With God on our side

I was fortunate to be part of an historic occasion last month, the screening at the Castro theatre of a new documentary film, Call Me Kuchu, part of the Frameline film festival. The film (http://callmekuchu.com/) depicts through personal stories the on-going life-and-death struggle for LGBTQ rights in Uganda. The Ugandan parliament continues to consider the implementation of laws that will effectively make being Queer, or supporting those who are Queer, a capital offense. The situation in Uganda is terrifying, and the film tragically ends with the homophobic murder of activist David Kato.

The film screened to a packed house and was attended by the directors and two of the main activists featured in the film. Call Me Kuchu received the longest standing ovation in the history of the Frameline LGBTQ film festival.

What made the event historic is the degree to which it created activists of the more than 1000 people who saw it. The audience that may not have arrived aware of the need for solidarity among LGBTQI people everywhere; but the film inspired a need for global commitment and awareness. We as a community, alongside our allies, have responsibilities not only to ourselves but to our family, our tribe, worldwide.

What sets the Ugandan struggle for Queer rights apart from our fights for justice elsewhere is that it is passionately religious from both sides. It is not hetero-Christianity against secular Queer struggles. Both sides fight from a deeply held Christian faith. As much as the Queer figures in the story are fighting for the right to live out their true identities, they are fighting for the right to pray and worship as Queer folk. One of the leaders of the movement is Bishop Christopher Senyonjo a straight Episcopal bishop – experiencing strong censure and exclusion from the Archbishop of his church – who sees this as a struggle for Divine Justice.

Witnessing the film is transformative, and I urge people to seek it out and to become activists on behalf of our people everywhere. (Contribute money to the cause in Uganda through www.ajws.org, among other channels.) See the film, though, for the unfamiliar experience of religious fervor strengthening, not just oppressing, the LGBTQ fight for justice. See it to witness the warrior-like certainty that God has created us to be exactly who we are.

Update on Friday, July 6, 2012 at 09:05PM by Queer Spiritual Counseling

A Luta Continua!  The struggle continues!

The phrase appeared on T-shirts worn by LGBT rights activists at the funeral of David Kato in Uganda in 2011.