2006年VOA标准英语-Senegalese Debate S. Africa's Same-Sex Marriage

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
29 November 2006

This Friday, South Africa will become the first African country, and the sixth in the world, to legalize same sex marriages if President Mbeki signs the civil union bill into law.  Other countries on the continent seem far removed from these legal developments. VOA's Phuong Tran reports from Dakar on the debate regarding same sex marriages. Support for the bill is largely muted in the primarily Muslim country of Senegal, where homosexuality is considered a moral crime. But privately¹, some voice their support.

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Participants take part in Johannesburg's 17th Gay Pride parade 30 Sept 2006
In Senegal, almost everyone identifies with a faith that forbids same sex relationships. It is no surprise, then, that public Senegalese response to South Africa's same sex marriage bill is almost uniformly negative. But a number of private conversations reveal a more nuanced reaction.

In public, groups of men wash their feet, hands and faces as they prepare to enter a mosque² for their evening prayers. In public, religious leaders will explain how their faiths all forbid same sex relationships. In public, the law treats homosexuality as a moral crime punishable by up to five years of prison and a $3,000  fine. But in private, Serfi, who identifies himself as a homosexual, supports the bill. He uses a pseudonym³ for privacy.

Serfi says that seeing his African counterparts have the courage to fight for the right to marry, and for homosexuality to be decriminalized, gives him hope. He says that South Africa offers a lesson that one day, Senegal will be able to follow its example.

In Senegal, it was only six years ago when a local university conducted the first large scale study of male homosexuals. Gary Engelberg, co-director of ACI Consultants⁴, an American NGO based in Dakar, participated in the study's working group.

"Senegal woke up to the fact that there is, in fact, a gay community operating in Senegal on a mostly hidden and clandestine⁵ basis because of fear of reprisal⁶ in a basically homophobic, very religious society," he noted⁷.

 
Imam Amadou Kanté believes the Koran makes it impossible for Senegal to allow same sex marriages
Imam Amadou Kanté, a Muslim leader of several mosques⁸ in Dakar, acknowledges this gay community, but strongly opposes public recognition of same sex unions because of his faith.

He says it would be impossible to have a homosexual couple marry in public. He says that everyone has their private life. He compares homosexuality to public drunkenness. It is okay, he says, to be drunk in private, but not in public. But he is clear to note that in private or public, Islam does not sanction homosexuality.

While Kanté is clear about how Islam regards homosexuality now, he says that religion and its lessons are human interpretations⁹, which can change over time. Perhaps in 10 to 15 years, Senegal may have same sex marriages, he says.

For Alioune Tine, the Secretary General of a Senegalese human rights organization, RADDHO, the issue of public recognition of same-sex marriages is a human rights issue.

"Gays exist in Africa, Senegal, everywhere in the world," he noted.  "I think they are free to see the kind of contract they can have to live together. It is not the role of the state to decide what way people can live their life. People are free to have their own life."

On the streets of Dakar, one taxi cab driver disagrees.

The driver asks himself why a man would not act like a man, and why he would act like a woman, wanting to have relations with another man?

"When men start having relations with other men, this can cause disease,"  he said. He concludes by saying that homosexuality is bad, and that if he saw a homosexual hailing a cab, he would refuse to pick up that person.

While some analyze¹⁰ South Africa's pending¹¹ same sex marriage bill as a moral concept, for Serfi, a homosexual Senegalese man, it offers a concrete hope.

He says he feels the weight of belonging to society, but not being given the same rights. He says he dreams of one day being able to marry, to be able to go out with his partner, walking arm in arm, and, he says, to cry out that homosexuals are liberated¹² on this continent.

1 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。

4 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

5 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

6 reprisal   

n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠

参考例句：

• There is no political alternative but a big reprisal.政治上没有旁的选择只能是大规模报复。
• They bombed civilian targets in reprisal.他们炮轰平民目标作为报复。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

9 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

11 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

12 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。