The current debate on Uganda’s flawed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, has reminded me of the proverb from Akan in Ghana: “Onipa ho anto no a, nae fi ne nneyee.” Translated into English: “If one is unhappy, the cause of one’s unhappiness is within oneself.” Meaning: “One is often to blame for one’s own unhappiness. This proverb encourages one to accept responsibility for one’s own challenging circumstances instead of blaming others for them.” (Source: Wisdom from Africa – A collection of proverbs, compiled by Dianne Stewart).

I cannot but wonder what own unhappiness members of parliament (MPs) have caused themselves with their hate for people of different sexual orientation and practice that they proclaim theirs.

There is significant criticisms of our MPs, such as that made long time ago by Counsel Kirunda that “we threw out intellectualism in Parliament.” In the quest of engaging in informed debate, today I decided to educate myself on whether homosexuality is truly the original sin that sparked God’s wrath on Sodom and Gomorah.

My Google search research landed me on several links, some of which I clicked and read, including an academic paper contextualizing the debate in the context of Nigeria. Through my online research, I learnt a lot, some of which surprised me. I learnt:

“God considers all sexual sin abhorrent in his eyes.” Which has me wondering how our MPs have determined homosexuality a sin, especially those who follow Catholicism, such as Speaker Among. You will recall that the Pope is recently quoted as having said homosexuality is not a sin.

Be that as it may, “Sodomites (people of Sodom) were not promiscuous men looking for intercourse—they sought to violently assault Lot and rape his guests … linked with the wickedness of idolatry.” My interpretation of this is that the Sodomites attempted to commit a sexual crime similar to that which is classified among war crimes, I believe – the rape of both men and women as a tool to humiliate, subjugate, and destroy the enemy.

Such ‘war tactics’ that were reportedly deployed during the insurgency in Northern Uganda with the Lord’s Resistance Army and Government forces as the main protagonists. It is unlikely, I think, that this is the nature of the crime that our legislators have focused their discontent.

Furthermore, “the sexual orientation of the men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah is heterosexual rather than homosexual… the men of the city would have been just as willing to take Lot up on his suggestion to sexually abuse his daughters… the real sin of Sodom was not homosexual behavior, but that God judged them for pride… Rather than reading the attempted rape of the angels as an instance of homosexual violence I believe it should be more accurately read as an instance of homophobic violence.”

And so, it truly fascinates me, how our MPs, aren’t as triggered by significant heterosexual crime as they are with homosexuality, including that which is practiced by consenting adults, and therefore not a crime. Anyway, our journey together is short, and I pray that we will find a way to not unnecessarily cause unhappiness to our fellow mankind .