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Obama to end military gay policy |
Mr Obama has been criticised for not acting on gay rights issues |
US President Barack Obama has said he will end the ban on gay people serving openly in the US military.
He said he would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gay people to serve in the military if they do not
reveal their sexual orientation.
Mr Obama was speaking to America's largest gay group - the Human Rights Campaign - in Washington.
He had been criticised by some in the gay community for the lack of action on gay marriage and the military issue.
A big gay rights protest march is planned in Washington for Sunday.
Disquiet
Mr Obama was addressing thousands of gay and lesbian people at a fundraising dinner in the US capital.
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 Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach 
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He said the US had made progress on gay rights and would make more.
On the military issue he said the US could not afford to lose those people who had much needed skills for fighting.
"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country," Mr Obama said.
"We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage."
Mr Obama did not give a timetable for repeal of the policy, passed by Congress in 1993, under which thousands of service
members have been discharged.
The US president has repeatedly pledged to tackle issues important to the gay community.
But he has faced criticism for what many in the gay community see as lack of action on his promises.
Mr Obama asked the audience to trust his administration.
"I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough. Do not doubt the direction we are heading and
the destination we will reach," he said.
One issue causing disquiet among the US gay community is the issue of gay marriage, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los
Angeles says.
Mr Obama has been criticised for not delivering on his promise to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how
local and federal bodies can recognise gay partnerships and determine benefits.
In his speech, Mr Obama did call on Congress to repeal the act and he also called for a law that would extend benefits
to domestic partners.
In many places in America, gay people enjoy a high profile, economic and political clout, our correspondent says. |
An ex-con spills the real deal about sex in prisons.
By Mary M. Chapman
This article is the first in a two-part series.
Posted Aug. 23, 2005
-- It got to the point where, whenever he touched her, she couldn't help but wonder: Did he mess around with men when
he was locked up?
"He said nothin' happened, but I can't say for sure whether he did anything or not," says Selvy Hall of her then-husband,
a drug addict who had been in and out of prison for years.
Keep-it-real rappers aren't rappin' about it. Nobody's talking about it. Not really. Not in mixed company, and certainly
not for long. Even jokes about it are amulets; we pray that if we laugh, no evil will befall us.
But it's real, and it's a killer.
Sex in prisons, among inmates. Illicit sex between gays, yes. But between "straight" husbands, too. "Down-low" with a
twist.
"Man, them mother------s do all kinda sh-- in there," says Carl, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used.
A Detroit heroin addict who is in his early 50s, Carl's done stints in state and federal prisons, mostly for drug-related
crimes. "They be havin' all kinds a sex in there, man. Not everybody – not me – but they do.
"...(Corrections officials) know about it, but it's a way to get around it. Just like they be havin' drugs up in there.
You can't stop it all, you know what I'm sayin'?"
Secret Sex
As with most taboo subjects, the picture is somewhat blurry. Muddled by cultural mores, politics and systemic loopholes.
But it is also dynamic. And it is framed by this fact: Black male inmates are more likely to contract or transmit HIV because
they are disproportionately incarcerated.
"Any discussion about AIDS and Black males in prison has to begin with a fundamental discussion about the number of Black
men in prison," insists Phill Wilson, executive director of the L.A.-based Black AIDS Institute. "A 20-year-old Black man
is more likely to be in prison than in college. And in a lifetime, 50 percent of all Black men will have been incarcerated
for something. Why is that?"
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) there were 4,919 Black male prison and jail inmates per 100,000 Black
males in the United States as of last summer, compared to 717 non-Hispanic White inmates. Further, there were 900 percent
more Blacks in prison last year than there were 50 years ago, although the Black population has only doubled, says a report
by Talkleft.com, a liberal think tank. The surge in incarceration is due partly to mandatory sentencing legislation such as
California's so-called Three Strikes Law, which calls for imprisonment regardless of the offense, the report adds. BJS also
points to Black unemployment, inadequate drug treatment programs, and too few youth programs aimed at deterring juvenile detention.
Compounding
matters, most ex-offenders end up back in prison, further upping the odds of catching – and spreading – a communicable
disease, experts say. The Justice Policy Institute says two-thirds of inmates released from prison are re-arrested for
a felony or serious misdemeanor. Though most inmates with infectious diseases come to jail or prison already infected, recidivism
is a factor, says a report by the San Francisco-based Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.
"Many of these are non-violent crimes tied to addiction. There is no treatment on demand, and now these men are in an
environment where clearly sexual activity goes on. ...We need to deal with this in an honest, open manner."
The prison culture doesn't exactly help, CAPS says. In fact, it ill-prepares inmates for life beyond the walls.
"During incarceration, all activities are scheduled and behavior is strictly regulated," the report says. In this atmosphere,
inmates never "learn how to be responsible for their own behavior, which is critical in disease prevention."
Spreading the Disease
Many inmates want to celebrate their prison release by having immediate "pure" sex, without condoms (the majority of
correctional facilities prohibit condom possession or distribution), CAP says.
Though policies vary from state to state, prison to prison, some facilities will notify families that an inmate is being
penalized because of homosexual activity, Carl says. In Michigan, depending upon factors such as prior offenses, the penalty
has been isolation, Carl says.
The state's 450 HIV-positive inmates are not segregated from the general population, unless they "engage in behavior
that could spread disease," explains Leo LaLonde, a spokesman for the Michigan Corrections Department, adding that HIV-positive
prisoners receive the same standards of care they would receive in the community. "When they need to see an infectious disease
specialist, they do."
But according to Barry Zack of Centerforce, a San Rafael, Calif., education and support organization for inmates and
families, infected inmates are nearly always grouped with other HIV-positive inmates, regardless of state policy. "In
California, for example, we don't practice segregation. But if you're HIV positive chances are you're going to one of six
prisons."
In fact, HIV-positive inmates are often "clustered" as a practical matter, explains Dr. Ronald Shansky,
a correctional health care consultant and prison medical specialist who has been a court-appointed monitor of jails and prisons
nationwide. The inmates "need to be quickly available for a complexity of services," he says. "It's really to the advantage
of the HIV population."
From what he's seen, Shansky says, it’s "probably true" that prison guards are more interested in averting disruptive
activities such as fights than in preventing and stanching homosexual acts. Thus, he believes it would be a "reasonable public
health strategy" for U.S. correctional facilities to allow the use of condoms. Countries such as Canada have long allowed
such usage, he says.
"I think we can always do a better job of educating inmates and staff," Shansky says. "We continually need to work on
ensuring that HIV patients are managed under the direction of specialists ... and that care and medicine is provided when
inmates are released."
Whatever the case, discourse is long overdue, says Hall, of Pontiac, Mich.
"People try to keep (sex in prison) hush-hush," she says. "Some guys justify it by saying 'I wasn't penetrated, I was
the penetrator.' I have had a couple guys admit it to me. Then some would come back to Pontiac and act like nothing's
going on.
"Some of these guys, they come out and go both ways, because they liked it."
This is Part 2 of a two-part series.
Posted Aug. 24, 2005 -- Eight years all together in federal and state pens, Carl has seen it all. He's seen inmates crouch
in TV rooms and have oral and anal sex, with corrections officers just feet away. Later, during visits, he's seen the same
men with their kin.
"You see guys ... all hugged up with their mothers or wives, and you know who they been with, and it's the most horriblest
thing in the world. You supposed to be honest with her, you know what I'm saying?
"...When they come out, they be looking around and hoping they don't run into somebody they been jailin' with."
Carl, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used, is a single, lanky, 50-ish Detroiter who works odd jobs.
Brown-skinned with shoulder-length processed hair and an easy-if-wary smile, Carl says he never had sex in prison. That's
because the vast majority of rapes are grudge related – aimed at humbling "play gangstas,"– and, he says, because
he's not gay.
"If you are a sissy, or gay on the street, you'll be a sissy or gay locked up," Carl says. "Your manhood is your manhood.
Jail do not make you a sissy. Rape do not make you a sissy.
"...If you're soft on the street, you'll be soft in jail."
Inmate sex is possible, in a prison yard corner, for example, because guards are typically on the lookout for more violent
offenses, Carl explains. "If you want to do it, it's a way to do it," he says.
The overall rate of confirmed AIDS in the 2002 prison population was nearly 3.5 times the rate in the population at large,
says the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS. Between 2001 and 2002, 163 Black inmates died of AIDS-related
deaths, compared to 50 non-Hispanic Whites, it says. In a BJS survey of inmates of jails, 0.6 percent of White males were
found to be infected with HIV, compared to 1 percent of Black males. Among women, 1.6 percent of Whites had HIV, compared
to 3 percent of Blacks. In Michigan, 2.1 percent of prisoners known to be HIV positive were women, compared to 1.2 percent
of men. For both groups, tattoos and illicit syringe use were other risk factors.
Despite the relatively higher HIV rate among imprisoned women – especially Black women – male-to-male sex
is widely considered to be riskier than sex between women, though women have sex in prison, too. "They have sex with guards,
both male and female. It's very common," says Sarah Stewart, who did eight years before becoming a manager at the Community
Health Awareness Group of Detroit. Most states, including Michigan, do not require discharged inmates to test for HIV,
though prisoners may request it.
Dr. Alvin Poussaint, renowned professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, says it's hard to know whether more men
than women have sex in prison, although it is likely men are. Men biologically have a stronger sex drive than women, and are
easily arousable, he says. Masturbation is not enough for most males, he adds, pointing out that the prostitution industry
was created for males, not females.
"I think it's very hard for men to abstain from having sex, even in prison, and even among heterosexuals."
One problem is that inmates who engage in sex often don't see themselves as homosexual, Poussaint says. "We sometimes
call it situational homosexuality. A lot of the men will go back to being completely heterosexual.
"In particular, the ones doing the penetration don't see themselves as gay, and that frequently interferes with
their perspective on AIDS. They say AIDS is what gay men get, even though they are doing the same things."
Inmates who have never had gay sex, including those who have labeled themselves homophobic, are often psychologically
changed by the environment. "They go to prison and everybody's doing it; it's routine," Poussaint says. "Social pressures
change, so they can say they're not gay, simply because everybody's doing it."
But if inmates’ girlfriends and wives are concerned, it's hard to tell by the looks of prison waiting areas, says
Selvy Hall of Pontiac, Mich., whose then-husband had been in and out of the prison system. "Women come in there all dressed
up like they goin' on a date," she says. "You should see 'em. They come in at 8 in the morning and leave 8 at night. I told
my husband, I ain't doin' time. You the one doin' time," she laughs.
Many women are afraid to ask ex-inmate lovers to wear condoms. "She could get beaten up, it's true," says Stewart. "And
some women are totally dependent on that man for financial reasons." She counsels women to find non-confrontational ways to
broach the subject with lovers who have been incarcerated.
Still, Zack takes issue with the notion of "your men are infecting our women," and says epidemiological studies have
not proved male-to-female infection by ex-offenders. Some women, he suggests, may have contracted HIV while their partners
were in prison. "Let's not jump to conclusions," he cautions. "We just don't know."
Stacey Barbas, executive director of the Michigan AIDS Fund, says the community needs to take a remedial approach. "This
is not a time to blame the African-American male," she said. "Instead, let's educate and empower ... females to feel comfortable
to ask questions, and to protect themselves."
Some inmates engage in gay sex. Some of them contract HIV and bring it home.
_____________________________________________
What can women do to protect themselves from contracting HIV from their ex-con husbands?
Homosexuality in Africa
This summer, the United Nations will convene an historic World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Perhaps
it makes sense to hold a conference on racism in a place that has experienced so much of it for hundreds of years. But ironically,
it's black homophobia, not white racism, that has become the newest form of intolerance to sweep across the African continent.
In the past few months, gays and lesbians in Somalia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia and elsewhere in Africa have come
under attack because of their homosexuality. African leaders attack gays
Last month, the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) reported that two women in Somalia were
sentenced to death for "unnatural behavior."
In Egypt, three men accused of setting up a gay Web site were charged with violating the Egyptian legal code, which penalizes
homosexual sex. And in February, the government began closing down bathhouses frequented by gays.
In Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has compared homosexuality to bestiality, police last month raided the offices
of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ). The police allegedly recovered two pornographic magazines and arrested a suspect
for violating the Censorship and Entertainment Act.
In Uganda, church leaders of the Uganda House of Bishops called on the government not to register a gay and lesbian group
called Integrity Uganda. The church group reportedly described the gay organization as unbiblical and inhuman, and a church
statement accused the gay organization of serving as a front for U.S. gays and lesbians to set up a base in Uganda.
Nowhere has the homophobia been more blatant recently than in Namibia. President Sam Nujoma announced in March and again
on April 1, that "the Republic of Namibia does not allow homosexuality or lesbianism here. Police are ordered to arrest you,
deport you and imprison you." Nujoma described homosexuality as "against God's will" and called it "the devil at work." His
statements follow those of Jerry Ekandjo, Namibia's home affairs minister, who last year urged newly graduated police officers
to "eliminate gays and lesbians from the face of Namibia."
In contrast to its continental neighbors, South Africa has actually been a world leader in civil rights for gays and lesbians.
After all, it was the first country to adopt a constitution that outlaws sexual orientation discrimination. But even in South
Africa, the seams are coming undone. For example, a recent marketing campaign to lure GLBT tourists sparked an outcry from
religious groups, who reportedly held an assembly in Cape Town last month "to pray for a sin-free city." And on April 11,
Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba reportedly told a group of business leaders that Durban should stop comparing itself to the more cosmopolitan
Cape Town--a city that "can stay with its moffies and its gays." Is homosexuality un-African?
To be honest, these recent examples of African homophobia are not much different from the homophobia in the United States,
but what makes them noticeable is the assertion that homosexuality belongs solely to other cultures. The leaders of these
anti-gay campaigns seem to share a common belief that homosexuality is somehow un-African, a vestige of European colonialism.
But "culture and values are changing things," says Cary Alan Johnson, a representative for an American relief and development
agency, who has been working in Central Africa since 1993.
"Some would argue that multi-party democracy, gender equality and restrictions on child labor are also un-African," says
Johnson. "That doesn't mean that they haven't been embraced and integrated into by African jurisprudence."
Johnson has written several published essays about homosexuality in pre-colonial Africa and points to "the growing academic
research" on the subject as evidence that gays and lesbians existed in Africa long before the Europeans. Much of the modern
anti-gay rhetoric, however, is based on Christianity, which white Europeans introduced to Africa. If African homosexuality
existed freely before the Europeans, then it seems that homophobia, not homosexuality, is what the Europeans actually brought
to the continent. Thus, anti-gay rhetoric makes the African leaders less revolutionary, and more evolutionary, as they evolve
into the same prejudiced culture of their oppressors. Gays become scapegoats
What's really going on here provides another reminder that Tip O'Neill was right when he said that "all politics is local."
As Cary Alan Johnson explains, "Mugabe and Nujoma are politically bankrupt leaders whose countries are in deep economic and
social trouble." In fact, several of the African leaders who led the fight against colonialism in the 1960s and 70s are now
aging dictators clutching onto power decades after the revolution.
It's not hard to understand how gays and lesbians became convenient scapegoats for the problems in these countries when
you remember the old adage that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." So long as the GLBT community puts forward
a white European image, gay rights causes in Africa will be portrayed as another extension of European colonialism. For example,
I was surprised to learn on a 1997 visit to Zimbabwe that the leadership of GALZ was then largely white. That's why President
Mugabe was able to characterize homosexuality as a white creation. The millions of black GLBT Africans are mostly invisible.
The truth is, after hundreds of years of racist colonial exploitation, white people have no credibility to challenge homophobia
in black Africa. That's why black leaders in Africa and America must stand up on these issues. The Black Radical Congress
is already in the process of developing a response to the Namibian incidents. Hopefully, black American organizations such
as the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, the NAACP and TransAfrica will also become more involved.
Of course, you don't have to be black to be concerned or involved. All people of conscience can support international organizations
like Amnesty International, the International Lesbian and Gay Association and IGLHRC, all of which are on the Web.
It's time for a change. After fighting off white colonialism in the last century, Africa need not embrace black homophobia
in the new one.
© 2001 by Keith Boykin. All Rights Reserved.
Legal Status of Homosexuality in Africa
In Africa, homosexuality is illegal for gay men in 29 countries and for lesbian women in 20 countries. The legal status
in many ways mirrors the widespread homophobia on the continent, documented so clearly by statements made by, for example
President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, President Nujoma of Namibia and President Museveni of Uganda. But it does not fully describe
the situation, as African gay and lesbian organisations also can refer to many victories over the last years.
South Africa stands apart when it comes to the legal status of gays and lesbians in Africa, and stands comparison with
Western European countries. Not only is homosexuality legal and visible, but there exists a national legislation which bans
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian office bearers are not unheard of. Annual gay pride parades
are arranged, with substantial participation.
Zimbabwe is more known for its homophobia and extreme statements made by president Mugabe, including various claims that
homosexuality is not an African phenomenon but rather a Western decadency. Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, and some
individuals have been prosecuted and convicted for their sexual orientation, including the countries first president, Banana.
On the other hand, there are very active and very visible gay and lesbian organisations in Zimbabwe, that have succeeded in
creating a (not always too fruitful) public debate on the issue. Even if homosexuality remains illegal and condemned by state
officials, these organisations have won several law suits against the Government, trying to silence them, and the matter of
homosexuality is coming out of the taboo closet.
In Namibia, the legal situation is even more confusing. ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, states that
the legal position in Namibia is "uncertain", as there are contradictive statements coming from the Government. In April 1999,
Namibia's deputy home affairs minister, Jeremiah Nambinga, was seeking to criminalize gay sex because he believed it is evil.
This would, however, implicate that gay sex was not illegal. On 25 June, the High Court ruled that lesbian partners have the
same rights as heterosexual couples in a legal suit were a lesbian foreign women fought for her right to stay in Namibia based
on her relationship with another woman. Some Government statements, however, have been extremely homophobic, such as a statement
by the Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry Ekandjo, to graduating police officers urging them to "eliminate" gays and lesbians
"from the face of Namibia" in September 2000. Local gay and lesbian organisations, however, are present and visible and contribute
to the national discourse. Thus, Namibia probably should have been listed under the legal countries in the table below.
 In Uganda, homosexuality is illegal and persecuted. Uganda has been the last country were gay and lesbian rights groups have
been attacked by the Government. In September 1999 president Yoweri Museveni instructed Ugandan police to lock up and charge
homosexuals. In October 1999 five members of the newly formed organisation, Right Companion, were arrested and deported to
so-called 'safe houses.' One of the activists was raped twice, all were beaten, the recognised South African gay Internet
site The Mask reports. Gay activists since then have continued to be persecuted and in June 2000, Ugandan police was covering up the murder
of a member of Lesgabix, a lesbian and gay grouping in Kampala. The fact that several gay and lesbian organisations have appeared
lately, however shows that there is a change of mind in the public opinion and that the topic is starting to be discussed.
In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, however, homosexuality still is not a matter of public discussion, and the legal status
of homosexuality does not state much about the status of homosexuals. Taboos in the general public are far more relevant.
That does not mean there does not exist an underground gay/lesbian society, but not being an issue of public discussion, even
individual awareness of homosexuality can be low. Most African languages however have words for "gay" and "lesbian", demonstrating
a traditional knowledge of the existence of this sexual orientation. Official gay or lesbian couples/families however mostly
remain unheard of. As for the legal status, the majority of West and East African nations that have law provisions on homosexuality
have forbidden it, with some notable exceptions. In Guinea (Conakry), for example, where the law text outlawing homosexuality
is not available, its illegality is known to the gay society. One source told Queer afrol; "Gay Guineans often told me that
one could go to jail if ever caught having sex with another man."
In Mediterranean Africa, on the other hand, there are outspoken policies towards homosexuality, mostly founded in the Shari'
a law. Homosexuality thus is forbidden in most North African countries, as it is in most Middle East countries. Egypt states
one exception in not prohibiting homosexuality and has had some degree of public debate on the matter. Even so, gay Egyptian
men have been prosecuted at several occasions (the last time in 2001) for belonging to "Satanist" groups, following police
raids on places frequented by homosexuals.
Putting matters to the extreme, however, is the February 2001 case in Somalia, were a lesbian couple was sentenced to death
found guilty of "exercising unnatural behaviour". Somalia has no laws regulating homosexuality and its general legislation
is loosely based on the Shari' a law. This brutal case shows that there often is little connection between legal status and
legal practice, as the Muslim court in Somalia based its sentence on wide formulations, and to a big degree, on the cheering
crowd outraged by the mere existence of homosexuality in Somalia
.
Legal status of homosexuality in 1998/99 (by ILGA)
| Country |
Lesbians |
Gays |
| Algeria |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Angola |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Benin |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Botswana |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Burkina Faso |
Legal |
Legal |
| Burundi |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Cameroon |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Cape Verde |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Central African Republic |
Legal |
Legal |
| Chad |
Legal |
Legal |
| Comoros |
Legal |
Legal |
| Congo Brazzaville |
Legal |
Legal |
| Congo Kinshasa (DRC) |
Not clear |
Not clear |
| Côte d'Ivoire |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Djibouti |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Egypt |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Equatorial Guinea |
Not available |
Not available |
| Ethiopia |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Eritrea |
Legal |
Legal |
| Gabon |
Legal |
Legal |
| Gambia |
Not available |
Not available |
| Ghana |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Guinea |
Not available |
Illegal |
| Guinea- Bissau |
Not available |
Not available |
| Kenya |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Lesotho |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Liberia |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Libya |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Madagascar |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Malawi |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Mali |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Mauritania |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Mauritius |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Morocco |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Mozambique |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Namibia |
Position uncertain |
Position uncertain |
| Niger |
Not available |
Not available |
| Nigeria |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Reunion |
Legal |
Legal |
| Rwanda |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Sao Tome and Principe |
Legal |
Legal |
| Senegal |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Seychelles |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Sierra Leone |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| Somalia |
Not mentioned |
Not mentioned |
| South Africa |
Legal |
Legal |
| Sudan |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Swaziland |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Tanzania |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Togo |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Tunisia |
Illegal |
Illegal |
| Uganda |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Zambia |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
| Zimbabwe |
Not mentioned |
Illegal |
Source: Based on ILGA
|
