So defilement of underage girls (pedophilia) or what should necessarily be termed “aggravated heterosexuality” in Uganda only gets life, but they want to call pedophilia against boys “aggravated homosexuality” and give the person a death sentence?

Mwanga II may very well have raped some underage Christian girls in his time, but it’s his rape of underage Christian boys that became infamous in Ugandan history, and it was the boy victims who became Uganda’s first canonized saints.

P.S. I’m aware of the possibility that the “homosexual rape” element of the Ugandan Martyrs story has been significantly exaggerated in the retelling, and that in reality, only a few of the victims had actually been former members of Mwanga’s male harem. The important thing is that Ugandans believe that ALL of the male martyrs had been victims of homosexual predation.

I also recommend contacting Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in California. (pastorrick@saddleback.org or 949-609-8000).

I have been informed that Saddleback’s AIDS ministry has had no contact with Martin Ssempa since 2007. They did not like the direction he was heading on this issue. Also, Mrs. Warren has expressed to me and Chad Thompson that she is sick about the new proposal in Uganda and the Warrens do not support this measure. Please write to thank them for their stance.

This is also good news. When did this happen, Warren? I will write today to thank them.

A proposed law that seeks to penalize homosexuality activities in Uganda may have to go back to the drawing board following rejections of some of its sections by religious leaders, especially Catholics, protestants and born again Christians.

This is good news. It seems that Christian voices, in and outside Uganda, can make a difference. Ask your pastors and friends to add theirs.

Also, I have seen references to increased problems with sex trafficking of children in Uganda.

Also wanted to mention this note from an e-mail I received (Warren probably got it, too) from Chad Thompson, author of “Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would.” Chad’s got an interesting story of his own. At any rate, he made this statement, while calling for Christians and ex-gay ministry leaders to speak out against Uganda’s bill:

Important Note: There have been attempts to link Rick Warren and Saddleback Church to this horrific bill because one of the bill’s supporters, Martin Ssempa, has spoken at their church conferences in the past. I have spoken personally with Kay Warren and can assure you that Rick and Kay Warren are absolutely sick over what is happening in Uganda and do not support the anti-homosexuality bill in any way.

Good catch. On the Ugandan thread that begins “Ugandan Blogger”, I had found a number of references that said the penalty for ‘aggravated defilement’ (which included heterosexual pedophilia) was death. This source from above, suggests the penalty wasn’t death but life imprisonment.

Re the death penalty for heterosexual ‘aggravated defilement’, I had found several sources that all cited ‘the death penalty’; I’m inclined to believe either that this reference from above missed it or, scarily, that suspicion is enough to get you life!

Of the country’s 20,000 inmates, 47.7 per cent face defilement charges, having been arrested on suspicion of having intercourse with girls under the age of 18, The New Vision newspaper said. A person convicted with defilement serves a life sentence under Ugandan law.

So defilement of underage girls (pedophilia) or what should necessarily be termed “aggravated heterosexuality” in Uganda only gets life, but they want to call pedophilia against boys “aggravated homosexuality” and give the person a death sentence? And Ssempa calls that equalizing the law?

Nearly half of the thousands of inmates in Uganda’s overcrowded prisons are on remand for sexual offences involving relationships with under-age girls, a government newspaper reported Saturday quoting senior prison officers.

Of the country’s 20,000 inmates, 47.7 per cent face defilement charges, having been arrested on suspicion of having intercourse with girls under the age of 18, The New Vision newspaper said. A person convicted with defilement serves a life sentence under Ugandan law.

Most disturbing (to me) is in the last quoted paragraph where it says ‘having been arrested on suspicion of….’. But it does raise another question, a number of Uganda spokespersons have alleged that there has been a rise, an insurgence, a corruption creeping into their country brought on chiefly by those who make money pandering sex, sexual imagery, pornography, etc. I do wonder if it’s perhaps a bigger wave than we can picture and if it isn’t that huge wave that’s prompting the huge efforts to thwart it.

Uganda’s penal code provides for 15 capital offences: nine separate offences grouped under the collective heading “treason” and offences against the state, rape, defilement, murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. Death is a mandatory punishment for six of the treasonous offences and a discretionary sentence for the remaining felonies at the same go.

The quote is from January 2009. I’m assuming they’d treat the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality with the discretionary sentence. But my prayers are with these pastoral voices cited in the topic comments who wish to see the death penalty removed from consideration.

And it’s no real consolation, but another site indicated that in Uganda, the typical ‘life sentence’ is 20 years.(Yeah, that doesn’t compute in my English speaking brain either.) With eligibility for parole before that. Again, though, the sentences are harsh…even if 20 years isn’t life, it sure is a sizable chunk of one.

And, if I remember correctly, it would seem that some 47% percent of those incarcerated are there for heterosexual sex with minors. (I’m still clumsy at navigating websites…this seems an outrageously high percentage but I will try to find my way back to that site.) Well, except that they do have the mandatory death penalty for many…and the dead don’t factor into the prison population numbers.)