No chance in hell’ for gay rights
12/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
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No chance … Edward Mkhosi

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THERE IS “no chance in hell” that Zimbabwe’s new constitution will include gay rights, according to a key MP who sits on the parliamentary committee in charge of the process.

Edward Mkhosi (MDC), one of three chairmen of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC), says despite clamouring for protection on foreign TV channels and the internet, Zimbabwe’s homosexuals are “cowards” who failed to make their views known during a countrywide outreach.

Mkhosi said: “We gave our people a chance to decide what they want to see in the new constitution.
“In all the outreach meetings in the provinces we conducted, people were very clear that they don’t want gays. As you know in our culture, such practises are foreign to us, we only know a family with a father and mother.

“The gays and lesbians were cowards, not even one of them came out to say ‘I’m a homosexual and I want this’. We can’t talk for them, they are not zombies. They should have come out and said we want this thing, but they didn’t.”

Three drafters appointed by COPAC have begun writing the new constitution. The first four chapters were published in the media last week, immediately sparking a row.

Zanu PF officials accuse the drafters of seeking to leave the door open for the imposition of gay rights through the courts by deliberately using ambiguous language.

Chapter 4.6 (section 3) of the draft already published states that everyone has a right not to be treated in an “unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds such as their nationality, race… natural difference …”

Zanu PF supporter Tafadzwa Musarara blasted: “It is the term ‘natural difference’ that, from a legal perspective, will import gay rights into our constitution. This phrase is not in our current constitution; it was not requested to be incorporated by the people during the hearings.

“It is such terms that lawyers will use to argue in court, to interpret it as stating that gay rights are justiciable or acceptable.”

Musarara points to South Africa where gay rights were introduced by the Constitutional Court which interpreted Section 9.3 of the constitution providing that “the state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation” to mean that gays were free to marry

“In our Zimbabwe case the writers are using ‘natural differences’ to provide a loophole that gays and lesbians can then use to apply to the courts of law to have their unions recognised,” Musarara said.

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (Galz) director, Chesterfield Samba says the issue of gay rights will be a key test for the country’s new charter.

“It will reveal whether there is a determination to draw a constitution which will comply with Zimbabwe’s obligations and undertakings in International Law and the norms of human rights,” Samba said.

“It will also reveal whether it will comply with the democratic requirement of an acceptance of difference, seek to build a non-stigmatising society which embraces all its constituents, or whether it will be merely an expression of subservience to those who wield political power.”

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Count the Cost — Become a Christian

A Christian is, literally, “Christ’s one,” someone who is not just vaguely influenced by Christian teaching, but who has switched his or her most fundamental allegiance to Jesus. Christians understand the all-or-nothing choice that is forced upon us by the magnitude of Jesus’ claims. Indeed, we must count the cost to become a Christian.

From the earliest days, the confession of Christians was Christos Kurios – “Jesus is Lord.” In the historical context, in which it was required to say Kaiser Kurios, “Caesar is Lord,” this confession meant that Jesus was the supreme power. He was not just a teacher, prophet, or even a divine angelic being, but, as an early Christian hymn put it, he had “the name above every name” (Philippians 2:9). In Him “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).1

Count the Cost, Become a Christian, and Find True Hope
Again, Jesus is who He says, or He’s not. His identity has nothing to do with time or tradition, rules or rituals, leaders, or labels. Similarly, our response to Jesus has nothing to do with signing-up for a “religion.” Simply, it’s all about Jesus. He’s either the Son of God who offers each of us the only true hope, or he’s not.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
Now, who do you say that He is…?