Malawi: Love In Exile

A fascinating essay from The Guardian's new The Long Read section.

Five years ago, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and her boyfriend, Steven Monjeza, were arrested after publicly announcing their engagement - they were later freed after an outcry.

Their story was much distorted; much of the gay media doggedly kept calling them a 'gay couple', even when it came out  that Tiwonge identified as a woman.

And some Westerners - as per - were rather keen to take the credit for their release, while ignoring the work done by campaigners in Malawi.

Well done gayist neo-colonialists!

Chimbalanga was granted asylum by South Africa, and now lives in Cape Town, but her status will be reviewed next year.

Malawi: Second Marriage

Make of this what you will, but Stephen Monjeza - one half of the "Malawi gay couple" that Fagburn has pointed out several times were no longer a couple and probably don't identify as gay - has announced that he has "dumped his homosexual 'wife' Tiwonge Chimbalanga to marry a Blantyre-based woman," according to the Malawi newspaper The Nation.
"I have had enough," Monjeza said. "I was forced into the whole drama and I regret the whole episode. I want to live a normal life... not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased."
The poor man's been through an appalling ordeal, but he looked equally unhappy and haunted in both partnerships.
Chimbalanga is quoted in The Guardian as saying that Monjeza had found a female lover "to hurt" him.
"But I am not worried. You cannot force love, and nobody forced him when we did our symbolic wedding in December."
He also said he did not resent Monjeza's decision. "I will also marry because there are lots of good men around. I will remain a gay."
It's worth noting the last word.
A blog on The Guardian's Comment Is Free by Natacha Kennedy that first pointed out that Tiwonge probably didn't predominantly identify as gay and had lived "as a woman".
See this interview with him in The Times in January; "I am a woman. I can do what a woman can do."
It's not clear if Tiwonge was answering a question asked by The Guardian, or if he was talking in English.
And on that bombshell...

Malawi Couple: Free At Last

Great news - the President of Malawi has pardoned Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, following a visit to the country by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
We might now see some interesting questions answered: Why did the Malawi newspaper The Nation put their "marriage" on its front page last December? It was this publicity, that led to their arrest.
How many men are currently in prison in Malawi for committing "unnatural offences"? Will they also be released?
And how do Steven and Tiwonge feel about being described as a "gay couple" when it appears that they split up in December and moreover Tiwonge identifies not as a gay man, but as a woman?
From an interview in The Times (London)in January; "Dressed in a blouse and describing himself as a woman, he said that they became engaged after “my darling, Steven, proposed love to me and we agreed to get married”.
"Unlike Mr Monjeza, he refused to accept that he had broken any law. “Which laws? I am a woman, I can do what a woman can do,” he said. “I love Steven for what he is, he doesn’t give me money. In fact, I do everything for him, but love is love.”'
More importantly, will the UK offer them asylum?

Malawi Couple: At Least They Got The 'Malawi' Bit Right

Apart from the fact that they are no longer a couple and probably don't identify as gay, it's hard to find fault with press coverage of the imprisoned "Malawi gay couple", Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza...