SPYL rejects gay rights

In a statement released by the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) yesterday, the youth branch of the ruling party vehemently condemned all efforts that seek to promote the rights of homosexuals in Namibia.
Speaking to Namibian Sun on behalf of SPYL, Sam Hamupolo said human rights were not the same thing as gay rights.
The statement released by SPYL said they “condemn the promotion of the behaviour of gays and lesbians”.
The statement, which seemed to contradict the SPYL’s earlier rhetoric, reads that all SPYL encourages “all citizens to observe and uphold the human rights enshrined in our constitution with the fairness it deserves”.
“The constitution allows for human rights, and those rights are given to us all regardless of your sexual orientation,” Hamupolo said.
“Now, in a nation where we decide how it is that we are going to be implementing democracy, we can decide, based on what the majority feels, what it is that we accept and what we don’t,” he said.
Hamupolo claimed that the majority of Namibians were Christians and did not agree with the homosexuality. Therefore, it should not be “thrown in their faces” by homosexuals themselves or by the United Nations.
“They must do whatever they do in their private spaces, we don’t want to see those practices, doesn’t matter if these gays and lesbians are our sisters and brothers,” he said.
Hamupolo said the SPYL does not hate homosexuals, since “they are our brothers and sisters”, but “the promotion of the practices of gays and lesbians cannot be tolerated in Namibia, because that is not what the people of Namibia want”.
Hamupolo also slammed the idea of legalising same-sex marriages.
“A man and woman were made to be together, and the Bible says so, who are we to go against the Word?”
Hamupolo added that the SPYL did not appreciate “efforts by the United Nations to promote gay rights” in the country.