BBC News, by
Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Monrovia, 19 March 2012
 |
| Archie Ponpon says he has faced a difficult time since founding Modegal |
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Stories
The
creation of a group to campaign for gay rights in Liberia has led to a fierce
backlash - a house rented by a mother of a campaigner has been burnt down and
even the president - last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner - has waded in to say
she will never support laws recognising homosexual rights.
Archie
Ponpon and Abraham Kamara set up the Movement for the Defence of Gays and
Lesbians in Liberia (Modegal) in January to defend the rights of homosexuals in
Liberia which, like many countries across Africa, is socially conservative and
outlaws homosexual acts.
The move
became the talk of the town, dominating discussions on radio talk shows, street
corner teashops and university campuses in the capital, Monrovia, especially
their call for same-sex marriages to be recognised.
Leading
Pentecostal leaders and other religious figures came out in condemnation of any
attempts to liberalise anti-gay laws.
Even a
priest officiating at a marriage at St Anthony's Catholic Church in the
Gardnersville township of Monrovia commented on the debate.
"Man-to-man
marriage will not hold," he said during the wedding service last month.
The
congregation went wild in applause as he went on to refer to "the nonsense
that we keep hearing on the radios".
And in a
reference to overseas aid, which some Western leaders have linked to
recognising gay rights, he added: "They can take their money; we will
live; we have vast natural resources."
The two
Modegal campaigners have been mobbed at least twice, causing them to seek
safety at one point at the police headquarters.
When they
attempted to hold a talk on gay rights at the campus of the University of
Liberia a few weeks ago, they were chased away by angry students.
"They
are silly," a sociology student said.
"Is it
everything that is good for the West is good for us here? Nonsense," she
shouted.
'In hiding'
Last month,
the home of Mr Ponpon's mother was set alight - during the height of their
campaign.
 |
President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson was
one of three people to win last year's
Nobel Peace Prize |
He suspects
it was an arson attack by people who do not support his stance.
"Since
this incident, my mother has been in hiding," he says.
When the
two activists tried to get their organisation officially registered by the
government, Mr Ponpon says their "article of incorporation was
denied".
"We
wrote to the president complaining, but she has not responded," he says.
Such were
the tensions over the topic that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was
inaugurated for a second six-year term in January, came out to assure people
that she would never sign a bill granting same-sex marriages or gay rights.
"The
president is clear on this matter - she will not sign such a bill," Norris
Tweh, a Liberian government spokesman, told the BBC.
Then the
former first lady, Jewel Taylor, whose husband Charles Taylor is on trial for
war crimes at an UN-backed court sitting in The Hague, entered the fray.
Now a
senator for the opposition, she has launched a bid to toughen anti-gay laws.
Homosexual
acts at the moment are punishable by one year in jail under the country's
sodomy laws; she is proposing making it a felony for same-sex couples to be in
a relationship, which would carry a 10-year sentence.
"Some
media are reporting that I said anyone found guilty of involvement in same sex
should face the death penalty, I did not say so, I am calling for a law that
will make it a first degree felony," she told the BBC.
"We
are only strengthening the existing law," she said.
'Daughter
expelled'
A Senate
Judicial Committee has been scrutinising her bill, after which parliamentarians
are expected to consider it.
However,
some say the bill may never make it onto the statute book, as it has been with
the committee for more than three weeks - a long time by Liberian standards.
Senator
Abel Massaley says it may not go further as there are already "laws on the
book against same-sex relationships, it is a deviant act".
Amid the
controversy, a book about a gay Liberian man who died of Aids in the US at the
age of 32 has become a bestseller in Monrovia, with all 150 copies delivered to
the city selling out.
The memoir,
Konkai: Living Between Two Worlds, by his sister Mardia Stone, reveals how his
family dealt with his sexual orientation and illness.
"Some
of us are still uncomfortable with Aids and our brother's homosexuality, even
now, almost two decade after his death," Ms Stone told the BBC
The stigma
he felt is something Modegal wants to fight against.
"What
we are simply saying is that those who want to practice same-sex relationship
should not be molested," Mr Ponpon says.
He admits
the last few months have "not been easy".
He is
worried about his mother and says even his church, the Abundance Life
Ministries, situated in Liberia's largest residential slum of West Point in
Monrovia "has asked me to stay away".
For Mr
Kamara's family it has also been a difficult time - he says his daughter has
been expelled from school "because she bears my last name".
But showing
me around the debris of the seaside house where his mother once lived, Mr
Ponpon said they would not give up.
"We
will not relent; people will come to the realisation that in this day and age,
individuals should be free to practice what they wish," he said.
Homosexuality and Africa
- Same-sex activity is criminalised in 38 countries
- South Africa is the only country to allow same-sex marriages
Source: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
“ ... You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.The only identity that has any fundamental or lasting relevance to your Soul is your Divinity. Any other way you may label or identify yourself is transitory. It changes from one incarnation to the next. ..."
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)
