GAY MALAWI COUPLE FREED

Last week, OK WASSUP!  reported on a gay couple in Malawi who were sentenced to 14 years in prison for announcing their intentions to marry, which went directly against ancient Malawi law that considered homosexuality an unnatural act of gross indecency. But on Saturday, Malawi’s president Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned the men and set them free.

Their sentence, the maximum penalty allowed, was a consequence of the couple’s decision to hold a traditional engagement ceremony in a nation that views homosexuality as either nonexistent or as something that must be suppressed. The case drew worldwide attention as another example of the long held anti-gay sentiment in Africa.

Last month, Mr. wa Mutharika was quoted as calling homosexuality “evil and bad before the eyes of God” and something “we Malawians just do not do.” But international disdain against the extremely harsh sentence played a huge part in getting the men released. “These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws; however, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions,” Mr. wa Mutharika said after meeting with the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, in Malawi’s capital.  But he added: “I have done this on humanitarian grounds but this does not mean that I support this.”

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, were arrested Dec. 28, two days after they threw themselves an engagement party at the Blantyre lodge where Mr. Chimbalanga worked as a cook and a housekeeper, referring to himself as “Auntie Tiwo” and insisting that he was a woman. Hundreds of uninvited guests showed up at the party, and a local newspaper published an article about “gay lovebirds” taking part in Malawi’s “first recorded public activity for homosexuals,” which led to the men’s ridicule and ultimate arrest and sentencing.