On Adam and Steve, by Wole Olaoye

No law can lock humanity into a narrow conceptual cubicle. What is meat for Europeans can be poison for Africans. We all recognize that the world is changing, but we also know that some so-called changes deny our essence and our culture. In Africa, we do not condemn foreign values. We understand that there are many ways to skin bushmeat. What we cannot understand is that the understanding we give to others is denied us because they think their ways of life are superior to ours.

In recent years, there have been concerted efforts to force African countries to liberalize their laws to foster the US-led LGBTQ movement. Africans find it strange that the same people who did their best to depopulate the continent through slavery, colonialism, wars and all sorts of unjust schemes - that these same people are now selling a new commodity: LGBTQ rights.

The problem with those who market homosexuality and other deviant behavior is that they do not recognize traditional boundaries and age-old cultural values. Indeed, they consider anyone who has a different point of view as primitive or uncivilized.

When Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the country's anti-LGBTQ bill the other day, you would have thought he had detonated a nuclear bomb. The Western world was in turmoil. Why criminalize homosexuality? Why prescribe the death penalty for offenders? As for personal preference, I have my own reservations about the death penalty, but this is where I part ways with those who condemn Museveni and the Ugandan parliament.

The law imposes the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain homosexual acts; up to 20 years in prison for "recruiting, promoting and financing" homosexual "activities", and anyone found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality" faces 14 years in prison.

The British government has said it is appalled by the "deeply discriminatory" bill, which it says will "damage Uganda's international reputation". President Joe Biden of the United States called the law "shameful" and a "tragic violation of universal human rights". He threatened to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on Ugandan officials.

Uganda's spokesperson, Anita Annet, urged the courts to start enforcing the law immediately. "We have stood firm in defending our culture and [the] aspirations of our people," she said, thanking Museveni for his "unwavering action in the interest of Uganda". She noted that parliamentarians had resisted pressure from "bullies and doomsday conspiracy theorists".

The UN also expressed its objection: “We are appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill has now become law. It is a recipe for systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people and the general population. It is contrary to the constitution and international treaties and requires urgent judicial review.”

Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, Human Rights Watch's deputy director for Africa, said, "Museveni's signing of the anti-homosexuality bill is a serious blow to the right to freedom of expression and association in Uganda, where instead of being restricted, it should be strengthened. The law is discriminatory and goes in the wrong direction for the protection of the human rights of all people in the region."

It is always dangerous to rely on only one perspective when trying to understand socio-cultural issues. Unfo...