Last week, while we were planning our romantic, elegant, legal, safe, same-sex wedding in Canada, a gay couple across the world in Malawi was being sentenced to 14 years in prison -- hard labour, no less -- for announcing their engagement.
Is that ass-backwards crazy or what?
Yes, sure, I know that here in Canada where same-sex marriage is legal we are fortunate and advanced in terms of equality, and that many other places have to catch the hell up. But still... throw guys in jail for 14 years for wanting to get married? Seriously?
So... what the fuck is wrong with Malawi?
I had never heard of Malawi prior to Madonna adopting her son there, and then again with this court case. And no shocker here I heart Madonna, who has spoken out against this sentence for "the crime of homosexuality". And yet Madonna is still raising money for this country through her charity at http://www.raisingmalawi.org/. Should she be?
Malawi is dependent on foreign aid from places like the US and the UK. Shouldn't they be doing something here? Are our governments even speaking out against this?
Columnist Dan Savage has it right at http://www.thestranger.com/: Malawi "can have its rabid anti-gay bigotry or it can have foreign aid. It can't have both."
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14 comments:
while i understand the argument, denying aid would not help, as they would remain impoverished and isolated, while aid might help them opening up to more civilised ideas...
i'm just saying!!
i've been known for my naivety.
:)~
HUGZ
I don't think the aid is feeding ignorance, just children.
Now we just need to send the the law enforces some aid for their stupidity.
Do you think UPS makes a special care package for that? (-:
I agree you can't have both! i'm surprised Madonna would be behind a country with such strict laws.
i'll venture in thinking Madonna sees more the need than the flaws. flaws, according to our value system, which is still pretty recent. we shouldn't pride ourselves of our accomplishments so far, and forget where we come from. our own past is not SO distant.
i remember getting bashed when i was younger by a bunch of young guys, and too embarassed to go to the police, as i expected to be ridiculed by them as well. i felt i had had enough pain and humiliation for one day...
it is another culture and we should not "impose" on them our values. but with time and discussion, perhaps some reasoning can be achieved.
homophobes still exist in sufficient number in canada to remind us to be cautious. they'll always be there, as we shall...
:)~
HUGZ
The children in Malawi who are starving don't care about who gets married.
And withdrawing aid won't affect the politicians... they'd never miss a meal.
The issues are separate.
I can't understand, and never will, why a marriage and the partners in a marriage are anyone's business but their own.
Always proud to be Canadian, more so when I hear stuff like this. Man... some stuff I just can't wrap my mind around.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about this one; while aid and politics should be separate, the reality is that money talks and pressue works --- the carrot and the stick both work, especially when working together...
Madonna can do more good by continuing to help the orphans there and raising awareness by continuing to speak out.
As for foreign aid, I haven't heard any governments speaking out against this atrocity, but maybe I've missed it. Foreign aid is never given without some political strings attached, so it would seem that pressure, even behind the scenes, could and should be applied in this situation.
Maybe Madonna will take up this cause, and use some of the money to help raise awareness? I feel for them, and I imagine they could have just kept it secret, and they had to know what the punishment would be. Very brave, I don't know as a person if I could have done that myself.
I agree with Dan Savage's view that it is time to take a firm line with Malawi. But I've been there and although I wish it was as simple as laying down the law and expecting them to aspire to our ethical values, but the reality is far more complex. The political, tribal and human inter-dependencies that exist in a volatile, fragmented, revolutionary state such as Malawi almost defy mapping.
Yes, what passes for 'normal' on a daily basis in Malawi is horribly wrong. But the notion that Malawi is a single-state entity, overseen by a federal government without contradictory internal military, political and religious factors who will bend to our will without violent international repercussions is simple - and simply wrong.
fuck malawi! go canada!
I'm with Patty.
I do not understand having a bunch of children in a war torn, poverty and disease ridden country. Oh, gay people don't have litters of children do they? What was I thinking?
Will we ever get to a place where this kind of stuff does not happen anymore? Enough already!
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