Martin Ssempa (Screen capture via NTVUganda YouTube)
Ugandan pastor and anti-LGBTQ activist Martin Ssempa became infamous in 2010 when he endorsed the idea of criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual acts with up to life in prison or even death in his “Eat Da Poo Poo” sermon.
He was a strong supporter of the 2009 “Kill the Gays” bill that eventually passed in 2013 under its new name: The Anti-Homosexuality Act. The country’s Constitutional Court rejected the law in 2014, but a new bill passed in the Ugandan Parliament in May. The U.N. Human Rights Office stated it is “appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill is now law” and that this law is a “recipe for systematic violations” of LGBTQ people.
Ssempa in an interview with the Washington Blade said Ugandans in general reject LGBTQ people and overwhelmingly support the law that President Yoweri Museveni signed on May 29.
Ssempa denied the law is too extreme, stating many Islamic countries in the Middle East have an automatic death penalty for LGBTQ people. Ssempa said the West’s focus on the law is a form of racism.
Ssempa’s claim that Ugandans overwhelmingly support the Anti-Homosexuality Act is disputed — an ILGA poll from 2017 found 59 percent of Ugandans agreed that LGBTQ people should enjoy the same rights as straight people, while 62 percent said transgender individuals should be protected from discrimination.
Social attitudes have actually shifted towards acceptance of LGBTQ people over the past decade.
A 2007 survey showed 96 percent of Ugandans believe that LGBTQ relationships should be prohibited by law. The ILGA poll found that number dropped to just 54 percent a decade later.
When asked about why many Africans vehemently reject LGBTQ people, Ssempa said European and American politicians use deception to try and change the culture and mentality of Africa. He believes the rise of anti-LGBTQ laws in Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda is a reaction to the West — a rejection of colonialism. Ssempa and other anti-LGBTQ activists maintain being LGBTQ is a choice or identification with an ideology, instead of accepting the fact that people are born LGBTQ or feel the need to change their gender to one with which they feel comfortable.
On the topic of gender affirmation surgery, he stated “what gives the White man the right to say ‘cut off your breasts and genitals’ as long as you give it a new name of transgenderism?” He said he rejects trans people and said that there is a paradox because Europeans and Americans scold Africa for performing female genital circumcision, yet are trying to push acceptance of trans individuals.
Pepe Julian Onzeima is a leading human rights activist who came under attack in 2012 when Ssempa barged onto the set of “Morning Breeze,” a Ugandan television talk show, and began to interrogate and mock him for his activism in Africa as a trans man.
After reaching out to Ssempa to ask what is become of Onziema and other trans Ugandans, Ssempa showed indifference to the situation. Ssempa added anyone who is against the “Ugandan way of life” or doesn’t feel safe under the new law can leave Uganda.
When pushed further to answer what LGBTQ people should do if they wish to stay in Uganda instead of fleeing, Ssempa noted all of them must make the decision to sit down with village leaders for guidance to change their “thoughts.”
“Europeans think individual thought is how people make decisions. Africans don’t think ‘I like this person, I want to marry.’ No, we have rules! We can’t marry specific people. There are taboos, and we have specific rules and guidelines. It is our elders who give guidance and advice,” Ssempa added.
Ssempa said being LGBTQ is a decision or lifestyle that one chooses, and so-called conversion therapy and discussions with community leaders can guide them towards a “correct path.”
Since Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, videos have emerged from Uganda that show trans people being paraded naked in public as a form of humiliation and public shaming, while community members jeer and ridicule them in the background. Many LGBTQ people across Uganda face eviction, unemployment and expulsion from clans with the support of the new law. Many feel emboldened to attack and violate the human rights of LGBTQ individuals because they are not afraid of punishment for their crimes.
Activists believe the law will also damage any progress made to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, because people will be hesitant to visit a clinic for STI testing, even if they are straight men because of the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and the potential to be falsely identified as LGBTQ. HIV treatment services have already dropped by 60 percent since the law’s passage.
Ssempa was adamant that attempts to advance LGBTQ rights in Africa are a form of Western colonialism.
When asked to comment more, he said LGBTQ rights in Uganda for which Western human rights NGOs advocate is a way to keep Africa down because of White nationalism.
“What gives a man the right to turn a human vice into a human right?,” he said.
The Blade asked Ssempa if he had a message for Americans and Europeans.
“They need to worry about socioeconomic problems there. And what’s going on over there in Amsterdam and San Francisco,” he said. “Stop obsessing over what needs to be done for change in Africa.”
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