I knew that newspapers were struggling in this economy, but I had no idea they were so desperate that they would turn to publish such smut. Don’t get me wrong; I am a journalist and devout supporter of freedom of expression and of the press. But I do strongly believe that those freedoms must be exercised with caution and for the good of society. 

I’m not saying that The Standard shouldn’t publish anti-gay articles. But a newspaper that claims to be “for justice and fairness” should have held Barrack Muluka, the author, to a higher standard. Instead, The Standard’s editors went for sensationalism and published what is, at best, gibberish. 

Again, Muluka is entitled to his opinion, but how does any editor let him get away without defending his contention that homosexuality threatens the survival of humanity? Did anyone think to ask him to explain how homosexuals are more dangerous than the politicians looting our treasuries and condemning Kenyans to the dungeons in Kibera? Are homosexuals worse than the heterosexuals sitting around while Kenyans and marginalized areas like Turkana die of hunger? 

Is it the homosexuals who are raping our sisters at work places and threatening to fire them if they don’t hush and endure the abuse? Are they the ones who are battering our mothers and abandoning their children? Is it the “homos” who are hanging out at Koinange Street and sleeping with multiple prostitutes before going home to their wives and infecting them with HIV? Is it the homosexuals who rape and impregnate 13-year-old schoolgirls? If the answer is yes, then we are all “homos.”

As a society, we are the most detrimental threat to humanity. We have stood around while marauding gangs of men loot, rape and kill in the name of “African culture.” The most appalling charge Muluka made is comparing a sexual act between two consenting adults to bestiality. That just tells me that he appears to be someone so uncertain about his sexuality that he thinks allowing homosexuals close to him might force him to compromise. 

Unlike Muluka, I’m going to support my claim. It has been proven, over and over again, that men who are so passionately homophobic are fighting their own homosexual feelings. Ever heard of Senator Larry Craig? No? He was an anti-gay U.S. lawmaker, who in 1989 wanted Bernie Frank, an openly gay congressman, punished more severely for a role in a gay sex scandal. Fast forward to June 2007 and Craig was busted in an airport toilet trying to solicit sex from men. He pled guilty. Read more and you will find out that Craig is not the only one.

A man comfortable with his sexuality doesn’t react with indignation when he comes across “uncouth male characters” trying to seduce him with their “coy and womanish” demeanor. He says, “No, thank you. I don’t go that way.”

I find it laughable that Muluka thinks that to pay attention to this matter is to “demean” his pen. But the clunky nature of his writing proves that not everyone who owns a pen is a writer. He is one so those loudmouths who think that if they can use big words and “flowery” phrases they can confuse the reader and therefore obscure their lack of critical thinking skills. 

My final plea is to The Standard Group: You know how much power you wield over Kenyans. Millions of them read your newspaper and – sadly – many of them see the words in your pages as gospel truth. If you betray them by inciting them to kill each other, they will never forgive you.