Uganda antigay group holds first meeting

The South African Independent Online reported recently that a new group opposed to homosexuality had been formed as a consequence of a March 5-8 conference held in Kampala. The article in full stated:

Kampala – Anti-gay activists in Uganda on Saturday formed a pressure group to discourage homosexuality, following a two-day conference of religious leaders, teachers and social workers in the capital Kampala.
The group, to be called the Anti-Gay Task Force, is intended to “fight against the spread of homosexuality and lesbianism in the country,” spokesperson for the group Stephen Langa told reporters.
Same sex-relationships and marriages are illegal in Uganda, and human rights groups have criticised the government for harassing homosexuals.
The task-force said that it would one day “wipe out” gay practices in the African state.

A meeting of this task force was held on March 15. An anonymous source provided a narrative of that meeting. I am putting excerpts here. Keep in mind that this is one eyewitness account and may not be completely accurate. I have asked Stephen Langa for confirmation and for comment on any discrepancies he believes are here. However, over the last several days all emails to Family Life Network are bouncing back as undeliverable.
Here are some excerpts…

Family Life Network – FLN Comes out Strong on Homosexuality in Uganda
To follow up the anti – gay training in Uganda from 5th to 7th March 2009 — Family Life Net work – FLN, organized a follow up meeting on Sunday 15th March 2009.
The meeting attracted an audience of over 60 people, mostly parents but who included civil servants, government workers, researchers, journalists, activists and students.
The assistant director FLN gave a brief back ground of Family Life Network that FLN deals with restoration of family values. Participants who attended the the previous anti – gay seminar were asked to give a recap.
After that, the audience gave testimonies of their encounter with homosexuals in Uganda and that the movement is strong hence the need for strong forces to deal with the gay movement in Uganda.
The assistant director FLN then introduced the director family Life Network Stephan Langa as the main facilitator of the day.
In his opening remarks, Stephan Langa said the Gay Agenda is controlling the debate, so it is time for the family to take over and start controlling the debate. He also emphasized terms like “Sexual Orientation and told participants not to allow such terms in our vocabulary, that these are terms or words introduced by homosexuals to fulfill their agenda. He warned participants that homosexuals in Uganda want the constitution to include no discrimination based on “sexual orientation”, he urged participants not to allow it.

If accurate, this demonstrates the mixed paradigm of this effort. This coalition is not dedicated to ministry but political engagement.

Presentation “Homosexuality in Uganda.” By Stephen Langa
What cause homosexuality.
In his presentation Stephan Langa said homosexuality is not about sex, it is about the search for a fatherly or motherly figure. Children with bad parenting end up becoming homosexuals as they search for mother’s or father’s love.

I wonder where he heard that?

He also mentioned another cause of homosexuality as child abuse; he said that the homosexuals he has counseled have been abused as children. He cited broken families as another cause of homosexuality.
He mentioned domineering mothers and abusive fathers as another cause of homosexuality, as well as negligent father who are emotionally off (away from?) with children.
Exposure to pornography as another cause of homosexuality.
He said some people are lured into homosexuality by money and other social favors. Rebellion, he said some children become homosexuals because they want to be rebellious, noting that homosexuality is some kind of rebellion.
He also said same sex attraction is a disorder and quoted: Richard Cohen MA. He emphasized the point that all homosexuals can change since all disorders can be changed. Homosexuality is not genetical, it is a learned behavior and what is learned can be unlearned. (Richard Cohen MA.)

Without no obvious awareness of the disconnect, the talk goes from describing homosexuality as a pathology to criticizing it as a political movement.

HISTORY OF THE MODERN GAY MOVEMENT
He talked about Henry Garber, who was a German American soldier in 1924, that Henry Garber sodomized Champ Simmons and Champ Simmons sodomized Harry Hay. Then Harry Hay started the whole gay movement that gays follow to date. Source: The PINK SWASTIKA – Dr. Scott Lively.
GAY AGENDA.
Utopia meaning, the gay agenda has no sexual restrictions and they want the entire world to adapt to this trend of life — that homosexuals want total acceptance, that homosexuals want to over throw the marriage, family values and the moral base of society.
GAY STRATEGY
Homosexuals have redefined homosexuality as in- born and that it is gender irreversible.They focus on who they are and what they want. They are after your children…

According to the person attending the training, there were many more points presented that came from Scott Lively’s books and talks.
After the presentations, the participants brainstormed what could be done. Here are just some…

The laws on homosexuality are weak, hence the need to strengthen these laws.
Parents were encouraged to participant in law making decisions in Uganda so that to strengthen the laws on homosexuality.
To establish a unit at Police to deal with homosexuality.
Homosexuality is an abomination; it is evil and should be dealt with
strongly.
During the reactions a prominent pastor also said that they have been talking with an ex-gay activist who has given them a five year plan for dealing with the gay agenda in Uganda. And they have submitted this plan to the ministry concerned, that they await reactions.
Another participant told the audience that parliament is drafting a new law that will be tough on homosexuals.

I wonder who the ex-gay activist is?
Here is a chilling claim:

A participant asked a liberal question on issues of sexuality: You have associated homosexuality with all evils, defiles, child molesters, etc. Don’t you think that also heterosexuals defile or molest our children why don’t you address this issue as well. He was answered: We are here to talk about homosexuality, do not divert us. After this question he was intimated, almost thrown out of the meeting.

And then plans were made:

Way Forward
-Formation of a task force to deal with homosexuality
-Volunteers to educate children on the dangers of homosexuality
-Fund raising to facilitate the volunteers
-Collect signatures from Ugandans door to door to request parliament to tighten the law on homosexuality.
-Get information and knowledge about homosexuality
-Government should note gay funders, and scrutinize the funding or stop the funding for gay movements in Uganda.
-Rehabilitation of gays, we were told that a curriculum on rehabilitation is being developed and will be out in the next 3 months.
-To deal with homosexuality at local level and involve local councils
-Full up meeting on Sunday: 22nd March, 2009. People pledged to fund raise funds for follow-up meetings.

Let me repeat: I tried to reach Stephen Langa to verify this information but no one answered the phone and the emails have come back undeliverable. This seems plausible given the participants in the earlier ex-gay meeting and what they have suggested they discussed then. If anyone else who was there or Mr. Langa would like to offer a different view, I welcome the contact.
UPDATE: The GayUganda blog has the entire narrative. Short on details, this article reports on another group.

23 thoughts on “Uganda antigay group holds first meeting”

  1. It is sad to say that. in generral, I find that those who claim to be “Bible-believing Christians” and who hold that the Bible is “the infallible word of God” are the most guilty of “cherry picking”!
    It seems top me that they tend to leave themselves out of the equation, and boldlly assert that their understanding of Scripture is the one and only correct way to look at these issues.
    Can’t we all admit that “what we know now is only partial” and will not be “complete until we see HIm face to face”?

  2. And now they’ve descended into a WitchHunt.></a

    Uganda: Eight Denounce Homosexuality
    Moses Mulondo
    25 March 2009
    Kampala — EIGHT more men yesterday confessed involvement in
    homosexuality and gay activities, which they said they had abandoned.
    Speaking to journalists at the Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala, the
    youthful men described homosexuality as abnormal and anti-Christian,
    and declared war against it.
    The tough-talking men were accompanied by George Oundo, who earlier in
    the week denounced homosexuality and confessed recruiting school
    children into the practice.

    We have been involved in recruiting homosexuals, spreading the gospel of homosexuality, and we know the operations of homosexuals,” said 27-year-old Emma Matovu, who took to homosexuality 13 years ago. “We shall do all it takes to eliminate the practice in Uganda.”
    Matovu, who said he abandoned the practice two weeks ago, asserted:
    “Homosexuality is dangerous and dehumanising but is growing fast in
    Uganda.”
    He urged the Government and all concerned citizens to “wake up now
    before this abnormal practice is made to appear normal as the case has
    been in the West”.
    Another former homosexual, Charles Asiimwe, said the practice had
    spread to government offices, churches, schools and hotels. “Many
    business moguls are involved,” Asiimwe said.
    Oundo said the eight men would fight the vice because they were
    victims with a tormenting experience.
    “We shall expose those who refuse to abandon the practice and we shall
    not be intimidated because we are protected by Jesus,” he asserted.
    “We know their operations, including a restaurant in the city centre
    where homosexuals wait for clients from nearby hotels.”
    He urged his former partners to abandon the practice, saying Uganda
    should become a role model in fighting the “barbarism”.
    He called on Juliet Mukasa, the head of the Sexual Minorities in
    Uganda (SMUG), Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, a gay rights activist and
    headmaster Kisule (other name withheld) to abandon the practice.
    SMUG brings together lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and
    intersex activists in Uganda.
    Addressing the press conference, Family Life Network chief Stephen
    Langa read a statement from parents and concerned citizens, urging the
    Government to establish a probe to assess the prevalence of
    homosexuality in Uganda.
    “We want a confidential platform to be provided for abused children to
    speak out without being stigmatised,” the parents suggested.
    Langa said his group would move around the country convincing parents
    to sign a petition to be handed to the President and Parliament on
    April 7. He said the petition will demand urgent steps to be taken
    against homosexuality in Uganda.

  3. Is there any rational person who insists that no Biblical prohibition still applies?
    It is which ones that is causing the bruhaha.

  4. Karen disdains “cherry picking”, but who doesn’t do it — herself included? Is there realy any rational person who insists that every Biblical prohibition still applies?

  5. My take on this whole S and G story is that homosexuality was simply the symptom of a society that had become so corrupt that there was really nothing left to be saved and their rejection of the messengers was all it took for God wrath to come down upon them. Before you all cast stones on me I just want to clarrify what I refer to as Gods wrath, the inability of a society to rebuild itself when destruction occurs simply because of its inner corruption and lack of compassion for all of its members. Kind of reminds me of somewhere else I know.

  6. David, I really don’t want to argue the Sodom and Gomorrah story with you. I’m mostly in agreement that it’s often narrowly interpreted. (Much of Scripture is.) I simply think that leaving out the sexual ramifications, as you did, is just as narrow. And I’m fairly certain that Satan laughs at critical exclusions as well.

  7. @ Karen:
    I know this verse is precious to you:
    “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
    Romans:12:2-3 The Message
    Fundamentalist teaching of S and G is part of our culture (taught from our pulpits for 300-500 years)…it is part of our culture. It is a very immature view of S and G.

  8. @Karen,
    “I also really resent your implication that those of us that exclusively support, defend and promote the male/female polarity in human sexual expression do so from a limited and narrow Biblical understanding. (Ditto to you, Ann.) That’s total bull.”
    I do not recognize my assertion in your above quote…you seem to have conflated my criticism of fundamentalism into a criticism of those who “support, defend and promote male/female polarity in human sexual expression…”
    I think that is your “bull” in your perception of me.
    To restate…a very narrow reading of S and G (excluding the idea of rape, for example), distorts the story of S and G into God exclusively criticizing homosexuality…
    Why would a Christian Church so aware of its own unrighteousness before God, so simplify such global unrighteousness (in the S and G story, in context and with supplemental scriptures)? Can’t you see, Karen, how Satan laughs…when we constrict God’s truth?
    Can’t you see the Christian admonition of the beam and the speck?
    As I said before, God forgive us all.

  9. I also really resent your implication that those of us that exclusively support, defend and promote the male/female polarity in human sexual expression do so from a limited and narrow Biblical understanding. (Ditto to you, Ann.) That’s total bull.

    Karen,
    Can you please cite an example that supports your accusation of the accusation you just leveled at me? Also, not sure what you mean by the word “bull” – is that a Christian term that I am not familiar with?

  10. David, I’m not truncating the story; you are. I already acknowledged that there are a variety of reasons given in Scripture for Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction. You conveniently left out the sexual ones because it didn’t suit your argument. That’s called “cherry picking,” and in just about anybody’s book it’s recognized as proof-texting. You disdain “fundamentalists” for doing it, but apparently it’s OK when you do. There’s a name for that, too.
    I also really resent your implication that those of us that exclusively support, defend and promote the male/female polarity in human sexual expression do so from a limited and narrow Biblical understanding. (Ditto to you, Ann.) That’s total bull.
    It’s also total bull when applied to the African church leaders, many of whom are Oxford trained theologians. Your Western prejudices are showing again.

  11. Again, let us ask the question, why narrow or truncate the story of S and G to only focus on homosexuality? It is contrary to a thoughtful and thorough examination of scripture. It only facilitates our unwarranted self-righteousness.

    David,
    Your question will challenge many who are comfy and smug with their limited belief system. A narrow mind is formed out of the need to be right at the exclusion of other information that would otherwise present another perspective.
    Sometimes the need to be right is more important to some than the search for wisdom, which is never ending.

  12. @ Karen:
    “lawless men”
    Eugene Peterson’s “translation” hardly takes into account the previously mentioned verses.
    “sexual immorality” is not just homosexuality…
    Again, let us ask the question, why narrow or truncate the story of S and G to only focus on homosexuality? It is contrary to a thoughtful and thorough examination of scripture. It only facilitates our unwarranted self-righteousness.
    S and G is an example of global, unredeemable human evil of every kind. Abraham pleaded with God to save the city if they could find 10 righteous men.
    “Righteous” is the opposite of S and G and is a global evaluation of the person, not just an assessment sexual purity.
    Karen, you too have been sucked into the self-righteous lie. God forgive us all.

  13. While David is correct that there are several reasons given throughout Scripture for Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction, sexual sin is definitely one of the reasons. It’s overtly identified in Jude 1 and hinted at in 2 Peter 2.
    Jude 1:7 – “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
    2 Peter 2:6-8 – “if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—”
    Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase The Message, gives a better feel for the emphasis of the original Greek in the Peter passage:
    “God decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life. But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued. Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment.”
    If an appeal is made to Scriptural authority in an argument, then I think ALL of it should be included.

  14. James 3:1
    Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

  15. So, what is the sin of Sodom? If you search the scriptures, there were many:
    * Deuteronomy 29:22- 28 — serving false gods;
    * Deuteronomy 32:15-19, 21-25 and 31-33 — apathy, sacrifice to demons, idolatry and gluttony;
    * Isaiah 1:2-4, 9-10, 20 and 23-31 — forsaking God, showing contempt to God,
    * Isaiah 3:8-11, 15 — oppression, discrimination.
    Finally the New Testament’s description of Sodom’s sins has to do with the rejection of “the message” (Matthew 10:14-15, Matthew 11:23-24 and Mark 6:11).
    Given the evidence, it’s easy to see the destruction of these cities, which for years has been conveniently blamed on homosexuals, was caused by much deeper issues than sexual orientation. God’s wrath was brought down on the cities because of cruelty, neglect, oppression, the persecution of the poor, and idol worship.

  16. A sectarian hate crime…a city judged by God for “all sorts of immorality.” Not just sexual.

  17. Unlikely that citizens of S and G were all SSA. More likely they were highly sectarian and used intimidation as a form of “protecting” themselves. Sexual rape of a man is the most humiliating way to exert control/dominance.
    Fundamentalist, literalist interpretation of the Bible leads to a lack of historical context and application of reason. Such social predators who use sex to demonstrate their power are likely heterosexual haters with a few SSA’s in the mix.
    I remember as a young adolescent reading scripture and applying it directly as if God was speaking to me…and being encouraged to do so.
    Only later did I learn that the letter to the Corinthians, was a letter to the Corinthians…not to me….only later did I understand that any message for me that I could extrapolate had to be in context of the culture and with other scripture…and then, tentatively asserted.
    S and G, misunderstood, is at the foundation of Christian homophobia. A foundation laid anew by unscholarly pastors.

  18. S and G is about intimidation, humiliation and violence…not about sexual love.
    Yes, I agree – I believe rape is defined the same way. Neither is about the desire to enjoy sex. There is so much that has been taught and unfortunately believed.

  19. S and G is about intimidation, humiliation and violence…not about sexual love.

  20. Perfectly in keeping with the implications of poor fundamentalist teaching on Sodom and Gomorrah.

    David,
    I think I know what you mean but just to make sure, what is your take on the fundamentalist teaching of Sodom and Gomorrah and how is it different from what you think should be taught?

  21. Perfectly in keeping with the implications of poor fundamentalist teaching on Sodom and Gomorrah.
    Taught so young and so wrong: poor exegesis leads to the beam and the speck.

  22. Well, Lively probably is getting what he wants. Brundidge and Schmierer probably really don’t give a damn or they would not have gone in the first place. Gay Uganda has termed such as them and their Ugandan collaboratorsforces of evil wrapped in ‘religion’ and ‘church’. So evil that they are prepared to advocate for my death in prison in the name of their agenda. Which has the blessing of their god..”
    .
    Three months for a “get out the gay” curriculum? Didn’t Cohen’s IHF or Schmierer’s Exodus have any real plan before now? Or was this simply some of those interconnections between breakaway Episcopals in American and the Ugandan Anglican Church? One commentor on the Gay Uganda blog had this to say:

    . …Archbishop Orombi, of Uganda, often brags about the “conservative” money that flows endlessly to him (replacing the defiled money of the American Episcopal Church) for “mission partnership” help in Uganda…there appears to be lots of MONEY available to stomp on the innocent character/unknown virtue of LGBT human beings…money for thuggery and hate crime seems unlimited.

    It sounds like the “National Committee on False Teaching Awareness” is just out to get rid of some Pentacostal or other ministers it doesn’t like.

    They argued that if the Government could set up a commission of inquiry into the operations of the Sserulanda spiritual foundation, then it could do the same for the churches.
    .
    The conference was called to mark nine years since the massacre in Kanungu district of about 1,000 followers of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments.

    I’d say they’re all about getting some religious revenge. No one is necessarily safe in Uganda. They’ll use gay peoples to go after just about anyone
    .
    Is it any wonder that many gays and lesbians give up on religion?
    .
    As for “Gay in Uganda” he makes a point about the legislation being considered in Nigeria and that it is likely to be considered to be put into law in Uganda. He says of the law considered in Nigeria and of the same if it were in Uganda:

    any of our friends who knows that we live together would be subject to punishment. For knowing that my lover and I have lived together all this long, in love and harmony. They have ‘aided and abetted’ our love.
    .
    Our friends would actually have tougher jail terms than me. For aiding and abetting me and my lover.
    .
    The definition for gay marriage is “as gay people living together”. So, there you are. A new definition. Just living together. Not having sex. Not caught kissing. Gay people are plain not supposed to ‘live together’

    Currently, the government cannot kick in the door of a gay couple in Uganda. Which the law being considered in Nigeria would get around.
    .
    Finally Warren, I think you have the URL for the narrative concerning this last meeting of Langa from the Gay Uganda blog wrong, it is:
    http://gayuganda.blogspot.com/2009/03/ugandas-anti-gay-agenda-part-3.html
    .
    Lastly, FNL is getting together again on this Sunday for another round of gay-baiting.

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