Month: February 2012

Petition targets Citibank’s and Barclays’ Ugandan operations; calls for banks to condemn anti-gay bill

At Change.org, Citibank customer Collin Burton posted a petition aimed at Citibank and Barclays banks. Both banks have significant operations in Uganda. From the petition:

With the “Kill the Gays” bill looming in Uganda’s parliament, Citibank and Barclays have unique and necessary voices that could help stop this bill in its tracks. Their presence in Uganda is significant, and their voices in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could have a profound impact in keeping LGBT people safe in Uganda.

Ask Citibank and Barclays to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a loud message to Ugandan legislators that criminalizing homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty won’t be supported by major international businesses.

I wondered when this might happen. Western companies doing business in Uganda will have a hard time helping their GLBT employees feel safe in an environment where the government can break up peaceful meetings and jail employees for private conduct. Western customers of those companies might want to direct their funds elsewhere here if there is no voice of concern or outrage.

 

Museveni says gays not persecuted; forgets persecution last week

What a short memory.

Uganda’s President says gays aren’t persecuted in his country just days after his Ethics Minister raided a GLBT conference and chased activists out of the hotel fearing arrest.

Note to the rest of the world – The President of Uganda wants you to subscribe to his version of reality where disrupting and threatening a peaceful assembly is not persecution.

PFOX hit with defamation lawsuit by TWO

As expected…

WASHINGTON , Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Truth Wins Out announced today that it has filed a defamation lawsuit against Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and its President Greg Quinlan after he claimed on a television show that Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen tried to have him killed. The lawsuit (Case number: CL12000008-00) was filed in Virginia’s Northumberland County Circuit Court where PFOX is headquartered. Norfolk attorney Michael Hamar will represent TWO.

“We will not let PFOX’s outright lies and bizarre fabrications go unanswered,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Greg Quinlan’s false allegations were deviously designed to damage my reputation and that of Truth Wins Out. We look forward to vigorously challenging Quinlan’s delusional version of events and debunking them in a court of law.”

On October 7, 2011, Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). At the 10:38 mark of the show, Quinlan fabricates an alleged hit on his life. According to Quinlan:

“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”

TWO sent PFOX a letter offering the group an opportunity to apologize for their smear campaign. Unfortunately, Quinlan did not take the highroad and express regret for his false and misleading charges.

“When people engage in smear campaigns they are usually smart enough not to write lies on their website or make false allegations on television,” said TWO’s Besen. “That Quinlan would so brazenly lie in social and mainstream media is incredibly reckless and irresponsible.”

 

Text of Liberia’s Bill to Make Homosexuality a First Degree Felony

This morning I received the text of the proposed amendment concerning homosexuality from Jarlawah Tonpo, Director of Press and Public Affairs of the Liberia Senate. Offered by former First Lady, Sen. Jewel Taylor, the amendment has not yet been debated and is not law. No date has been set for debate or vote. Both Houses of the legislature would need to pass the bill to send to the President for signature or veto. I wrote about this bill and a companion bill in their House last week.

As far as I can determine, in Liberia penalties for a First Degree Felony can range from 10 years in prison to death. The amendment is short and without definitions.

SENATOR TAYLOR’S PROPOSED AMENDMENT

TO THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW OF LIBERIA

LAW AS CURRENTLY STATED

DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW

Sub section 2.3 who may not marry

“No marriage shall be contracted between persons, one or both of whom has a spouse still living; not

between an ancestor and a descendant, a brother and sister of either the whole or the half blood, an uncle and niece or an aunt and nephew, or first cousins; or of persons of the same sex.

AMENDMENT

To Amend and restate Section 2.3 of the Domestic Relations Law to provide for the prohibition of same sex marriages in Liberia.

It is enacted by the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia, in Legislature assembled:

Section 1:

That from and immediately after the passage of this Act. Section 2.3 of the Domestic Relations Law is hereby amended and restated as follow:

This prohibition shall apply whether the prescribe relatives are legitimate or illegitimate. No one shall  give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any one which represents a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of the Republic.

Section 2:

No two persons of the same sex shall have sexual relations. A violation of this prohibition will be considered a first degree felony.

This Act shall take effect immediately upon publication into Handbills.

ANY LAW TO THE CONTRARY NOTWITHSTANDING

Locke and Jefferson on Toleration of Religion

For our edification:

In Thomas Jefferson’s Notes of Religion (Oct. 1776), Thomas Jefferson quotes John Locke on toleration of religious views.

He [Locke] sais ‘neither Pagan nor Mahomedan [Muslim] nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.’ Shall we suffer a Pagan to deal with us and not suffer him to pray to his god? Why have Xns. [Christians] been distinguished above all people who have ever lived, for persecutions? Is it because it is the genius of their religion? No, it’s genius is the reverse. It is the refusing toleration to those of a different opn [opinion] which has produced all the bustles and wars on account of religion. It was the misfortune of mankind that during the darker centuries the Xn. [Christian] priests following their ambition and avarice combining with the magistrate to divide the spoils of the people, could establish the notion that schismatics might be ousted of their possessions & destroyed. This notion we have not yet cleared ourselves from. In this case no wonder the oppressed should rebel, & they will continue to rebel & raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them & all partial distinctions, exclusions & incapacitations removed. (Online Library of Liberty: The Works, vol. 2 (1771-1779).

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.