A member of Uganda’s parliament has introduced legislation that would impose the death penalty on anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality”—an offense defined as a homosexual act involving a minor or a person with a disability, or any same-sex relations in which the accused participant is HIV-positive.
Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 was drafted in March, shortly after the Uganda-based Family Life Network hosted a conference that featured Holocaust revisionist and antigay activist Scott Lively, who leads an organization described as a hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Don Schmierer, president of Exodus International.
According to Jim Burroway, a blogger who has closely followed recent events in Uganda, Lively blamed gay men for the genocide in neighboring Rwanda and suggested that homosexuals were infiltrating Uganda’s schools to “recruit” children—potent accusations in a country with its own ethnic tensions and where clashing militias have perennially sent captive child-soldiers into battle.
Uganda, described by Rick Warren as a “purpose-driven nation,” is in many ways an experiment in right-wing Christian social thought. Its endemic poverty and location at the frontier between Islam and Christianity in Africa have made Uganda—with a population of 30 million in an area about the size of Georgia and South Carolina combined—a focal point for missionary work across the denominational spectrum.
The country’s evangelical president-for-life, Yoweri Museveni, has received praise from George W. Bush, at whose encouragement Museveni narrowed the focus of Uganda’s HIV-prevention policy largely to exclude condom use in favor of abstinence, as well as Doug Coe, who described Museveni as “a good friend of the Family” in a story recounted in Jeff Sharlet’s book about Coe’s organization.
And Joseph Kony, the violently fundamentalist leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, challenges Museveni’s control of northern Uganda with brutal raids on poorly defended villages and has thwarted U.S.-backed efforts to destroy LRA outposts in the anarchic jungle regions along Uganda’s border with Congo.
Even fine-grained aspects of daily life in Uganda reflect the fervent, hard-edged strand of Christianity that has taken root there: A nonsectarian British relief-agency worker describes the profusion of shops with names like “God Is Great Butcher” and “Jesus Loves You Hair Salon.” In a story on pastor Martin Ssempa—an agent of Rick Warren’s “purpose-driven nation” campaign who has demanded the arrest of gay activists—a Canadian journalist remarks on the number of private cars and taxis in Kampala that sport bumper stickers with the phrase “I’m covered under the blood of Jesus.”
Considering the pervasiveness of the religio-political culture that has produced Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009—as well as the powerful American interests that support Yoweri Museveni and the strong-arm form of government he represents—it’s not surprising that the legislation seems likely to be signed into law, despite protests from an array of human rights groups.
Still, one deterrent to Museveni’s signing of the bill could be provisions to the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Recovery Act, which Sens. Russ Feingold and Sam Brownback introduced in May and which is currently under consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The act’s laudable goal is to help quell violence, support stabilization and build lasting peace in northern Uganda. It would not be unreasonable to ask that, in exchange for American funds to pursue those ends, Museveni and his government should foreswear violence against Uganda’s LGBT citizens in the interest of the long-term peace and stability of the entire country.
Tags: aids, aids/hiv, death penalty, hiv, lgbt, martin ssempa, museveni, rick warren, uganda
If history is any guide (and I think it is, even if it's only been 9 months), the Obama administration will cave in and do nothing about it. Obama's policy has consistently been to appease this kind of thing. The most recent example of this phenomenon was his support for an international anti-blasphemy law.
It's a mystery to me why any American president would want to make so many compromises with primeval thinking, but then, I guess it's the prerogative of any president to cave in to irrationality of this kind.
Christendom, since its founding, unequivocally teaches that homosexualism is part of the Cult of Death, the extermination of the Future, the suicide of Humanity, a hate crime against Nature. With all due respect and compassionate love, individuals who openly attack this basic human understanding on this issue need to get professional help. These extremists apparently suffer from Delusional Disorder. Delusional Disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental disorder that is characterized by holding one or more non-bizarre delusions in the absence of any other significant psychopathology. Non-bizarre delusions are fixed beliefs that are certainly and definitely false, but that could possibly be plausible. To believe that homosexualism can somehow be acceptable sexual behavior for anyone sane, be they Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Communist, atheist, agnostic, or Christian, is, in itself, a clear indicator of Delusional Disorder.
Furthermore, every learned person knows that "homophobia" is the irrational fear of human beings, not of homosexuals.
The premise that the introduction of the legislation (which has already been tabled) has anything to do with the conference is is totally unfounded. We have this statement from Exodus:
"Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, responded to reports about an Exodus board member’s participation at a conference in Uganda on homosexuality:
"Unfortunately, Uganda as a country has demonstrated severe hostility towards homosexuals supporting criminalization of homosexual behavior and proposing compulsory therapy – positions that Exodus International unequivocally denounces. It is our sincere desire to offer an alternative message that encompasses a compassionate, biblical view of homosexuality not just here in America, but around the world. We applaud our board member’s attempt to convey these truths to a country in need."
Will the author be retracting the slur against Exodus? I doubt it. Homosexualists hate Exodus and are doing their best to silence it.
Scott Lively has stated that doesn't necessarily favor decriminalizing homosexuality (which is the current status quo). And he certainly opposes capital punishment.
Arrests and criminality should be foresworn as well.
Is there any irony in the phrase "God is Great Butcher," as described above?
Disgusted here. And Exodus, whether or not it deserves to be reviled by the gay community, has no business mucking around in Uganda, for crying out loud. Exodus should have educated itself about the atmosphere there and done a bit of OBVIOUS prediction that gay people are in danger.
No, I don't feel any sympathy for Exodus in this. And that's a pointless avenue for debate anyway. The concern here should be the current endangerment of gay people in Uganda. Complaining about slurs against Exodus is a pointless waste of energy. If they don't want to be attacked they should mind their own business.
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