‘Kill us or give us our rights’-Homosexual activist

In a daring and unprecedented move, a gay man in Blantyre,Malawi has come out and lashed out at the ‘homophobic’ government saying it should either kill and eliminate gays or give them their rights.
The man, Eric Sambisa, 26 who heads the Southern Region Rainbow Alliance, a secret grouping of mostly gay men, said this in a fateful interview in Blantyre on Monday morning that saw police crashing it and briefly taking him and this reporter into detention.
 “We are also human beings, we are also tax payers, we are also contributing to the growth of this nation so please, we should be included in whatever is happening in this nation.And I also want to give information to people in my community to say this is time to stand up and claim our rights – we have been in denial for a long time, we have been discriminated against for a long time – I think this is time for action.
“We should get what is ours, we want our freedom; we want to be treated like everyone else. The services that are being catered to the heterosexual community should also be given to us. We have many people in our community that are failing to get a job because of their [sexual] orientation, that are being dismissed because of their orientation,” he said.
Homosexuality in Malawi
In 2005, the Anglican Church in the country rejected the installation of a pro-gay bishop Reverend Nick Henderson but the real pinnacle came in 2009 when Malawi made international headlines by arresting two ‘gays’, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza after they openly engaged.
In 2010, at the height of the high profile trial of the two aforementioned ‘gays’, a Peter Sawali was arrested in streets for putting up posters calling for recognition of gay rights and was sentenced to 60 days community service.

The Law
Homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries in the world, 38 of which are in Africa and of these 38; homosexuality is punishable by death in 4.
The Penal Code of Malawi (Sections 153(a), 154, 156 and 137(a)) prohibits “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, attempts to commit “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, and acts of “gross indecency”.
The maximum sentence for these ‘crime’ is 14 years imprisonment.

Religion
One of the biggest enemies of gays in Malawi is religion. Religious grouping shed all their differences when it comes to condemning gays the height of which was when one evangelist told his congregation that gays deserve to die.
Whenever gays come closer to being recognised the church comes out in full force, a situation that infuriates Cedep.
“We have seen our bishops, self-proclaimed prophets being champions of patriarchal culture that promotes the oppression and hate against LGBTIQ people instead of promoting love and peace,Give us our right or there will be war.You must either kill us or give us our right"said Sambisa

Compiled by Kwayera Singele