There is a man in my country who goes by the names of David Bahati; some of my fellow countrymen have seen fit to bestow upon him the title of "Honourable". Apparently he is a person of superior standing. I do not wish to address him so given that all I know of him is a few pieces of paper bearing his name, which he wishes to enact as a law to govern me. I will however bow to the dictates of protocol and have my say.
Honourable Bahati has taken leave to inform me that he wishes to infringe upon my natural rights, recognised under The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda as inherent and not given by the State. He wishes to let me know that he has no respect for my liberty as an individual and to prove it he has written a document that if passed as law would give the State power to hound me to the ends of the earth for whom I choose to be.
Homosexuality is as old as mankind; it is a phenomenon that has been with us since the dawn of civilization and I don't think it's about to disappear because someone in some small corner of the earth thinks it is unnatural. As a minority, homosexuals have been persecuted since Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and ordered that they be castrated. They have endured endless ridicule, discrimination, fear and hatred for thousands of years but they are still here. Yes, you could say the same about thieves, murderers, politicians and all sorts of undesirables but you don't need me to tell you that to kill, lie, steal, cheat and the company these words keep is inherently wrong and neither do you need religion to tell you that.
I have often felt different from most people, I gave up religion at an early age and for me, life has always been a series of experiments. I am constantly engaged, as I believe any other human being is, in trying to take some meaning from an existence that is brief, harsh and almost meaningless. I have tried to discover how humanity has come this far and where it is going and the truth is no one truly knows. The idea that we own this earth and our primary duty is to multiply is a false sense of our importance in the grand scheme of things, a scheme that no single person has ever figured out. Some believe that we were put on earth by a divine being and given dominion over everything and on that basis these apparently morally superior people, some considering themselves appointed representatives of God, have sought for millennia to interpret life for everyone else. It is an injustice that humanity is yet to recover from.
Liberty is a concept that I have always inherently understood but have never been able to articulate until now. I have always believed that any human being has the right to do whatever they please as long as it does not cause harm directly or indirectly to any other human being. Of course life is not that simple, there are many morally gray areas where a human being does something that will end up hurting others who care about him or her or offending the notion of human decency. It is the law of unintended consequences. However, even knowing that, I still believe that every human being has a right to live life on their own terms. As long as any individual reserves this right, among others, for himself or herself as well as for others, the powers that be have no business telling him or her how to live.
I chanced across "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill in a discarded pile of books my aunt was getting rid of and I don't think I could ever hope to express my beliefs as well as Mr Mill did. In one paragraph, he captured what I have always held to be true for every individual with a conscience.
"...the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self protection. That the only purpose for which power can be exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil to someone else. The only part of the conduct of anyone for which he is amenable to society is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."
At this point in time, life seems so meaningless to me. There is so much injustice in the world, war, reckless hate, poverty and despair. Those we have chosen to champion our causes have betrayed us. Institutions in which we have put our trust seem to serve the aims of a select few; it would seem that there is no one left standing for you and me. My lawmakers wish to tell me that I cannot have any friends who are gay and that I cannot be party to any international organisation or treaty that recognises the individual rights of homosexuals. Honourable Bahati wishes me to know that if I so choose for myself, to live a lifestyle that is described as homosexual, then it's the gulag for me. He purports to understand life so well that he would seek to define how I should live mine.
I am a simple human being like any other on this lonely planet, the fact that I live in one of those places you call the third world may perhaps make what I think about life irrelevant but I truly believe that as long as man does not find a way to live in peace with his fellow, then we are doomed to extinction like 90% of all life that has ever been here. Perhaps millennia from now, those that survive us will read these words and know that I was here and this is what I felt. I would rather die than have my liberty taken from me!
With all due respect, Hon. Bahati can take his piece of paper and "shove it where the sun don't shine."
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