The Swazi
Observer group of newspapers is running a hate campaign against LGBTI
people.
Over three days it has published articles prominently
calling LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people ‘a
curse’ and ‘evil’ and likening them to child sex molesters and people who have
sex with animals.
The reports which appeared on Thursday
(21 June 2018), Friday and Sunday contained hate speech and broke Article 13 of
the Swaziland National Association of Journalists code of
conduct which states, ‘Hate speech: ‘Journalists shall
avoid by all means the publication of speech that might promote hatred, spite
and conflict amongst the Swazi or any other nation.’
Hate speech is a 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.
The Swazi
Observer is in effect owned by King Mswati III who rules Swaziland /
Eswatini as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The newspaper gave space to a witchdoctor and a bishop
of a Swazi Zionist church to vilify LGBTI people and to attack a
Pride event that is to take place on 30 June 2018.
The hate-filled coverage of LGBTI people in Swaziland
newspapers is not confined to the Observer.
The Times of Swaziland group, the only
other mainstream newspaper in the kingdom, has published
similar articles in the past.
What the newspapers have in common is that they allow
fundamentalist Christians to set the agenda on what it means to be an LGBTI
person. They mainly concentrate on vilifying gay men.
What the newspapers ignore is that modern scientific evidence
shows sexual identity is natural and not some kind of learned behaviour and
that LGBTI people do not pose a threat to society.
J Michael
Bailey of the University of the Northwestern University, United States, and
colleagues reviewed
the available scientific research on the subject for the academic
journal Psychological
Science in the Public Interest in 2016 and concluded that there was
considerably more evidence that sexual orientation is caused by the genetics of
a person than by a person’s life experiences. In simple terms, people are born
homosexual.
They concluded the most often talked about social causes of
homosexuality, that people are recruited by adult homosexuals or homosexuality
is caused by poor parenting, is generally not the case. They also conclude
there is no good evidence that homosexuality increases where societies are
tolerant.
They also
conclude that same-sex activity appears to have existed throughout human
history and in most cultures, including throughout Africa. Claims that same-sex
activity is absent in a particular culture are “often demonstrably false, even
when the culture does not have the words to describe such activity”. They
conclude that same-sex activity in Africa was observed from the earliest
recorded times, which means it was in Africa before the European colonialists
arrived and is not imported from the West.
They also
conclude that same-sex interactions are common throughout hundreds of animal
species so it is not something specific to humans.
Newspapers in Swaziland need to be careful about
taking at face value opinions
from people whose intention is to discredit LGBTI people. Sections of the
church have been at the forefront of this. Editors might usefully question the
motives of such writers. They should always question them and insist that the
opinions they print are based on established information and not on hearsay,
rumour or prejudice.
They
would also be advised to consider that there are many LGBTI people in Swaziland
and therefore among their readers (or potential readers) and they have the
right to have their lives and views represented in the news media just like
anyone else.
Richard
Rooney
See also
KING’S
NEWSPAPER HATES LGBTI PEOPLE
FIRST
LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-lgbti-pride-in-swaziland.html
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