Just as we here at Advocates For Youth and AmplifyYourVoice.org launch the advocacy website StandForUganda.org against the new and deadly anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda, another incident has occured just across the border in Kenya.

As the video above depicts, 5 men were arrested in the resort town of Mtwapa in Kenya as they attempted to perform a gay marriage. The BBC described an angry mob that stormed the place, beat 2 of the men and handed them all to the police. According to the BBC:

 The other three men were handed to the police by members of the public; two of them had reportedly been beaten.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya but arrests are extremely rare.

The wedding was reportedly due to take place at a private villa in the resort, but locals heard of the plans and alerted the police, who raided a house and arrested the men.

'Repugnant' behaviour

"We are grateful to the public for alerting the police. They should continue co-operating with the police to arrest more," Mr Matundura said.

"It is an offence, an unnatural offence, and also their behaviour is repugnant to the morality of the people."

...

"We will move swiftly and close down bars which condone gays, lesbians, prostitution and drug abuse in their premises," Mr Matundura added.

A member of a Kenyan gay rights organisation condemned the arrests and said it had appealed to the Human Rights Commission to step in.

But the marriage allegedly planned was condemned by Muslim and Christian clerics.

"We cannot allow these young boys to ruin their future through homosexuality," Sheikh Ali Hussein of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya told AFP.

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This week in honor of International Women’s Day, I was invited as a youth representative to the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards Ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. It was an honor to be among the many women (and few men) in Washington who make sure that women’s voices around the world are heard.

The award ceremony honored six women: Melinda Gates (United States), Afnan Al Zayani (Bahrain), Panmela Castro (Brazil), Andeisha Farid (Afghanistan), Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya), and Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan). With the exception of Melinda Gates, chances are, you have not heard of any of the other women. However, they really do serve as “vital voices,” taking a stand for women and children in order to make their countries better.

Afnan Al Zayani works to educate Bahraini businesswomen, lobbying for support of small and medium businesses. She has also helped to protect women within the judicial system, helping to pass a law that protects the rights of Sunni Muslim women in cases of divorce and child custody.

Panmela Castro is a young artist who uses her creativity to spark social change and awareness. She links graffiti to a project that works to combat violence against women, and educated disadvantaged women on the Domestic and Family Violence against Women Act.

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Recently my colleague Sarah Audelo and I had the chance to attend RootsCampDC, which brought together over 700 community and online organizers. (Kudos to the New Organizing Institute for spearheading a great event.) We were excited to meet and listen to so many inspiring activists...no doubt, it's not often that you can talk about social networks and old-school advocacy with both a Chavez-era labor organizer and a young tech startup CEO (at the same time)!

Here's what I took away from my RootsCamp conversations -- as applied to our Amplify community here.

1) Let's work to bridge "online" and "offline." It's tempting to think of websites and social networks as constituting one separate and isolated sphere. If I tweet about Utah's horrible new miscarriage law, for example, we might expect this to lead to...well...more tweeting. Ultimately, though, our duty is to use online tools in order to promote real-life organizing.

What can make us meet with our Members of Congress' offices about Uganda's "Anti-Homosexuality Bill"? What do we need to do in order to grow a powerful network of advocates committed to fighting for comprehensive sex ed? We should keep such "online-to-offline" questions in mind when we're thinking of how to use online tools thoughtfully.

2) Don't underestimate the cross-generational power of new media. The stats themselves prove that Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube aren't just for the young anymore.

I saw this reality in the flesh at RootsCamp. All kinds of activists -- 20-something AND non-20-somethings -- were spreading the word about the conference via their open laptops. In other words, almost everyone was comfortable with using online tools.

The lesson here? We shouldn't assume that online activists solely equal youth activists. On our part, there's a huge potential "market" of people out there who are willing to take action on the issues that Amplify promotes -- and, fortunately for us, they essentially represent almost the entire generational spectrum.

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I am a part of an organization in Georgia called Chatham County Youth Commission (CCYC). Every year CCYC travels to DC and NY and I just got back yesterday from the trip. This year, I was so grateful to be a part of Georgia Youth Understanding Pregnancy Prevention (GYUPP) because it really helped to prepare me. While in DC the National Association of Black County Officials invited me to serve on a panel to help raise awareness about HIV/AIDS... what an awesome opportunity. We were all on the same page, agreeing that we can put an end to this with proper education, and I was able to find many  county commissioners interested in the Responsible Education About Life Act and signed a petition in support of it.

You can also sign the petition here: http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/REALact 

A couple of days later on the Hill I found myself talking about comprehensive sex education with politicians who certainly were not on the same page let alone the same book. I met with Congressman Kingston from my hometown, Savannah, and he feared that there is too much pressure from competing countries in math and science and that we should put less attention on "majoring in sex." He had never heard of the REAL Act, which was disappointing because AFY lobbied at his office in September... but he wants to stay involved and learn more about it, which I promised him would happen... Then we went to talk about health care and I asked about his feelings on the Stupak Amendment, knowing he was a strong pro-life advocate I knew what he would say, but I appreciated him taking the time to talk about it. When we were finished with the conversation he said, "talking about Stupak... there he is." I have done work with AFY with Stop Stupak and the Hanger Project against Congressman Stupak and there he was. So next to Congressman Kingston and with the support of CCYC I walked up to him and voiced my opinions... Neither of us were trying to push our feelings on each other -- it was clear we had our minds made up -- but it was great to be respected and vocalizing my views in DC! 

The story of Aisha still fills me with goose bumps anytime l think about it. Speaking to her reveals she is a very ambitious young lady who was deprived of her basic necessity her friends enjoyed. According to Aisha: “I loved school and l have always dreamt of being a teacher in the future but circumstances wouldn’t allow me. I am a 17 years old girl, who grew up in a remote village in Northern Nigerian. Born into a family of 6 and happened to be the first child and only girl. My father paid for my fees till l finished my primary school after which his other intentions started manifesting regarding my future”.

She was told that she would be getting married in a few years and it would be pointless spending all that money on her being a female child.  Especially because she would be betrothed to another family entirely, and answer to a different name and no longer the family name. Her father practically used her as a source of income generation to support her younger siblings without even considering her age or consent. He even threatened to disown her and send her packing out of his house. In her words: “As a young girl, l had no real choice but to comply all in pain and anguish”.

She got married to a man she never knew let alone love, and to worsen the situation she was made the 6^th wife to this man because of his wealth. “My Dad sold me out to him.”  She got pregnant after a few month of marriage. But the worst was yet to happen: she went to the hospital for her anti-natal and she tested positive to HIV. At this point hearing her illustrate her predicament felt very sad but l had to give hope -- at least that is my responsibility.

She said to me,” I felt this was the end of my short stay on earth, even when I told my so called husband, he said I should leave his house and go find out who infected me with this virus.” I hear they say contracting HIV is not the end of the world but what about my dignity? What about my unborn child? My response was that there is hope for and l told her about all the opportunities she had as a young person. As young people despite all the rights we have, many more still suffer these basic necessities as a child and we are turned into commodities for sale. The thin line though is the hope that we still have as a community and a force that the world cannot do without!!! 

According to Jezebel.com, "The Vatican denounced a Rome high school for becoming the first Italian school with condom vending machines in bathrooms."

"Only in Italy would this cause a stir," an Italian student group said. School officials in Rome began to push for condoms in schools after learning last month that 40% of teenage girls use no contraception and an additional 20% rely on the withdrawal method. A papal spokesmen told the Guardian the school's decision "trivializes sexuality;" the school's principal said he hopes other Italian schools will follow his school's lead.

My Thoughts...

It is interesting to read stories about Church officials who do not believe in sex before marriage, but "cringe" at the fact that adults are realizing praciting safe sex is more effective then ignorning the issues. Many young adults don't consider safety a reason to practice safe sex, they rely on the "pull-out" method or they do not use protection at all. I am proud that this Italian school realized the problem and came up with a solution that is both effective and safe. It's crazy that a Italian school can figure out an effective method to teach people how to practice safe sex, but Americans can only debate and still see the "pregnancy, STD, AIDS" rates skyrocket every year....hmmm...

What are your thoughts?

Last week I was invited to attend the Latino Commission on AIDS' Reunion Latina in Albany, NY. This annual training institute brings together AIDS service providers, activists, and people living with HIV/AIDS mainly from New York state but also other communities.

What an amazing experience!

I arrived after Teatro El Puente's performance during the opening.  While I was sad to miss the performance, it was incredible to walk into a room of 200 of the most diverse group of Latinos I've ever seen, nearly all in tears, giving thanks to the performers for sharing stories they all knew too well.  Teatro El Puente is a bilingual HIV/AIDS educational theater troupe by young people and for young people. I saw what everyone was talking about when they performed at the Pachanga that night.  This piece was about two young men who fell in love and soon learned they were a HIV-discordant couple.  Choosing to stay together, the audience saw a story about the power of love.  And yes, I think most of us teared up...again.

During the conference, I attended workshops on community mobilization, educating young people, outreach to Latino MSM, and legal issues facing PLWHA (people living with HIV or AIDS).  What made this conference different from many others I've attended was seeing peoples' lives change during the workshops.  During the community mobilization workshop, staff from an ASO were literally planning how to reach out to religious institutions with their newfound knowledge.  During the workshop on legal issues, presented by an attorney, PLWHA were learning how to be better advocates for themselves when it comes to supplementary income and housing assistance.

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Just a few days ago, it came to my attention that South Carolina's House Ways and Means Committee approved a measure that would make cuts to HIV/AIDS funding for South Carolina. Explicitly, the measure would completely remove funds for South Carolina's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which is a program that provides  low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS access to antiretroviral drugs.

To cut ADAP is problematic on so many levels, but i'll just cover a few from my perspective.

1. The removal of funds for ADAP is very clearly saying to me LET THE POOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS DIE! I wish I was being melodramatic, but i'm really not. We know that the immune system of a person living with HIV/AIDS not being treated with antiretroviral therapy decreases more rapidly than an a person living with HIV/AIDS who is receiving antiretroviral therapy . The reality is that the HIV virus will overwhelm the immune system, lower the T-cell count, and will increases a persons susceptibility to opportunistic infections-- which will ultimately lead to death.

2. With South Carolina ranking 8th in the nation for AIDS rates, you would think that saving people's lives would be the primary mission of the House Ways and Means committee in SC and not saving a few dollars. What this cut says to me is that there are people in powerful positions, who set policy that affect millions, saying that certain populations of people are expendable. Based on the numbers, let's see who are expendable. According to the South Carolina Health Department:

• More than eight out of 10 S.C. women with HIV are African-American
• African-American women have a HIV/AIDS case rate 12 times greater than that of white women in South Carolina.
• In 2007, African-American women comprised 30 percent of persons who died from AIDS in S.C.
• Men who have sex with men (53 percent) represent the largest
  proportion of recent infections, followed by men who have sex with women (MSW) and
  women who have sex with men (WSM) (39 percent). Seventy-eight people (eight
  percent of total) were infected through injecting drug use (IDU).

So, let me get this right. Black/African-Americans, gay and lesbians, and injection drug users. Got it. No surprise there. This country has a history of strategically propagating attitudes and polices that target and attempt to cripple those deemed socially undesirable or those who are unwilling to continue to pick cotton.

All in all, to cut ADAP is a crime against humanity. It is gross negligence on the part of those representatives who passed the measure and they should be held accountable for attempting to deprive people of life saving treatments. To even consider this measure is a blatant disregard of this country's history of exploitation and discrimination of POC, LGBT people, and Women and Children. We can pretend that racism, sexism, and homophobia don't exist, but let me assure that a bill that would cut ADAP is operating at the intersection of all those issues and more. Structural violence is real! We must not allow this to happen! This tomfoolery needs to end today.

Crossposted from ayotunde4real.wordpress.com.

For more information on how to get involved, please see below:

If you live in South Carolina, please email your state representative - tell them to restore South Carolina's ADAP funding immediately!

Click here to email your representive!

And please distribute widely...

by Eric Jost

Right in the middle of women’s history month, a woman made film history! At the 82nd Academy Awards, Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director for her film, The Hurt Locker. She was only the fourth woman to be nominated for the award. The night was also marked by another historic moment when Geoffrey Fletch became the first Black man to win Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious.

The fact that neither of these wins occurred before 2010 is astounding and the Academy should be embarrassed.

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The recent events in Kenya surrounding the parliamentary committee's completion of deliberations on a draft constitution -- which defined life as beginning at conception and omitting language that would support everyone's right to reproductive services -- is a major setback for progressive language surrounding the topic of abortions for this country. These actions fail to recognize the value of women and also fail to acknowledge the rights of women in this country while giving rights and protecting the unborn.

I strongly believe that a woman should be able to control her body and have the right to make decisions regarding her personal reproductive health for her own life as well as family. As women practice their right to choose, others must learn to trust and honor their decisions about their bodies and lives. Personal reproductive decisions should be made at the free will of the woman, not governed.

Women in Kenya face great challenges as abortion is permitted only to save the life of the mother. Many are forced to resort to unsafe methods of terminating their pregnancies. Creating hurdles and restrictions around abortion services simply leads to the rise of unsafe abortion practices and consequently a rise in maternal deaths. According to the Kenya Obstetric and Gynecological Society and Kenya Medical Association, 800 unsafe abortions are performed every day and 2,600 women die from unsafe abortions in Kenya each year, representing 30 to 40 percent of Kenya's total maternal deaths.

I hope that other countries around the world will begin to acknowledge the importance of expanding abortion rights as the right to an abortion should be rendered a human right!