Hungochani and other thoughts

I've been ploughing my way through a book entitled Hungochani: History of Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa by Marc Epprecht. It is recommended reading for those of African origin as we are constantly being told that homosexuality is not African. One of the author's arguments to support the fact that it has been around since time immemorial is that "... Europeans introduced homophobia, not homosexuality ....". Now that is something to ponder and as I continue to read through the book, I will post one or two things which I consider interesting. The author approaches the subject in a fairly linear manner and follows it from colonialization to present day. There are also interviews with elderly individuals who are able to shed some light on homosexuality in the past. For those with a library nearby grab yourself a copy and email me any thoughts that come to mind as you read it.

Now a point which should be made while I'm thinking about it is that I don't agree with everything the author says so don't quote me as being fully behind him.

Gays and lesbians have always been a part of society, the only difference between those in history and those today seems to be that we are no longer treating homosexuality as a taboo subject.

Some of us are able to stand up and say yes I'm a lesbian and it is who I am at the elemental level. It is not a family curse or a spirit. It just is who I am. I am as productive an individual as the next and should not be treated as anything less.

Some of us are not able to be out which is also equally understandable. There are a lot of risks associated with being out such as imprisonment, getting beaten up or even killed. What is important is that we all try and do what we can to show that being gay or lesbian is as normal as being heterosexual.

Over the coming weeks (probably every week or two) I plan to write several serious articles that cover a topic that is related to homosexuality. A lot of the topics are covered in other blogs so I'm going to be doing some serious quoting and each article will have a list of resources for further reading. For the most part I plan to keep this blog light but it would be a disservice to the readers if all I did was bring out the fun factor. On Thursday I'll be updating the vlogs and putting up this week's installment of T:SCC with Jenn and Dee.