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.