Alternative Healing

I was impressed by two stories this week. I know, it is only Tuesday, but I am already beginning to think it will take something pretty extraordinary to top the past few days, at least for me - and at least, in the field of human rights in South Africa. 


The first one I am going to mention is the publicized signing of a memorandum against homophobic hatred caused by religious fundamentalism and the patriarchy - signed by some well-known religious figures in Cape Town. Yes, this is good news - and it certainly shows that not all Christians are out to prove the right wing claim that to be a Christian is to be a fundamentalist fanatic with homicidal anti-gay tendencies. But then again, I could be wrong. The tiler working in my bathroom some time ago told me in confidence, that he "hates things what is skew", but he could have been referring to the tiles.

This brings me to the second item, about a lady by the name of Liana Munnik, who was brutally assaulted - so badly that she ended up in hospital. The reason? Because she is gay. Her assailant? A married woman who kicked her repeatedly between her legs until she lost consciousness, and was unable to defend herself or walk - even crawl away - a woman who screamed homophobic abuse at her - among other things, that she was "an abomination in the eyes of God", "going to hell" and that she was going to "kick her straight". 

 

The woman's husband reportedly prevented her friend from intervening, by throwing her to the ground and holding her down with his knee on her neck. See the newspaper reports: ‘I will kick you straight’ and 'Lesbian kicked to 'convert' her'.

 

Bear in mind that this raging shit-show occurred inside an actual church.

 

Still think it's safe for a GLBTI+ person to go into a church? Especially a charismatic, church? 

Personally, it beats me why anyone wastes their time on this obviously fraudulent brainwashing cultist bullshit at all, least of all people who so often find themselves on the receiving end of their slavish over-abundance of venomous hatred for anyone who happens to display any divergence from their ideology.

It's like Christians these days have all become a bunch of hammers, and anyone they disapprove of in any way, is just a nail that hasn't been hammered in hard enough yet, and presents them with some sort of challenge.

 

Yes folks, this is precisely the sort of HATE we face in South Africa today, where someone can actually physically assault you in an actual religious sanctuary - and kick you until you black out from the pain, all while believing that they're "the good guy" here and you deserved exactly what they're doing to you. 

 

Worse still, we seem to live in a reality where this sort of outrageous, uncivilized and outright criminal behavior is somehow still not regarded - by law - outright as a hate crime, and at best, only deserves to be handled as a 'civil' matter where there are no actual criminal repercussions for the perpetrators.

Somehow, this blatant act of intimidation, which was calculated to demonstrate, publicly, these individuals hatred of lesbians and gay people in general, was also not identified as the act of de facto terrorism it was intended to be.

Supporters of the victim, Liana Munnik have set up a Facebook group to show her support and solidarity for what she has been through as a victim of homophobic abuse, and for the court case which is currently pending.

According to the one article, Liana was attacked by a "God-fearing woman", who was a fellow member of her church - by kicking her repeatedly between her legs "in the name of the Lord" because she is gay. According to the article, the perpetrator of this hate crime also told her "I will kick your cunt straight for you, because the Lord made it so that a man and a woman can have sex and bring a child into the world." 

 

Yes, I can see the Christianity shining through, can you? We shall know them by their love, isn't that right? Yes folks, this is the "Christian" thing to do, isn't it? 

 

This whole sick, revolting circus act sounds more like some of the more bizarre tales taken from the Jerry Springer show to me.

Fortunately it seems that the assault was recorded. Damn, I knew there was a reason why mobile phones were so useful. Unfortunately, this has turned into a civil case, not a criminal case, which is a pity, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a gross miscarriage of justice because that pair of unabashed terrorists should be in the dock facing charges of hate crime, hate speech, terrorism, criminal assault, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

 

I would also go so far as to add attempted murder to the list, AND I would also level the same charges at the perpetrator's husband, who deliberately obstructed bystanders from intervening and hauling the attacker off her victim and he would have earned TWO counts of attempted murder for his trouble.

 

The fact that this has NOT been pursued as a criminal case is simply outrageous! 

The civil lawsuit has also been directed at her husband, because he allegedly "actively obstructed people from intervening in the assault on Ms Munnik", and pinned one of her friends to the ground by leaning on her throat with his knee. Wow this is a real stand-up guy, kneeling on some poor woman's neck to defend his wife - who was then kicking the shit out of an unconscious woman.

Ms. Munnik is suing for compensation for medical costs, loss of income for shock, and pain and suffering. She is also claiming compensation for alleged hate speech and defamation of character. The De Beers own a house in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria, and live in another in Mokopane, so I somehow doubt that coughing up will be too much of a problem for them. 

 

Just how much money is a gay person's life worth in South Africa these days? Because it all comes down to money, doesn't it? Not right or wrong. This only goes to prove that fines are only a punishment to the poor. To the rich, they only represent fees or permits.

The terrorists who committed this vile hate crime are opposing the lawsuit (excuse me while I feign surprise) - with the husband claiming that Mrs. De Beer was "being attacked by three lesbians" and that she was forced to defend herself by kicking Munnik between the legs until she was left unconscious and had to be taken away in an ambulance. 

 

Somehow - and I still can't get my mind around this - Mr. De Beer was able to squat with both knees on Ms. Munnik's companion to hold her down AND obstruct other bystanders from intervening. How exactly? Was he blocking a doorway? Couldn't people go around him? Was he able to move around to block them, while keeping his knees on his own victim's neck? It makes no sense. Unless of course, those "trying to intervene" were only "trying", but not very enthusiastically. But then, I wasn't there myself - so who knows what really happened? Perhaps Mr. De Beer was under the impression that what he was doing was performing a version of the Heimlich Maneuver and saving her life?

 

If the De Beer's cooked-up "defense" stands up in court and they are acquitted, it could lead to a variation of the "gay-panic defense" - something along the lines of the "scary-lesbian defense". You know, "I was frightened by the scary lesbian in church and kicked her in the cunt until she lost consciousness, just to be sure." Next thing you know, people of Mrs. De Beer's ilk will be claiming that "Oops, my foot slipped" and then sue her victim for getting beaten up in an unsafe OHS environment. 

 

Yes, I imagine being confronted by "an abomination in the eyes of the Lord" would be pretty scary, in fact I regularly get a fright from seeing my own reflection in the mirror, especially in the morning after a heavy night of shameless wanton debauchery and sin. 

 

Of course, let's not forget that the heroic Mr. De Beer had to pin one aggressive, rampaging lesbian down to defend his poor helpless wife, who was busy kicking the shit out of the unconscious Ms. Munnik at the time. Think that will fly? I hope not. It fucking shouldn't. But in this country of ours, who can tell?

As an example of how pro human rights our government and its ancillaries is these days, the South African Human Rights Commission recently ruled that it is perfectly acceptable to use the word "gay" in a sense to mean "stupid", and they see nothing at all offensive in it. Of course they wouldn't - they're not gay - so, in turn, why shouldn't the courts say it is perfectly okay to try and kick a gay woman straight in actual church? I mean, they allow quasi-religious groups to market and practice "ex-gay therapy" which science has rubbished. So what if we know it doesn't work, what's the harm in trying something new, like "Kicking somebody straight" right?

That is some pretty interesting logic, you have to admit. 

 

I wonder, if some lesbians were to kick Mrs. De Beer in the voonerables hard enough and for long enough, if she would turn lesbian? Would that work? Of course not - but it might be an interesting (not to mention satisfying) experiment, and also to find out how long a pair of steel capped boots would hold out under that sort of extreme abuse - but at least I am gifted with enough intelligence to know a lost cause when I see one.

 

It's really such a pity that lowlifes like these are not so fortunate. I tend to feel a slight swell of pity for people who probably need to stand on a soap box to look an amoeba squarely in the eye.

Of course, just because she was recorded verbally abusing Ms. Munnik with homophobic slurs while she was kicking her between the legs to make her straight, doesn't make it hate speech or a hate crime, does it? Not in South Africa, apparently.

 

And, in South Africa, just because a lesbian identifies as human, it doesn't necessarily mean she is human enough to qualify for the same human rights as a couple of terrorists claiming to be Christians.

______________________________________________________________

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

________________________________________