via bcf:
Homophobia and nationalism share a cynical root. They are both ways for demagogues to distract from real problems – be it a lack of democracy (Russia), an Islamist insurgency (Nigeria), or corruption (Uganda). In many of the 78 countries that currently ban homosexuality in some form, the demagogues even claim that decadent western societies created the vice that must now be eradicated. Come, let us save our nation by locking up the people who perform this threatening act!
[...]
It doesn't take a team of medical experts, such as that commissioned by Kampala, to establish that homosexuality predates western power in Africa, or to work out that far from encouraging homosexuality, the colonialists exported homophobia, in the form of anti-gay legislation then on European statute books. In the case of Buganda, the kingdom that formed the heart of present-day Uganda, the British deposed the male monarch on the pretext that he had a harem of page boys...
anyway, the guardian
Homophobia: hatred carried on a westerly wind | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian
Blazing Cat Fur: Guardian editorial: Western colonialists brought homophobia to Africa and Asia
Homophobia and nationalism share a cynical root. They are both ways for demagogues to distract from real problems – be it a lack of democracy (Russia), an Islamist insurgency (Nigeria), or corruption (Uganda). In many of the 78 countries that currently ban homosexuality in some form, the demagogues even claim that decadent western societies created the vice that must now be eradicated. Come, let us save our nation by locking up the people who perform this threatening act!
[...]
It doesn't take a team of medical experts, such as that commissioned by Kampala, to establish that homosexuality predates western power in Africa, or to work out that far from encouraging homosexuality, the colonialists exported homophobia, in the form of anti-gay legislation then on European statute books. In the case of Buganda, the kingdom that formed the heart of present-day Uganda, the British deposed the male monarch on the pretext that he had a harem of page boys...
anyway, the guardian
Homophobia: hatred carried on a westerly wind | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian
Blazing Cat Fur: Guardian editorial: Western colonialists brought homophobia to Africa and Asia
