Malawi gay couple who 'married' face harsh prison sentences

Case could become test for emerging gay rights lobby where
homosexuality is illegal in 37 African countries

David Smith in Johannesburg and Godfrey Mapondera in Blantyre
Saturday May 15 2010
The Guardian


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/14/malawi-homosexual-couple-face-prison


A man whose same-sex "marriage" has become a symbol of the struggle
for gay rights in Africa has vowed to become a martyr rather than give
in to homophobia, campaigners say. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and his partner
Steven Monjeza are facing a possible 14 years in prison with hard
labour after becoming the first gay couple in Malawi to declare their
commitment in a public ceremony .

Peter Tatchell, the veteran British gay rights campaigner, has
maintained contact with the pair at the maximum security Chichiri
prison in Blantyre as they prepare to stand trial next week.

Tatchell told the Guardian he received a defiant message from
Chimbalanga that said: "I love Steven so much. If people or the world
cannot give me the chance and freedom to continue living with him as
my lover, then I am better off to die here in prison. Freedom without
him is useless and meaningless."

Tatchell, of the rights group Outrage!, also quoted Monjeza-? who is
described as thin and weak with jaundiced eyes - as saying: "We have
come a long way and even if our family relatives are not happy, I will
never stop loving Tiwonge."

Chimbalanga, 20, and Monjeza, 26, made history when they committed to
marriage at a symbolic ceremony last December - the first same-sex
couple to do so in the southern African state, where homosexual acts
are illegal.

Two days later, the couple were arrested at their home. Facing taunts
and jeers, Chimbalanga, wearing a woman's blouse, and Monjeza appeared
in court to answer three charges of unnatural practices between males
and gross indecency. They were denied bail, supposedly for their own
safety, and have been forced to endure dire conditions in jail.

The couple are due back in court on Tuesday, when magistrate Nyakwawa
Usiwa Usiwa will deliver his verdict. Angry residents and relatives
from Machinjiri township, on the outskirts of Blantyre, say they will
not allow them to return home if they are set free.

"They have given this township a bad name," said Maikolo Phiri, a
local vendor.

Zione Monjeza, an aunt of Monjeza, said: "We as a family have been
terribly embarrassed to be associated with this gay thing. It's a
curse and a big shame. We will chase them away if they are freed."

Nchiteni Monjeza, Monjeza's uncle, said: "I won't drop a tear if they
are jailed - they deserve it."

But for others, the couple are  social revolutionaries in this
impoverished, landlocked nation that usually makes headlines only when
someone like Madonna flies in.

Homosexuality has an Orwellian invisibility in Malawi, where gay
rights and transgender activism was not merely suppressed but
virtually non-existent. Yet Chimbalanga told the New York Times
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/africa/14malawi.html?
pagewanted=1" title="New York Times] in February: "I have male
genitals, but inside I am a complete woman. Maybe I cannot give birth
to a child, but I menstruate every month - or most months - and I can
do any household chores a woman can do."

Some have now been emboldened to speak out. George Thindwa, head of
the Association for Secular Humanism, said: "The gay movement is
gaining ground. The country should simply accept gays."

A retired economist, Thindwa, who has not openly declared whether he
is gay, added: "We are giving them moral support by bringing them
food, money and clothes to prison." Thindwa's group has joined the
Centre for the Development of the People, which is financing the
couple's defence. The case could be seen as a test case for the
struggle between gay rights movements and resistant conservative
sentiment across the continent.

Gay sex is still illegal in 37 countries in Africa. A recent poll by
the Pew Research Centre found that 98% of people in Cameroon, Kenya
and Zambia disapprove of homosexuality. But encouraged by legal
advances in South Africa, a new wave of activist movements [http://
www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=28931" title="new wave of activist
movements] are making a stand and pushing the boundaries in Kenya,
Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and other countries in ways unthinkable a
generation ago. Gay and lesbian lifestyles are also much more visible.

This assertiveness is apparently being met by a ferocious backlash
from religious fundamentalists and politicians determined to preserve
the status quo [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87793"
title="determined to preserve the status quo].  It has been described
as a proxy war between US liberals and Christian evangelicals [http://
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6991023.ece"
title="proxy war [] between US liberals and Christian evangelicals],
both of which pour in funding and support to further their cause.

Uganda has become a central battlefield after legislation was proposed
last year advocating punishments for gay sex that range from life
imprisonment to the death penalty. The country has come under intense
pressure from activists both inside Uganda and overseas.

It emerged last week that a special committee organised by president
Yoweri Museveni has recommended that the bill be withdrawn. That would
be a important victory for organisations such as Freedom and Roam
Uganda [http://www.faruganda.org" title="Freedom and Roam Uganda]
(Farug) and Sexual Minorities Uganda [http://
www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org" title="Sexual Minorities Uganda]
(Smug).

Val Kalende of Farug, which was set up in 2003, said: "I believe that
now is the season and time for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
rights in the continent. The LGBT rights movement has grown and it has
come to a point where people can no longer be silent about
injustices."

Asked if the gay rights lobby is resulting in a surge of homophobia,
Kalende added: "Yes. Long before we built a movement here, no one
bothered about us. We got away with so many things. When we decided to
come out and claim our space, society came harshly against us.

"This implies that we are stepping on people's toes. People hate to
see us free and that's why oppression of LGBT people is on the rise.
One of the indicators of a progressive social movement is when its
enemies start organising against it."


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