Milk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 - November 27, 1978)

An American acquaintance once expressed surprise that I count Harvey Milk among my heroes. He seemed to think it odd that an Englishman should rate Harvey Milk so highly.  Oh, but why not? Years after his murder, he remains a role model for gay people worldwide, not just in the USA.

Harvey Milk (Photo from Wikipedia)

No poem can do the man justice, but I hope you will enjoy this villanelle.

MILK

Inspiring hope and integrity,
freeing the natural self to run true,
a gay man called Harvey

Where hate crime stalks society,
see love and peace yet win through,
inspiring hope and integrity

No apology for homosexuality
(though its nightmares come true);
a gay man called Harvey

Where lies reworking history,
truth finds its allies (worldwide, too)
inspiring hope and integrity

Recruiting us all to the equality
a common humanity (still) aspires to
a gay man called Harvey

Helping expose world hypocrisy
(as our ‘betters’ frequently fail to do);
inspiring hope and integrity,
a gay man called Harvey…

Copyright R. N. Taber 2013

Broken Rainbow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update; November 2017: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Uganda have no specific legal protections. Activists estimated in 2007 that the Ugandan LGBT community consisted of 500,000 people. The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act  was passed on 17 December 2013 with a punishment of life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality". In August 2014, the Uganda Constitutional Court annulled the law. Nonetheless, LGBT people continue to face discrimination in Uganda. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. In February 2015 President Museveni signed the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill which called for repeat offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in prison and to make it a criminal offence not to report someone for being gay; the Bill was defeated in the Ugandan parliament and he has since said he will not pursue further anti-gay legislation.] 

In January (2011) you may have read or heard some media reports that a leading campaigner for Gay Rights in Uganda, David Kato, had been murdered. I (still) feel obliged to draw attention to what is happening in Uganda, not least because it upsets me greatly.

David Kato [Photo taken from the Internet]

Societies world-wide have a lot to answer for with regard to poverty, prejudice, peace, equality, HIV-AIDS...and more besides. At least some politicians do their best while others cruise along, content to play the blame game to distract attention from their own inaction. Yet others, we cannot help but observe, are plainly in politics for no other reason than their own egos.

Politicians in some countries - not just Uganda - put the 21st century to shame. The recent murder of David Kato in Uganda is more than a human tragedy; it is a crime against humanity and the likes of Giles Muhame (Managing Editor of Rolling Stone) deserve to be brought to book.

As if chronic poverty in Uganda isn’t tragedy enough, the persecution of gay people there continues to horrify the civilised world.

So what is the civilized world going to do about it?

This poem is a villanelle.

BROKEN RAINBOW

Under a broken rainbow,
tearful faces making their way
in this sorry world below

Find the seeds to sow
all those we’ve loved heard say
under a broken rainbow

Agreed, we’ve much to show
for packing prejudice on its way
in this sorry world below

By now, world leaders know
free speech needs to have its say
under a broken rainbow?

Areas (still) marked No-Go
for men and women who are gay
in this sorry world below

Where home truths fear to go,
political correctness has its way
under a broken rainbow
in this sorry world below

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009