Let’s get these things right; Rectifying the Myths that Surround Homosexuality

By Editor

They say ignorance is no excuse but let’s make an exception here. Maybe homophobia in Africa has stemmed from the fact that people rarely address the myths that surround being homosexual. In this article, a proud lesbian breaks down the misconceptions that heterosexuals have about sexual minorities.

From the common child bearing question, to how homosexuals actually have sex all the way to the notion that God is against homosexuality, she addresses it all.  All this is in the hope that the world will open their minds to the truth; people are who they are and have no control over one’s sexuality.

1. The abundance of children

Being born with a reproductive organ doesn’t necessarily mean that one is supposed to reproduce! It is joyous to pass on one’s genes to an offspring but it should have a pattern of consideration, limitation and regulation. Whereas homosexuality is not per say a family planning method, the regulation in child bearing exhibited by the homosexuals is fancy.

The streets of Kampala are full of street children seeking shelter in trenches and manholes, feeding from the dust bins and dumping places plus earning a living through begging! Unfortunately, their mothers who also dwell on the streets never get a chance of meeting their monthly womanhood role of menstruation because the hormones never cease to prepare the uterus for the next 9 months of stomach bulging. We may not blame them though! Where they come from, t is no strange sight for a 14 year old girl carrying a baby impregnated by an adolescent.

The tales of school drop outs due to pregnancies; unwanted they call them and abortions which are seldom unsafe and suicidal plus the early marriages that still exist in this twenty first century! Our African setting looks at child bearing as a pleasure which everyone must enjoy irrespective of their ability to care for a child or better still without regard of if the genes are worth being passed on.

This setting is worsened by the heterosexuals who do not limit their pleasure by taking precaution against unwanted fusion of their gametes, it is a human error for children to be born out of pleasure and not planned for! It is human failure to reproduce carelessly as if warnings of harder economic times have not been read.

2. Homosexuality is NOT learnt

It is homophobes’ misconception for one to consider someone’s sexual orientation, attraction and expression as a learned habit. My mother has taught me to be respectful to the ignorant and the foolish but it does get annoying when the misinformed class start to teach me how to live. They start designing the curriculum for my life style as if they live within me. Whether genetics explains it or fails, it is important to follow the growth pattern of the homosexuals around us.

The sexual expression, identity and orientation are growth processes that stem from childhood. Heterosexuals need to erase this error; people are born with sexuality they identify to. You can teach me how to live but it is not possible for me to learn to live your way.

3. Recruitment into homosexuality is a myth

No one is recruited into homosexuality. Sex is an emotional activity that stems from the brain, the choice of who gets you to that pleasure during a sexual engagement is made by the brain. To call homosexuals hired and recruited people is correlating them to prostitutes. Whereas prostitution is done for survival, many homosexuals are well off yet still enjoy sexual bonding and pleasure with mates of the same sex. It is rude to call a Transgender man who goes through the pain of binding his breasts to pass for a man a paid recruited mercenary. If we must use the word recruitment, then we are simply insinuating that homophobes are being recruited into the acts of homophobia, blinded of their history, culture and origin.

4. Lesbians, Gays, Transgenders, Bisexuals and Intersexuals can bear children

Giving birth is a choice and once one chooses to pass on their genes, nature and science allows for it to occur in the most humanly acceptable ways. The fusion of the male and female gamete must not necessarily occur in the female reproductive organ through copulation; yes it must not only occur in the vagina!

Not everyone has the privilege of getting to that moment, precious they call it. Being lucky to fall among the majority group who can successfully get to sexual pleasure in a heterosexual environment doesn’t require any award to be won for recognition rather acceptance and tolerance to those who actually fall short of your luck.

It is human error to call homosexuals anti-children. Several children have been born and raised to gay and lesbian parents. They haven’t lost their breath because they have grown up with parents of the same sex. Besides it is getting trendy to be raised by single parents, so how about being raised by two fathers or two mothers.

5. Lesbians DON’T use carrots, cucumbers for sexual pleasure

Sexual pleasure is built from the mind, it is not about how long or short, how small or big your organ is but the mind! Yes lesbians like any other humans use cucumbers, carrots as fruits but it is insulting to think they use fruits for sexual pleasure. We all know dildos are used by straight women for reasons close or far away from pleasure and satisfaction any way.

It is sheer bullying for one to imagine that the nutritious fruits and vegetables are turned into sex tools! It is on record that 87% of straight women actually never get to the climax of their sexual engagement with men, so how come these women don’t use the fruits, why is it lesbians that are bullied! Sexual pleasure occurs among women who have sex with women without using any sex tool but just their bodies. It is error to bully them especially with such insulting statements!

6. Gay men wear pampers; oooh please pampers!

What forces a gay man to wear pampers? I hear anal sex injures the rectum consequently leading to constant leaking of fecal matter through the anal outlet. Equally penetrative vaginal sex can lead to fistula! To start with, anal sex may cause rectum rapture; true but does not necessarily mean that it occurs only in gay men; for anal sex is not limited to only gay men.

Many heterosexual couples indulge in anal sex. In addition, even penetrative vaginal sex has ugly consequences and all these diseases related conditions occur in non-consensual coitus involving rape. But who says all gay men are raped? Just like the raped women may get fistula, is the same case of argument about gay men with leaking rectums.

7. Being a homosexual doesn’t make one less human

The potential of man is not measured by who they love or who they love to have sex with. Many more attributes define a human being. It is a total disgrace to regard someone worthless because they love people different from the norm. Homosexuals have the brains to think, the energy to work, the power to change the world, they are only limited by the homophobic societies that marginalize them.

Despite the hatred, the LGBTI persons have maneuvered through the threats of homophobia to express their abilities. It is not limited to sex but to ability. It is rude to undermine and disregard homosexuals because of their sexual identity. I won’t take the story to the CEO of apple, during my high school times; the girl who had never scored less than 80% in every exam we sat for was a lesbian!

We can all point out the people with potential among our communities, who are homosexuals plus homosexuals who are bread winners for their families.

8. The LGBTI persons are not disgraces to God

Believers need to understand the fundamentals of our faiths! To use religion as a tool to spread hate is sheer blasphemy; then why don’t you stop affiliating yourselves to God whose biggest commandment is love! Whoever disregards a homosexual on basis of faith and belief in God has lost track of what God requires of us.

Homosexuals are  God’s creatures created in His image too! Many of LGBTI persons visit church and meet all the other requirements of the church of God. We are all sinners and we sin in different ways, if homosexuality is one of the ways we sin then homosexuals are not the only sinners neither do they sin most that they deserve such hate and death.

9. Homosexuality is all not about sex

Every one imagines homosexuality is about sex. Heterosexuals imagine the only thing homosexuals do is have sex all day, all night! Hey, these guys are productive and practice abstinence and commitment applies to them too! For some reasons, sex is regulated among homosexuals though it is plenty when necessary.

Now surprisingly, heterosexuals think being a lesbian means one is sexually attracted to every female and being gay means that one is attracted to every man. Come on! Yes straight men love every woman but with homosexuals it is different, the sexual attraction is not to every other mate of the same sex but a few who can be rounded off to one.

Actually homosexuals have longer lasting monogamous relationships than the heterosexuals. We are faithful beings you know!

10. Tom boys are the only lesbians

There are sisters of ours who have a slight Y chromosome in their genes, let me call it a short Y gene! They tend to behave less of the societal expectations of females but more of the males. They are comfortable being called women! They are called stud lesbians or tom boys for simplicity. These sisters are most times offended by homophobes, abusing them verbally and physically that they are “abasiyazi”, but look; who do they “kusiyaga” ( who do they relate with)?

There are those females who are more feminine than Miss Universe yet have sexual, emotional and physical attraction to fellow women, they are called femme lesbians! They are less harassed because they fit in the societal definition of women but they are bent too!

Likewise the bottom gays are always harassed since they tend to behave more like women though the top gays meet the criteria of being called men, they are never the less gay. Research has it that the homophobes who hate with a distinction are actually homosexuals mimicking their sexual orientation under homophobia.

I am yet to think the guys pushing for the recalling of the” Kill the gay bill” are actually gay. We need to realize we have been misinformed, and then get informed. The ignorance of the 21st century is not failure to read or write rather failure to learn, unlearn and re learn.