Don’t Tell if Asked: Uganda.

Homosexuality is illegal in a lot of Africa and not just under Sharia law. In Uganda being gay is considered a disease and currently punishable with up to 14 years imprisonment.

MP David Bahati proposed a bill last year to implement the death penalty for repeat offenders of homosexual acts. The bill has, justifiably so, received tremendous international scrutiny and most likely won’t be passed into law (another question to be considered is, how come the international community is only now outraged? is a 14 year prison-sentence not unjust enough to merit outrage?). There are also some links to Americans influencing Bahati’s bill, but you’ll have to read the article for that dirt.

Find the article here: http://www.theramonline.com/opinions/anti-gay-sentiment-plagues-uganda-1.2400940

…and wikipedia “The Fellowship” aka “The Family” when you’re done.

wtf.

Southern Secession: Sudan.

Ever since reading What is the What I have been interested in Sudan. Oddly enough, I never followed the conflict in Darfur while in high school and when I research Sudan it is mostly about the (separate) North/ South civil wars.

As part of a peace treaty signed between the North and South several years ago the South will be allowed to vote to secede from Sudan and form its own sovereign state in January of next year. The reasons for secession are overwhelming, but many are concerned that the Sudanese government will not allow the oil-rich South to leave freely.

In my article I write about the perilous situation in Sudan and throw in some Paris Hilton and George Clooney for good measure.

Read it all here: http://www.theramonline.com/opinions/celebrity-altruists-should-focus-on-sudan-1.2375884

 

The conflict in Darfur is distinct (but not mutually exclusive) from the North/ South conflict.

More Evictions lead to More Cholera: Haiti.

Whenever a story about Haiti makes it into the NYT I usually read it. It astounds and disappoints me how easily Haitian struggles have fallen out of the public conscience (because they’re no longer in the public’s view via media coverage).

I saw a story about the recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti a few weeks after I read a story of local churches wanting to “evict” homeless Haitians from the tent-towns they had settled on God’s property. I wrote about the potential devastation if these two issues come together.

Read it all here: http://www.theramonline.com/opinions/fighting-cholera-in-haiti-1.2384391

The Artibonite River in Haiti, believed to be the place where cholera was first reported.

Youthfully Situating Gender: Afghanistan.

This semester I started writing opinions pieces for The Ram on topics I actually care about (and not about video games and partisan politics).  The first article I wrote was inspired by a NYT piece on the Afghan practice of dressing up young girls as boys for economic and social benefits.

Although butchering some of the philosophy I try to employ, in the article I voice my opinion about the abhorrence of this backward-minded process.

Read it all here: http://www.theramonline.com/opinions/afghans-cross-dress-children-for-prestige-1.2356784

On the left, Mehran, proudly dressed as a boy under the practice of "bacha posh."