Comments on: Gambian President Threatens To Kill All Gays

By: James

James — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:15:43 +0000

I believe it is good law. May it be endorsed and executed soon.

By: toujoursdan

toujoursdan — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:59:54 +0000

But I do appreciate the concern! :)

By: toujoursdan

toujoursdan — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:57:08 +0000

I am not going to be out of the closet while there, nor am I going with anyone. My plans are to spend a day or two in Banjul, Gambia, the capital, and then head south back into Senegal and then onto Guinea-Bissau fly back to Dakar and then back to Ottawa. I’ll just be another backpacker like all the others that pass through.

Also, as unfair as it is, being a white tourist on a Canadian passport means that I will be treated differently than a black Gambian. Unless I did something intentionally provocative, I will be left alone.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:41:32 +0000

I would caution against traveling to The Gambia this fall. Hotels have been threatened with closure if they accomodate gay persons. I would very much hate to hear of anything happening to you.

By: toujoursdan

toujoursdan — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:22:19 +0000

I am travelling to Senegal, the Gambia and Guinea in the fall.

The Gambia is 90% Muslim and about 5% Christian. The government is quite repressive to the locals, there is no press freedom and a secret police. I seriously doubt that Christian leaders will speak out against the government. Reporters have been murdered for less.

The Gambia has a thriving tourist industry with huge resorts on the Atlantic coast near Serakunda marketed to European tourists. Soliciting the UK, French, German and Scandinavian governments to put pressure on Gambia would probably be most effective at stopping this legislation from being carried out.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:24:16 +0000

Steve, my first thought in reading this was about the Christian response. The Gambia was part of the British Commonwealth, the official language is English, and the Christian Church is Anglican.

Tiwela Johnson is the Anglican Bishop of West Africa (he’s Gambian). Johnson is not an ally of gays. However, unlike Nigerian Bishop Akinola, Johnson did not threaten to boycott the Lambeth Conference.

It will be interesting to see if the voice of the Christian Church will object to this brutal declaration by Jammeh.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:03:22 +0000

@ Steve in Geneva: they secretly hope this sort of thing breaks out in the US as well.

By: Steve - Geneva, IL

Steve - Geneva, IL — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:42:09 +0000

It will be interesting to see how the Christians in Gambia as well as the Peter Labarbera types here in the USA react to this. They fancy themselves as somehow following in the footsteps of Corrie Ten Boom. Of being from the same mold as those who hid Jews in Europe or ran the Underground Railroad here in the US. I guess we’ll find out if they really are.

By: Kumbyah

Kumbyah — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:23:04 +0000

Wouldn’t this be Ax-gay therapy?