I no longer believe in or support many Kikuyu traditional practices. I no longer support female circumcision in fact even male circumcision, flogging dead bodies – which by the way, I now urge of all Kikuyus to bury instead of migrating to a different villages after a death in the family. Moreover I no longer keep goats and sheep as a sign of wealth and/or social respect, nor do I live in a round hut in my father’s compound. I am constrained to see which Kikuyu customs and traditions I practice.

Religion: I never got the opportunity to practice Kikuyu traditional religion – never prayed at the big fig tree, or ever faced Mt. Kenya. I like the concept of Ngai; [the concept of the Absolute Mugai – Sharer, is one I like very much because as it is rooted in the deeper Ubuntu spirit of interconnectedness), but no one believes in the Absolute Mugai – Ngai, am left with no choice but to give up the Kikuyu traditional religion; an important attribute of Kikuyu culture. 

Forms of Government: I am not a member of any elder’s council. Am not a junior or senior elder, and do not plan on joining any such council – just like many presumably Kikuyu men my age. 

Social Organizing: Just like many men my age, I do not belong to any age-set a constitutive element of the Kikuyu social organizing. As for my marriage I have yet to officiate it through any Kikuyu traditional ceremony. For some reason the Kikuyu traditional marriage ceremony had appropriate practices for same-sex marriage for women but not for men. I guess I could appropriate the traditional practice as carried out by woman-to-woman marriages, but I wonder whether that would count as a traditional practice.

Economic Systems: I do not keep goats, sheep nor have I married many women to labour in my farm. Instead, I work in a formal organization, and instead of goats and sheep, I get paid in cash - money. I do not practice traditional economic system. 

Arts & Literature: Lastly, I no longer partake in Kikuyu cultural music and dances nor do I partake in oral folklore, or even sit around fire in the evening narrating [wise] sayings and stories to children. I do not even drink muratina for crying out loud!

For those who feel being gay is against Kikuyu [or African – as if there ever is an African] culture, then they now need to worry anymore. I am not against Kikuyu culture any more than a Luo or Kamba or Taita or Masai is. I from today henceforth vacate the Kikuyu culture.

KHRC study on Religion and Sexuality in Kenya

The Kenya Human Rights Commission – KHRC has commissioned a study on Religion and Sexuality in Kenya. The study is interested in having a clear map of the existing religious attitudes, views and teachings (both official & nonofficial) on same-sex sexuality and gender nonconformity in Kenya. In particular, this study is interested in the views by religious leaders in Kenya on same-sex sexuality, or sex between persons of the same sex (homosexuality) and persons who engage in these activities.

As a related, but separate issue, this study aims to understand the perspectives of religious leaders and their institutions on gender nonconformity; gender non-conformity refers to persons who think, feel or behave in a way that deviates from the conventional, normative social expectations based on their biological sex.

This study, will for the first time in our history, bring together as a compendium of all the official and unofficial teachings by religious institutions on this topic. As a result it will have the following benefits;

1.            Provide a common platform between the Religious Leadership and the Human Rights community in Kenya on which to engage on matters touching basic Human Rights for all people in Kenya, with particular reference for this study, on sexual and gender minorities.

2.            Provide the Human Rights Community in Kenya with clarity and understanding of the common (or diverse) Theological and Moral teachings different Religious communities have on same-sex sexuality and gender non-conformity.

3.            Provide Religious Leaders and Communities, clarity and understanding of sexual minority and gender minority rights (beyond the colloquial assumption of same-sex marriage) and ways in which the Religious Leadership and Communities can engage with the human rights community on this issue.

Religious leaders are important stakeholders in a society’s value formation, both in its understanding of private and public morality. I therefore write to you, with the hope that;

1.            You will be willing to inform Religious leaders who are your listeners and possibly creating the link to the study below, on your social media accounts.

2.            You will be willing advice on how we can reach other religious leaders – many of whom are your listeners. It is very important that all the voices get heard.

The link to the study is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2X6HDPZ  and it takes between 10 – 15mins to complete.