Supreme Court Hearing, Uganda, and Italy

If you worried about having to stand outside in a long line for hours in the fridgid cold for the chance to glimpse a supreme court hearing, fear not....there is a 5 minute rotation that will let you see the hearing for 5 minutes after the courtroom is full! After losing the feeling in my toes waiting to get into the hearing, I was fially allowed inside to hear the arguments. What struck me most was how little the attorney spoke before being interrupted by one of the justices. It was unlike any court proceeding I have ever witnessed. To me it seemed as though it was just a heated debate between two people instead of a court hearing. The inside of the room was beautiful though! The ceiling has red and blue squares with sculptures of white flowers hanging from the middle. There were benches facing the judges, like in all courtrooms, with red velvet drapes behind the benches to seperate those of us who were only allowed to be in the room for 5 minutes at a time. I found it ironci that the security guard told us not to be loud because we were in a courtroom, not a museum. Somehow our voices would be disruting but the shuffling of people in and out of a courtroom every 3-5 minutes is not. It was a great experience, if only for a few minutes.

Right after I got back from the hearing, I immediately began preparing the conference room in our building for a luncheon with Julius Kaggwa, a Ugandan speaking about the anti-homosexuality bill. Julius was one of the international leaders I heard speak last Thursday at the Summit and I learned a great deal more from him today. Like everyone else I am sure, it is outragous that some Ugandans support this bill, but now I understand why. Uganda is not a "reading culture," as Julius explained. Even the educated only read to prepare for exams but then stop reading once they pass. So the people who live in Uganda only see what the government shows them since they are unable to understand the information and language that is floating around the country. LGBTs have a high rate of alcoholism due to the fact that many have lost their jobs and their homes and have nothing else to turn to. When shown on tv, it is hard to refute that these are the individuals who may endanger children and this is one reason why many are supporting this bill. There are also visions being shown on news stations and voiced on radio networks about adult males having sex with and abusing young boys. This is the only aspect of homosexual behavior being portratyed; the emotional relationship is not even being acknowledged. There is already a bill in place that makes adult same sex relationships illegal and this proposed legislation only gives police and authorities more of a mandate to investigate and torture people for information about LGBTs. Julius stated that there is a great need for education of the "people on the ground, in the villages" through alliances with the US government, civil society, and the translation of the current language floating around so villagers can understand the current issue. It will be interesting to see what developments come from this proposed legislation. In theory, Uganda is a democracy, but in practice it is a dictatorship. This will make it even harder to keep this piece of legislation from passing.

VIVA L'ITALIA!! I also got to meet with Professor Luigi De Santics, professor at the education department at the Italian Embassy today! The embassy was so pretty and they were very excited to have visitors interested in the country. They were even more excited when they learned I'm full blooded Italian and I can speak the language, most of my visit was in Italian which was great seeing as how I can't really speak to anyone here in Italian. I laughed at first when I walked in because there was a cafe right across from the entrance and an art theater across from the cafe. But then again, this is Italian property, I have no idea why I was so surprised!

-Joanna