Global LGBT Activist Blasts Cameroon " Gay Hate Day"

Aug. 21, 2012 - PRLog -- UK Global LGBT and Human Rights Advocate Omar Kuddus raises a lone voice against Camaroon's 'Gay Hate Day':


"I am appalled. Sorry but I am disgusted beyond words and contempt.

Yesterday [21st August] was ‘Gay Hate Day’ in Cameroon, where homosexuality is banned by section 347 of the penal code with a penalty of 5 years imprisonment and a fine [of 20,000 to 200,000 francs (as per 2009)] and more severe sentencing is likely when one of the offenders is under 21 years of age.

The Cameroonian Youth Rally organized a homophobic parade through the streets of the capital as a ‘celebration’. The association is not interested in hearing about gay pride, and according to Afrik.com, the chosen date marks the savage murder and alleged rape of Narcisse Olivier Djomo Pokam by, a 31 year old student, by what the association labelled ‘gay mafia’. The ‘gay mafia’ myth was widely broadcasted by the Cameroonian press at the time, alleging a conspiracy of ‘homosexual predators’ within the highest echelons of the state.

The existence and combat of the alleged ‘gay mafia’ is one of the principal concerns of the RJC which proudly announces its homophobia publicly without repercussion by the state.

Christians and Islamic extremists, pass on the anti-gay message such as that of Cameroon’s Archbishop of Yaoundé who declared homosexuality “shameful” and “an affront to the family”, and an “enemy of women and creation.”

Though despite protests by African human rights leaders who united to denounce the ‘Gay Hate Day’ in Cameroon and Alice N’Kom, a Cameroonian attorney renowned for her support of LGBT rights who voiced her opinion :

“These anti-gay proponents say they are protecting our ‘traditional values.’ and further stated “But we want to tell them that hate and homophobia are not African values.”

And Yves Yomb, director of Alternatives-Cameroun, who said: “This anti-gay movement is misinforming Cameroonians”, the west is being silent.

I ask the question to all my fellow advocates and activists:   Why?

Why this silence which is both deafening and defining,  sending its own eerie message without the use of words?

 And I ask further questions:

Do the rights of African LGBTs not matter?  ... and are we so obsessed with our right to improve our own lives by getting the ability to marry our partners, making this  more important than the basic civil rights of Africans  -  Cameroonians in particular   -   to be able to be who they are?

If this Gay hate march was to occur in the west, there would be civil unrest and all the silent activists screaming from the roof tops demanding justice, yelling homophobia.

Could you who are reading this imagine living in a world where there is such little outcry internationally, when a group in a country gets tacit endorsement by virtue of Government silence, of a day dedicated to hating a minority of its citizens?

The persecution through criminalization of homosexuality is Government persecution and the Gay Hate Day yesterday in Cameroon endorsed just such a sentiment.

That if you are LGBT you are indeed hated.

But all I hear is silence from the west.
Defining silence.

A poster in Cameroon announcing the ‘Gay Hate Day’ claimed that hemorrhoids, incontinence and various infections are consequences of homosexuality.
That is the bigotry and ignorance that is being peddled by the anti-gay brigade.

Yet the west and all its noble and revered activists are remaining quiet and allowing this appalling state approved homophobia to occur without protest in the media.

Unfortunately this advocate cannot allow this to occur, and though it may be just one voice, it is my voice, and it will be heard."