HATE SPEECH AND GAYS

Hate speech is rife in the Swazi press. Hardly a week goes by without some disparaging reference to religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. At the moment the gays are getting a particularly hard time of it.

The hate writing is so casual I wonder whether journalists actually think before they put finger to keyboard. An item in the Scene and Heard column of Times Sunday newspaper (1 July 2007) is about a performance by the all male Chippendales dance group which attracted some gay men to the audience. This the journalist found annoying. The unnamed journalist concludes, ‘I hate gays and the sooner we rid ourselves of such evil the better.’

Article 13 of the SNAJ code of conduct says journalists should avoid publication of words that might promote hatred. The Times Sunday failed abysmally. To assist reporters and their editors here is a definition of hate speech: ‘Type of speech or writing which can do any of the following: deliberately offend, degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on their race, ethnicity, profession, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. It can be aimed at an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them.’

Unfortunately, such hatred as published by the Times Sunday is not isolated. Late last year, days after South Africa confirmed its same sex civil partnership law, Swaziland’s Weekend Observer ran a comment piece by Dr Ben Dlamini with the headline, ‘Same sex marriages are an abomination of the human spirit’. His words are so hateful that I don’t want to repeat them here, but the gist of his writing is that because animals do not engage in homosexual acts, men who do so are lower than animals. He is undeterred by his own ignorance, because, of course, one can find examples of homosexual behaviour all over the animal kingdom.

Ben Dlamini concludes his article by stating that anyone who is ‘afflicted’ with homosexuality needs serious medical attention and he looks forward to the time that the ‘condition’ of homosexuality can be treated by hormone therapy.

The same edition of the Weekend Observer carries an article by Pastor Justice Dlamini on the same topic. Interestingly, he too, writes from a position of ignorance. Introducing his column ‘Only Jesus Can Help Homosexuals Overcome’, he describes homosexuality as ‘the desire to be the opposite sex or belief that one is “trapped” in a body of the wrong sex’ (he has confused the transsexual with the homosexual).

He then goes on to extensively quote Biblical references that he claims lament ‘bitterly about the men who practice homosexuality and the women who are lesbians’. ‘God vows that such people will not escape His wrath’. He writes, ‘I must quickly mention that if such people are not helped they are likely to have a tragic ending.’

The Weekend Observer is not alone in encouraging hatred of homosexuals. A couple of weeks before these two articles appeared; the Swazi News reported that gays and lesbians were responsible for the increase in child sex attacks in the country. A report with the stark accusatory headline ‘Gays and Lesbians Are To Blame Here’ introduced a report that publicity about gays and lesbians in Swaziland had increased the number of sodomy cases in Swaziland. This, the newspaper reports, is according to two Save The Children regional offices that have been dealing with sexual offences. However, a third regional office says gays and lesbian practice does not have any effect on cases of sodomy against children. The newspaper’s report is clearly contradictory and does not justify the headline. Also, the reporter fails to explain how lesbians can engage in sodomy.

The recent decision of South Africa to confirm the constitutional status of gays and lesbians in its country comes as an embarrassment to Swaziland. In February 2006 its own constitution came into force and unlike the South African version, which places human rights at its centre, Swaziland’s confirms the present ruling elites in their positions in the kingdom.

The Swaziland constitution has been criticised by civic society organisations inside and outside Swaziland for not embracing democratic principles. Defenders of the constitution like to point to Swaziland’s uniqueness, often citing the belief that God blesses its traditions. These traditions include forcing under aged girls into unwanted marriages; the whipping of children as both domestic and judicial punishment (the Bible commands spare the rod and spoil the child); and the right of men to have as many wives as they chose (a practice that has helped Swaziland to the dubious honour of achieving the highest HIV rate in the world). In this context it is not surprising that gays and lesbians are attacked.

Among all the hatred there is at least one voice of reason in the Swazi Press. Kath Manson, who writes in the Times Sunday, has tackled homosexuality (especially in the lesbian form) arguing that homosexuality is a natural human characteristic and not something you can wipe out.

Manson is a voice in the Swazi wilderness. The week after one of her articles in April 2007, the Times Sunday published a letter from a racist reader in which Manson is denounced as ‘a white female’. The letter, like the articles from the brothers Dlamini mentioned earlier, expresses the writer’s own ignorance on the subject of sexuality, and goes on to warn readers about the ‘tide of western liberalism’ that is sweeping Swaziland.

Clearly, there is a long way to go before the Swazi press is adult enough to have a proper conversation with its readers about homosexuality. But until this can happen journalists and their editors should study Article 13 on hate speech and consider what part they play in stigmatising people who are members of minority groups.