By Ian Ortega
Despite the fact that she was one of the leading supporters of the Anti-homosexuality Act, Hon.Nabilah Naggayi Sempala has made a U-Turn. And this U-Turn has been made in one of the most dramatic ways. Over the weekend, the Kampala Woman member of parliament attended a Lesbian wedding in San Francisco and uploaded photos of her posing with some of the couples.
MP Nabilah Naggayi Sempala was in San Francisco recently for a program at the LGBT Community Center that was sponsored in part by the San Francisco Africa Leadership Institute, run by Melanie Nathan and fiscally sponsored by the center.
A member of Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda’s opposition party, Sempala said at the September 4 forum that she opposes the Anti-Homosexuality Act. That law, which called for harsh prison sentences for LGBTs, was ruled null and void on a technicality by Uganda’s constitutional court last month.
At her community center appearance, Sempala attempted to explain her actions, which have included signing a petition to bring back the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
“You cannot be an activist and a politician at the same time,” she said, speaking from the podium. “The anti-homosexuality people are very clever, organized, and they have a lot of resources. The media asked me if I was going to sign the bill. So I signed it and that day I felt very bad being a politician. Many politicians have felt that they’ve had to do something political that they don’t believe in. I was not proud to be in parliament that day.”
Now you know that everyone loves a US Visa, not after several hotels denied the President accommodation.
The full article on www.cpanel.ebar.com reads;
“A member of the Ugandan Parliament who claims to be LGBT-friendly has come under criticism from others who say she is actually in support of the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
MP Nabilah Naggayi Sempala was in San Francisco recently for a program at the LGBT Community Center that was sponsored in part by the San Francisco Africa Leadership Institute, run by Melanie Nathan and fiscally sponsored by the center.
A member of Forum for Social Change, Uganda’s opposition party, Sempala said at the September 4 forum that she opposes the Anti-Homosexuality Act. That law, which called for harsh prison sentences for LGBTs, was ruled null and void on a technicality by Uganda’s constitutional court last month.
But according to Maria Burnett of Human Rights Watch, Sempala “has been outspoken in her support of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.”
Burnett provided the Bay Area Reporter with a video of Sempala speaking at a news conference in Uganda during an attempt by a number of Parliamentarians to have the Anti-Homosexuality Act returned to the table for debate after it was declared null and void by the court.
“I’m very glad that this law has come back,” Sempala said in the video. “We are going to reassert our cultural values, not only on men sleeping with fellow men, but the unnatural processes of sex. Anal sex is not a cultural thing for Uganda nor is it an African culture.”
Sempala went on to speak for what she called the “silent victims” of anal sex. She claimed that when men are prohibited from indulging in homosexuality, they “impose” anal sex on their wives.
“This is closeting homosexuality under heterosexual relations,” Sempala said in the video.
At her community center appearance, Sempala attempted to explain her actions, which have included signing a petition to bring back the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
“You cannot be an activist and a politician at the same time,” she said, speaking from the podium. “The anti-homosexuality people are very clever, organized, and they have a lot of resources. The media asked me if I was going to sign the bill. So I signed it and that day I felt very bad being a politician. Many politicians have felt that they’ve had to do something political that they don’t believe in. I was not proud to be in parliament that day.”
Nathan, who was the moderator of Sempala’s LGBT center appearance, watched the video provided by HRW after the B.A.R. sent her a link to it.
“Hon. Sempala says that she is happy that if the bill must come back it should be to help women who are forced to have anal sex,” Nathan told the B.A.R. “She expresses her cynical attitude to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. And is stating that she, as a condition precedent to her perceived support, requests the inclusion of so-called heterosexual men. Because she knows the patriarchal Parliament would never include such a caveat, she believes her so-called support of the Anti-Homosexuality Act is nullified.”
Julie Dorf, senior adviser for the Council for Global Equality, an organization that seeks to promote LGBT activism worldwide, was critical of Sempala’s appearance at the LGBT center.
“She’s a smart politician,” Dorf told the B.A.R . “A wolf in sheep’s clothing. I don’t think any LGBT leaders in Uganda think she’s pro-LGBT. Now she can go back to Uganda and say she was welcomed by San Francisco’s LGBT community. If anyone did their research they wouldn’t give a platform to a leading homophobe.”
Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the LGBT center, told the B.A.R. that the center did not extend its support to Sempala.
“My understanding is that she met with a variety of folks” while she was in San Francisco, Rolfe said, adding that Sempala was already in California at the time of her center appearance.
The B.A.R. contacted Frank Mugisha, a Ugandan gay rights activist and executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda. He said that Sempala was one of the drivers to bring back the anti-gay law.
“She used to be supportive,” Mugisha said via email. “Don’t know what went wrong. I guess political capital.”
Yet at the LGBT center, Sempala insisted that she remains supportive of LGBT people. “Who covers my back?” she asked from the podium. “How do I protect my kids?”
She said that she thinks it’s possible to gradually slide a pro-LGBT message into Uganda’s political discussions.
“Talk about schools first,” she suggested. “Then bring in the gay issue. People need to know who their enemies are. Someone is using the gay community as a shield. We need a media strategy.”
Change will come to Uganda via the country’s youth population, Sempala said.
“Eighty percent of our population is under age 35,” she said. “So there is hope. How do we engage our youth? We expect change to just happen. We need to build roads to make it happen.”
Sempala said she was moved by a same-sex wedding she witnessed at City Hall. “Seeing is believing, it changes you,” she said. “If propaganda is all you hear, then what can you believe?”
Nathan said in an email this week that she took Sempala to City Hall to look around. While they were there they happened upon two just-married same-sex couples. Sempala congratulated them. She watched one of the weddings with the permission of the couple, Nathan said, adding that she does not have the couple’s name.
Dorf, however, is unconvinced regarding Sempala’s position on LGBT issues.
“She was given a public platform that she can use in Uganda,” Dorf said of Sempala. “This is not responsible activism. Activists of good will make mistakes because they’re not officially in touch with the LGBT leaders of the country they’re trying to help.”
A June news release from the LGBT center stated that Nathan’s organization was funded in part by a grant from the Arcus Foundation. A spokesman for the Arcus Foundation in June referred questions to Nathan and the community center, saying the foundation defers to the recipient. This week, a foundation spokesman said that an Arcus grant was made to the LGBT center, but it is not included in a list of grants on the foundation’s website.
Nathan declined to answer specific questions about the grant, “what does that have to do with Hon. Sempala’s visit?”
Rolfe told the B.A.R. this week that the grant is for $25,000 and that she is not sure what Nathan will use the funds for. Initially, Nathan had hoped to bring LGBT Ugandans to the city for June’s Pride parade, where she was a grand marshal. But the Ugandans could not obtain visas from the State Department, Rolfe explained.”
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