HIVI WANAFIKIRI WATATUTAWALA MPAKA LINI?
Tanzanian clerics slam threat to link aid to gay laws
Tanzanian clerics on Friday urged
their government to reject western pressure to legalise homosexuality in order
to continue receiving aid.
A catholic auxiliary bishop, Methodius Kilaini,
criticised British Prime
Minister David Cameroon for saying African countries with anti-gay
legislation could be disqualified from receiving British aid.
"Such threats are a reflection of colonial mentality. It
is better to live in poverty than accepting and legalising practices that are
against religious teaching, the law and African culture," Kilaini told AFP by
phone.
Cameron made the threat after Commonwealth
leaders failed to adopt a recommendation to call for an end to homophobic laws
in the 41 member nations at their summit in Perth, western Australia.
Kilaini appealed to the Tanzania government
and other African countries to strongly reject or ignore such "unholy"
threats.
Sheikh Ali Mkoyogole said Islam was against
homosexuality and same sex marriages. "This cannot be allowed by Muslims in
Tanzania," he said.
Under Tanzanian law sex acts between men,
including between consenting adults are illegal.
The US State Department's 2010 Human Rights
Report found that "gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons
faced societal discrimination, which restricted their access to healthcare,
housing, and employment," in Tanzania.
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