Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai Say Gay Rights are Insane

by Michael Jones · 2010-03-26 09:11:00 +0000
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Robert MugabeThey may be bitter political opponents, representing two wings of Zimbabwean politics. But is there anything over which Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would consider breaking bread over?

Yup, one thing: demonizing Zimbabwe's LGBT population, and calling homosexuality insanity.

Zimbabwe is currently debating a new constitution. It's being drawn up as part of the power-sharing deal that branded Mugabe as President and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister two years ago, a unity government intended to try and bring the country together and potentially move Zimbabwe toward free and fair elections sometime this decade.

But by all indications, one group not welcome to the unity table is LGBT people.

International human rights groups have urged Zimbabwe to include several human rights protections in their new constitution, with some calling for protections to LGBT people. But Mugabe put the kibash on those sentiments on state radio today. Mugabe, who once called LGBT people "lower than pigs and dogs" said that the concept of LGBT rights are nothing short of "insanity."

"That issue is not debatable, it's not up for discussion," Mugabe said. "It is just madness, insanity. The ancestors will turn in their graves should we allow this to happen."

Funny. How do you suppose "the ancestors" have reacted to Mugabe's lengthy and undemocratic rule in the country, where he was responsible for terrorizing his political opponents and dismantling the economy? Forget turning over in their graves. They ought to be crawling up from the ground and leading a "Thriller"-style takeover of Harare.

What's extra troubling about Mugabe's statement isn't so much that Mugabe said it. It's that Tsvangirai, long thought to be the antidote to Mugabe's unchecked rule and someone championed by advocates for political change in Zimbabwe, actually agreed.

"Women make up 52% of the population ... There are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men?" Tsvangari said, according to state media. "I totally agree with the president."

Well, there you go. At least there's one thing the unity government can agree on, even if it means criminalizing an entire population of innocent people.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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