why are you gay meme

The "Why Are You Gay?" meme originates from a 2012 interview on Ugandan TV channel NBS TV during a show called Morning Breeze. In the interview, LGBT activist Pepe Julian Onziema, a transgender man, was asked the question "Why are you gay?" by the host, Simon Kaggwa Njala. This awkward and blunt questioning, along with the tense debate featuring an anti-gay pastor, became a viral video and later a meme popularized by humorous remixes and image macros starting around 2019. While many use the meme to joke about perceived non-masculine behaviors or activities by asking "Why are you gay?" in an exaggerated way, the original interview was a serious and often hostile confrontation about LGBTQ rights in Uganda. The meme has a darker context related to discrimination and intolerance, as at that time Uganda was considering harsh anti-gay legislation. In summary, the meme is based on a real, controversial televised debate about homosexuality in Uganda, and it gained viral popularity partly because of the unusual, blunt phrasing of the question and the overall cultural clash on the topic.