Date: Thu, 03 Aug 1995 12:34:15 From: STEPHEN VAN BREDA Zimbabwe : 3rd August 1995. Below is an excerpt from President Robert Mugabe's opening speech at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (This year's theme : Human Rights and Freedom of Expression). Please pass this message on to as many people and organisations as possible. Your objections or statements can be sent to the Zimbabwe International Book Fair via e-mail : zibf@mango.apc.org Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) would greatly appreciate you sending letters of protest, against our treatment in respect of the Book Fair issue and to President Mugabe's current policy towards homosexuality, to the nearest Zimbabwean Embassy and your Foreign Ministry. _____________________________________________________________________ 1st August 1995 Harare, Zimbabwe PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE CONDEMNS HOMOSEXUALITY ---------------------------------------------- " Let me give you an obvious and perhaps in some cases embarrassing example of a taboo here, but one which is also universally recognised. Why between a married couple sexual relations are not only permissible but expected such relations should however never be seen to occur in public or in streets or public parks. No married couple could be heard to argue that because they have a legal right to practice sex they can do so anywhere. This is because we all accept that the intimate nature of such relations demands privacy. Supporting persons who believe that the denial of their alleged right to have sex in public is a violation of their human rights formed as association in defence and protection of it and proceeded to write booklets and other forms of literature on the subject of their rights. Is any sane government which is a protector of society's moral values expected to countenance their accessions ? I find it extremely outrageous and repugnant to my human conscience that such immoral and revulsive organisations, like those of homosexuals who offend both against the law of nature and the morals of religious believes espoused by our society, should have any advocates in our midst and even elsewhere in the world. If we accept homosexuality as a right, as is being argued by the association of sodomists and sexual perverts, what moral fibre shall our society ever have to deny organised drug addicts, or even those given to bestiality, the rights they might claim and allege they possess under the rubrics of individual freedom and human rights, including the freedom of the Press to write, publish and publicise their literature on them ? ". ___________________________________________________________________ COMMENT :- It should be pointed out that GALZ wished purely to advertise and promote its' counselling service and the fact that gay rights are human rights at the Book Fair. At no time was it suggested or intended to display phonography or the like. At no time was it suggested or implied that homosexuals wished to have sex in public or that it was their right to do so. President Mugabe has made it very clear how he and his Government feel towards homosexuality. Gays and Lesbians in Zimbabwe desparately need the international community to help by putting pressure on their governments who in turn will, hopefully, put pressure on the Zimbabwean government to reconsider its' current policy on homosexuality. The Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe thank you for your assistance. . .