Chimbalanga, a 20-year-old hotel janitor, and his unemployed partner were arrested Dec. 27, the day after they celebrated their engagement with a party at the hotel where Chimbalanga worked — an apparent first in Malawi.
The harsh sentence for unnatural acts and gross indecency had been expected after the same judge convicted Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza earlier this week under laws dating from the colonial era.
The case has drawn international condemnation and sparked a debate on human rights in this conservative southern African country.
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I find this quite horrifying. 14 years because of your sexual orientation? Lord have mercy...
13 comments:
what were they thinking eh? that they would get away with it/ they should have fought to make it a law before getting married or they would have just janded. when in rome eh?
serve them right, gay marriage in my dear africa,hurrr,it is even against the law of nature. by the way,hw can man have sextual feelings towards fellow man,haaa,dis world is really turning to something else
this case calls for serious change of legislation. The politicans of Malawi and of other countries with anti gay legislation, have to sit down and consider that punishment for sexual orientation is not going to cure it, it is not going to make a gay or a lesbian straight. Also, sexual orientation is not a crime, and must therefore not be punished as such. I am glad, you put this in your blog, Linda. This way I can warn some of my gay friends never to travel to Malawi.
Hi Linda,
I have been following your blog for sometime.
Homosexuals are people but homosexuality is sin. God loves people, but hates sin. I wish we would all stop this bandwagon effect of 'whatever the western media says, must be right' and look deeply into ourselves, and into the heart of God, and also into the motives of the western media attacking the laws of other nations whereas their own countries have made a habit of locking up citizens of other countries, including some perfectly innocent Nigerians and Africans.
What is good about homosexuality? Nothing.
Is it a healthy substitute for heterosexual sex? No.
Does it fulfil some creational/biological purpose? No.
Why must we suddenly begin to empathise with, and appreciate people who insist on doing something that God outrightly condemns?
Are we wiser than God? No.
Have they committed an offence against the laws of the land? Yes.
Even our culture condemns it.
Are we wiser than our fathers?
Please, this pro-homo stance of yours jus' don't cut it. Kindly tell us something else.
Anonymous 12:11pm, good comment. you nailed it completely!
At Anon 12:11, we should lock up men and women that commit adultery and fornicate. Who is without sin cast the first stone. Aren't you a sinner.Didn't you have sex before marriage? Or are you telling me that you are still a virgin if you are not married. I doubt it. We can pick and choose what commandment of God to keep or not to keep?? Righteous human beings indeed! What gives you the right to judge another human being? Leave that job to God. When the time comes, he will bring his justice on earth. For the time being, we, as christians, aren't suppose to judge but love our neighbors including the sinners!!! Please read the epistles or Paul's writings and understand the concept of Grace and Christ death on the cross. We are all justified by faith.
It is okay for the government to lock up folks for sleeping with the same sex or marrying the same sex? In African culture, didn't we killing human beings( virgins) for sacrifice or to bury a king.So because it is our culture, it is right. Our culture is better than the Western culture? Really? Has our culture helped the African continent. Our GDP is one of the lowest in the world. All human beings,regardless of location, aren't perfect and will not be perfect. No culture is better than the other. It is human nature to have flaws!
@ anon 3.44pm: You have said EVERYTHING i wanted to say and saved me writing an epistle. God bless you!!!
they made a mistake to do it in malawi. i think they shud have respected the laws of their lands. i don't believe in homosexuality (even atheists think its weird that two men or women can sleep together, not just religious ppl) and i don't believe in persecuting homosexuals. too bad for the men though. anon 3.44 u r right to an extent but i still agree with anon 12.11. ppl all over the world are leaning to the "western effect" and accepting their culture (good or bad) as right, when some of it is not right. how can they ordain a lesbian bishop? i mean that got me really scared and shocked. culture has nothing to do with GDP. GDP is more with the government and our rulers are corrupt so don't combine culture with GDP. at least we don't have serial killers or teenagers stabbing and killing innocent ppl unlike western countries where they are rich and they still have lots of problems regardless of wealth.
K I wasn't going to comment here but Anon 3.44pm has said it all.
I swear religious fanaticism is the reason why there is an increasing number of atheists!
People CONTINUE to pick the section of the Bible/koran/whatever holy book that suits them & become stand tall activists for the ones they know they are not guilty of!
How can ANYONE in their right mind say/think that it is okay to kill/imprison a man for who he chooses to fall in love with or have sex with?
Wetin come consine u for there?
I dont get it! Let them begin by locking up all the child molesters in Africa first before u start worrying abt what 2 people(misguided or not) choose to do with their PRIVATE lives!
People STAY trying to impose their beliefs on people and it only brings nothing but backlash!
Whatever the white men says is right, even if it goes against everything that God says who is bigger than men say?
I know punishment will not stop the sinful urges that homosexuals have, but it's good to have laws, and if you break it, there's consequence. America is going downhill just bcos everyone is trying to be tolerant of everything. Oh, freedom of expression. I know there are homosexuals in Africa, everywhere, but doing ur thing in ur home, and doing it publicly is a different story.
1 Cor 6:9-10 says Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
So everyone is a sinner, and every individual is in need of christ. He has given us the chance to repent, which means to turn away from the sin. But, you cannot continue in sin and think Christ will be cool with you. No sin is bigger than the other, sin is sin in God's eyes.
Homosexuality is frowned on more because it's unnatural, not only from biblical point of view, but also biological, and scientific. The sexual urge is suppose to be between a man and a woman, that is natural. So, a man having sexual urge for the opposite sex, a woman having sexual urge for the opposite sex is natural, normal, it becomes a sin when sex is done outside marriage bcos God made sex to be done btw husband and wife to enjoy and procreate.
God is love and a judge. He has given everybody a chance to repent and live according to HIS WORD. So you have a choice to make.
@In response to Preye, we don't have problems in Africa? We have men molesting little children, rituals killings of men,women,and children, and what about armed robberies and corruptions? Please remove the peck in your eyes before you remove another's man peck. Didn't Jesus preach about that? Africans stop being hypocrites? If the Western world is so bad, why are are going to their embassies and begging for visas? Please I went to school in the North. Some hausa men pick up little boys or men. Please don't tell me they copied it from the western world. They have been doing it before you and I came into this world. Homosexuality started from the middle East from all biblical accounts. The middle East is not a Western world. Go learn about all the various cultures in Nigeria and the world, you will be surprised. Also, the western world brought christianity to our backyard. If not, we will be practising our traditional religions and working around half-naked. Christianity didn't drop from the sky to Africa. It was introduced to us!
@Anon 3.16Am, so Nigeria is not going downhill? How is America going downhill? I live in America. I have peace of mind and nobody bothers me. I don't see any gay person at my door step. Even my gay friends don't kiss in my presence. They have that much respect for me. They don't try to sleep with me because they know I am not gay. I respect them too. It is not my place to judge them. I have voiced my feelings to them and left the rest to God. I know a little girl that was raped in Nigeria by her uncle. Where is the justice for her? You think that man will get away with raping a 9 year old girl in the U.S? In Nigeria, I know lady friends that are constantly sexual harassed in the office. In America, that is grounds for law suit against the corporation. Some girls in the bank trading sexual favors to bring business to the banks in Nigeria.A person can be unemployed and still get unemployment benefits from the government. Do we have unemployments benefits in Nigeria? Or Healthcare benefits(medicaid)for low paying workers or for children with unemployed parents? I am African to the core. But I am not an arrogant African that believes that my culture is better than other cultures. It is called bigotry. Nobody is perfect.There is positives and negatives to every culture. Jesus was not arrogant. He was born in a stable filed with sheeps and horses. The manager was stinking with animal waste. You imagine where Christ was born. He came from an humble background to show the world about humility and love. Please learn from the life of Jesus and emulate him.Christianity is not arrogance. It is love!
@ IB don't get me wrong. I was born in America and lived here my whole life so I'm not in any way saying Nigeria is better. Africa has too many other problems, that I don't bother myself about them bcos it's overwhelming.
America was built on morals/values, with our founding father who had a lot of influence from christianity. My point is Americans are deviating from that to tolerate anything that comes. For example, some people who argue that God should be taking out from the National anthem or God can't be mentioned in class freely, etc.
@ Dith the increasing number of atheists is not bcos of christian fanatics. Jesus already said it the world hated me, and if you love me, you will do my commands, it's as simple as that. Christians are suppose to stand on what they believe in. Once someone says i don't agree with this, the person is bashed on for standing on the TRUTH. The interesting thing is the "so called christians" bash on other christians the most, don't judge! No, honey the verse has been taken out of context. Jesus is not a joke either, and if you claim to be HIS follower aren't you suppose to stand up and live for what you believe in. Guess what, christianity, christ will always be hated on, nothing new, bcos people don't want to accept and live by the TRUTH.
So, is either you are in or out, there's no in between. I have a cousin who's homosexual, and do I go around banging his head with my belief? No, but I tell him the TRUTH, bcos I care for him. It's up to him to make a choice, bcos he, me, you will have to give account one day whether we like it or not, whether it's justified or not, whether u agree or disagree.
I'm not looking at if they should be sentenced or not, I'm looking deeper than that.
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