It would be nearly impossible for a person following gay issues to have not read something about the plight of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga in Malawi.

The two have been convicted of the crime of gross indecency and unnatural acts and sentenced to the maximum sentence of 14 years hard labour.

“I sentence you to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour each. That’s the maximum under the penal code,” magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa told the two men in a courtroom in the capital Blantyre.

“I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example,” the judge added.
from Box Turtle Bulletin

As UK activist Peter Thatchell notes, a 14 year sentence to hard labour could very well be a death sentence. Conditions in the Malawi prison are terrible; tuberculosis and measles are common and medical care and food rations are inadequate.

As one would hope, their story has been widely reported by the gay press the world over and certainly in the UK, where a measure of responsibility is felt for bequeathing the laws that convicted the two.

The coverage has had very typical headlines in much of the mainstream and gay press. “Malawi Gay Couple …” etc.

As transgender blogger Autumn Sundeen points out (and as Box Turtle Bulletin point out has been obvious from the beginning), Tiwonge identifies as a woman.

While Mr Chimbalanga, 20, who dresses as a woman, spoke defiantly of his love for the man he plans to marry, Mr Monjeza, 22, said that he was “drunk” when they met and was considering ending their engagement. The couple, who denied three charges of unnatural practices between males and gross indecency, performed a public engagement ceremony in front of 500 onlookers last weekend. They were arrested two days later.

[...]

Mr Chimbalanga, however, remained defiant. Dressed in a blouse and describing himself as a woman, he said that they became engaged after “my darling, Steven, proposed love to me and we agreed to get married”.

Unlike Mr Monjeza, he refused to accept that he had broken any law. “Which laws? I am a woman, I can do what a woman can do,” he said. “I love Steven for what he is, he doesn’t give me money. In fact, I do everything for him, but love is love.”
from Timesonline.co.uk

The Times article is uncomfortable for me to read. My instinct would be to use the feminine pronouns if Tiwonge identifies as a woman. While obviously Malawi law doesn’t recognise Tiwonge as a woman (if they did, the two couldn’t have been convicted for having sex), we can certainly try and be more understanding, right?

As Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin points out, that may be as wrong as calling the couple gay. Western definitions and gender conventions may have little to do with how an African identifies herself or himself.

Autumn Sundeen was right. All too often the T in LGBT is silent, and invisible too. Having looked back on the coverage, the fact that so many ignored (it wasn’t missable) that Tiwonge identifies as a woman is a stark reminder of how we in the queer community need to be more aware and more ready to see trans people where they are.

However, when it comes to Tiwonge’s identity in particular, it seems we westerners may have to sit on our hands and wait until Tiwonge is ready to tell us about that.

The Story of an African Famine: Gender and Famine in Twentieth-Century Malawi

Beyond Inequalities: Women in Malawi

More Than a Name: State-sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa

Popularity: 1% [?]

No related posts.