"I won't quit anti-gay advocacy until Ethiopia adopts the
death penalty". " United for Life's president, Seyoum Antonius
"I don't want a gay son. You are not my son from this minute. It is better to kill yourself than be gay." An Ethiopian Father
"Ethiopia is supposed to be clean and holy, I felt like such a dirty person for having those feelings." Exiled Ethiopian gay man
It was last Friday that I came across with these terrifying and troubling facts on Newsweek ( one of my favorite news-magazines I grew up with reading back in the days). One of my followers on twitter re-twitted it from his follower with a subject-line: "Ethiopia is a graveyard for all sorts of human rights". Well, I couldn't resist my curiosity but found out that my follower's follower altered the original title "A graveyard for homosexuals" for some unknown reasons when he shared. Anyway, I know the human-rights abuses is bad but the anecdotes at the beginning of this piece speak volumes about the atrocities, discrimination and abuses against Ethiopian sexual minorities not only by the government but also anyone including their parents in that country. Katie Jim A. Baker of the Newsweek should be commended for writing such a very detailed, well-researched long feature by interviewing the victims, various international watchdogs, governmental and non-governmental officials. Claire Beston, Amnesty
International's Ethiopia researcher told Newsweek that Ethiopia
wasn't on the radar due to limited resources and difficulties
getting around the anti-advocacy law. "The U.S., U.K. and other
governments give huge amounts of aid to Ethiopia while remaining
tight-lipped about the extensive violations of human rights happening
throughout the country," Beston said. According to Pew Global Attitudes Study conducted in 2007, ninety-seven percent of Ethiopians would like homosexuality to be outlawed in the country. Honestly, I wasn't really surprised when I read this statistics because I know homophobia is highly prevalent due to patriarchy, centuries old cultural and religious beliefs and deep rooted ignorance. Katie explored these phenomenon in her writing; it's not uncommon to hear derogatory, sexist, bigoted and stereotyped comments against LGBT groups by highly educated Ethiopians at home and abroad.
Ethiopian LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) activists to home and abroad to shade lights about the plights these minorities. International human right groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports in the past but were surprised that Katie was able to conduct with members of Ethiopian LGBT groups and warned her to check up on sources after the story comes, because "
"I don't want a gay son. You are not my son from this minute. It is better to kill yourself than be gay." An Ethiopian Father
"Ethiopia is supposed to be clean and holy, I felt like such a dirty person for having those feelings." Exiled Ethiopian gay man
Does Homosexuality exist in the Holy land Ethiopia?
It was last Friday that I came across with these terrifying and troubling facts on Newsweek ( one of my favorite news-magazines I grew up with reading back in the days). One of my followers on twitter re-twitted it from his follower with a subject-line: "Ethiopia is a graveyard for all sorts of human rights". Well, I couldn't resist my curiosity but found out that my follower's follower altered the original title "A graveyard for homosexuals" for some unknown reasons when he shared. Anyway, I know the human-rights abuses is bad but the anecdotes at the beginning of this piece speak volumes about the atrocities, discrimination and abuses against Ethiopian sexual minorities not only by the government but also anyone including their parents in that country. Katie Jim A. Baker of the Newsweek should be commended for writing such a very detailed, well-researched long feature by interviewing the victims, various international watchdogs, governmental and non-governmental officials. Claire Beston, Amnesty
International's Ethiopia researcher told Newsweek that Ethiopia
wasn't on the radar due to limited resources and difficulties
getting around the anti-advocacy law. "The U.S., U.K. and other
governments give huge amounts of aid to Ethiopia while remaining
tight-lipped about the extensive violations of human rights happening
throughout the country," Beston said. According to Pew Global Attitudes Study conducted in 2007, ninety-seven percent of Ethiopians would like homosexuality to be outlawed in the country. Honestly, I wasn't really surprised when I read this statistics because I know homophobia is highly prevalent due to patriarchy, centuries old cultural and religious beliefs and deep rooted ignorance. Katie explored these phenomenon in her writing; it's not uncommon to hear derogatory, sexist, bigoted and stereotyped comments against LGBT groups by highly educated Ethiopians at home and abroad.Ethiopian LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) activists to home and abroad to shade lights about the plights these minorities. International human right groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports in the past but were surprised that Katie was able to conduct with members of Ethiopian LGBT groups and warned her to check up on sources after the story comes, because "
