Uganda’s clergy calls on Parliament to pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill

I have written a headline like that several times since 2009. However, in 2012, the calls still come:

In a statement, the bishops called for the review of the Constitution to reduce the excessive powers enjoyed by the President.

Orombi said there is need to enact a law to protect the sitting President from being bombarded by the people asking him to address issues that can be solved by the relevant institutions.

“The President cannot do everything. We want the relevant government institutions to be allowed to do their work instead of everyone asking the President to solve their problems,” he added.

The religious leaders called on Parliament to expedite the passing of the Anti-homosexuality Bill into law to combat same-sex marriages which threats the moral fabric of the Ugandan society.

They also urged government to do everything in its power to get to the bottom of the causes of nodding disease, with the view of wiping it out to save the people in the north where it has so far killed over 200 children since 2009 when it broke out.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga in a speech read for by Bahati said the Church should continue advising the political leaders objectively.

I suspect David Bahati asked for and received a call from Orombi to tout his bill. This statement is a sign that the clergy and Bahati have not given up on it.

48 thoughts on “Uganda’s clergy calls on Parliament to pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill”

  1. Indeed, Father. Ab+p Lwanga, pursuant to the very clear Vatican Statement of December 2009, did express opposition to the Bill as a whole, saying that it is ‘unnecessary’ and its provisions are (and I quote) “at odds with the core values of the Christian faith”.

    The official Anglican position is more problematic (reflecting perhaps the current ‘crisis’ in the Anglican Communion?): the leadership’s statements on the Bill have, as far as I can see, been mealy-mouthed and half-hearted, although some individual Anglican clerics have shown strength. Orombi’s own ‘agenda’ when it comes to relations with Lambeth Palace is, I suspect, a particularly problematic element of this situation. And, as I said before, he is rumoured to be close to Bahati.

  2. Well, the Monitor says that it’s not just N. and O., but a whole motley mob of ‘gay-bashops’: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Bishops+want+shelved+anti+gay+Bill+dusted/-/688334/1424158/-/lec25uz/-/index.html

    If this is true, it looks like the Catholics have ‘caved in’ to hate (the UG Anglicans and Orthodox were always highly ‘suspect’ in my view). Shame on them. πŸ™

    At the same (UJCC) conference, the alleged bashops reportedly said this:

    “the church has a biblical mandate to challenge policies and practices that perpetuate injustice, marginalisation or inequality.”

    Oh yes?

  3. Interesting aside: it appears that IRCU is/has ‘taking/taken a pop’ at NGOs working in the field of HIV/AIDS. http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/631766-reports-on-aids-fund-untrue.html

    From the article:-

    ” The second was the complaint from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) that other NGOs were using their funds mainly for salaries and not providing services for those affected and infected by the epidemic. There was even a cartoon in the New Vision of May 13, 2012 showing USAID removing funds from the HIV/AIDS fight. This is far from the truth. “

  4. And here’s the IRCU statement of May 2010, courtesy of GUg:-

    http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/position-of-inter-religious-council-of.html

    (I remember this: ‘they’ said they didn’t want the Bill, but instead a ‘leaflet campaign’ to tell people that ‘homosexuality’ is vewy vewy vewy naughty!)

    By the way, IRCU Presidents, there is already life imprisonment for so-called ‘sodomy’ in UG, so your stated concerns about ‘life imprisonment’ would be addressed only if Penal Code 145 were watered down or repealed. It’s only an old bit of colonial era rubbish, after all!

  5. BTW, Niringiye is a ‘hard-liner’ on the issue of ‘homosexuality’. I think I have read that he apparently implicitly ‘justifies’ the incarceration and murder of consenting adults by drawing parallels with rape (yes – that silly nonsense again!) and adultery (which is no longer actually a criminal offence in Uganda – so the ‘bishop’s’ contention would seem to be ‘factually challenged’). A nasty piece of work …

  6. The clergy has never been objective about anything at any time. Since 325 CE, when the Emperor Constantine I invented Christianity at his Council of Nicaea, and later burned the books (primarily by Arius) that opposed his imperial goals by rejecting his church, Christianity has worked feverishly to create its own state (as with the papal states especially under the warrior Pope Julius II) and control all people as slaves, as with the publication and papal printing of “Malleus Maleficarum”. No person will be free until all authoritarian religioun are erased from the planet by educating its profiteering prophets, priests and other predators, and allow individuals the right of choice.

  7. Word from UG is that it’s all about Niringiye. He’s trying to make himself into ‘Ssempa Mark II’, according to someone I’ve just been talking with.

    Interesting complication: Zac is very anti-M7 (unlike Janet’s boy, Marty). Watch this space …

    Meanwhile, some UG friends of mine are setting up a Christian ministry to help those injured in boda-boda accidents (I say this because I would hate to give the impression that all Ugandans do is plot and intrigue – such an impression would be most unfair).

  8. (I think that N. is actually ‘personally’ opposed to the death penalty, but my reading of comments I recall seeing is that if rapists are hanged then [at least some] ‘consenting’ gay adults should also be killed by the state. I really don’t understand people like him – no logic, no clarity. He should stop ‘speaking with forked tongue’ and make his position crystal clear.)

  9. (Just to note: I thought I’d ‘turn up the heat’ on [a certain type of] Anglicans, to taje the heat off Baptists for a while! πŸ™‚ )

  10. Well, the Monitor says that it’s not just N. and O., but a whole motley mob of ‘gay-bashops’: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Bishops+want+shelved+anti+gay+Bill+dusted/-/688334/1424158/-/lec25uz/-/index.html

    If this is true, it looks like the Catholics have ‘caved in’ to hate (the UG Anglicans and Orthodox were always highly ‘suspect’ in my view). Shame on them. πŸ™

    At the same (UJCC) conference, the alleged bashops reportedly said this:

    β€œthe church has a biblical mandate to challenge policies and practices that perpetuate injustice, marginalisation or inequality.”

    Oh yes?

  11. (Just to note: I thought I’d ‘turn up the heat’ on [a certain type of] Anglicans, to taje the heat off Baptists for a while! πŸ™‚ )

  12. ” No person will be free until all AUTHORITARIAN [my emphasis] religioun [sic] are erased from the planet by educating its profiteering prophets, priests and other predators, and allow individuals the right of choice. ”

    But I think there is a place for ‘non-authoritarian’ (perhaps we could call it ‘consensual’!) religion, with truly prophetic prophets, and priests who sacrifice themselves that they might be ‘bridges’ (the word ‘priest’ means ‘bridge’) to the freedom that comes with being united with God and at peace with one’s self. This is why it is so important that Christians make it their business to ‘rebel’ (non-violently) against all forms of persecution, whilst being prepared, if need be, to be persecuted themselves.

  13. The clergy has never been objective about anything at any time. Since 325 CE, when the Emperor Constantine I invented Christianity at his Council of Nicaea, and later burned the books (primarily by Arius) that opposed his imperial goals by rejecting his church, Christianity has worked feverishly to create its own state (as with the papal states especially under the warrior Pope Julius II) and control all people as slaves, as with the publication and papal printing of “Malleus Maleficarum”. No person will be free until all authoritarian religioun are erased from the planet by educating its profiteering prophets, priests and other predators, and allow individuals the right of choice.

  14. (I’ve rather come to the conclusion that this latest, peculiarly ‘Anglican’, episode in the ‘Bahati Follies’ is something that presents profound issues for Anglicans [like me]: is one for Sentamu-Tutu or Akinola-Orombi? Can these two ‘versions’ of Anglicanism coexist in one communion? To be honest, I doubt it …)

  15. ” No person will be free until all AUTHORITARIAN [my emphasis] religioun [sic] are erased from the planet by educating its profiteering prophets, priests and other predators, and allow individuals the right of choice. ”

    But I think there is a place for ‘non-authoritarian’ (perhaps we could call it ‘consensual’!) religion, with truly prophetic prophets, and priests who sacrifice themselves that they might be ‘bridges’ (the word ‘priest’ means ‘bridge’) to the freedom that comes with being united with God and at peace with one’s self. This is why it is so important that Christians make it their business to ‘rebel’ (non-violently) against all forms of persecution, whilst being prepared, if need be, to be persecuted themselves.

  16. Word from UG is that it’s all about Niringiye. He’s trying to make himself into ‘Ssempa Mark II’, according to someone I’ve just been talking with.

    Interesting complication: Zac is very anti-M7 (unlike Janet’s boy, Marty). Watch this space …

    Meanwhile, some UG friends of mine are setting up a Christian ministry to help those injured in boda-boda accidents (I say this because I would hate to give the impression that all Ugandans do is plot and intrigue – such an impression would be most unfair).

  17. And here’s the IRCU statement of May 2010, courtesy of GUg:-

    http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/position-of-inter-religious-council-of.html

    (I remember this: ‘they’ said they didn’t want the Bill, but instead a ‘leaflet campaign’ to tell people that ‘homosexuality’ is vewy vewy vewy naughty!)

    By the way, IRCU Presidents, there is already life imprisonment for so-called ‘sodomy’ in UG, so your stated concerns about ‘life imprisonment’ would be addressed only if Penal Code 145 were watered down or repealed. It’s only an old bit of colonial era rubbish, after all!

  18. Interesting aside: it appears that IRCU is/has ‘taking/taken a pop’ at NGOs working in the field of HIV/AIDS. http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/631766-reports-on-aids-fund-untrue.html

    From the article:-

    ” The second was the complaint from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) that other NGOs were using their funds mainly for salaries and not providing services for those affected and infected by the epidemic. There was even a cartoon in the New Vision of May 13, 2012 showing USAID removing funds from the HIV/AIDS fight. This is far from the truth. “

  19. (I’ve rather come to the conclusion that this latest, peculiarly ‘Anglican’, episode in the ‘Bahati Follies’ is something that presents profound issues for Anglicans [like me]: is one for Sentamu-Tutu or Akinola-Orombi? Can these two ‘versions’ of Anglicanism coexist in one communion? To be honest, I doubt it …)

  20. (I think that N. is actually ‘personally’ opposed to the death penalty, but my reading of comments I recall seeing is that if rapists are hanged then [at least some] ‘consenting’ gay adults should also be killed by the state. I really don’t understand people like him – no logic, no clarity. He should stop ‘speaking with forked tongue’ and make his position crystal clear.)

  21. BTW, Niringiye is a ‘hard-liner’ on the issue of ‘homosexuality’. I think I have read that he apparently implicitly ‘justifies’ the incarceration and murder of consenting adults by drawing parallels with rape (yes – that silly nonsense again!) and adultery (which is no longer actually a criminal offence in Uganda – so the ‘bishop’s’ contention would seem to be ‘factually challenged’). A nasty piece of work …

  22. Looks like the principal villain this time is an Anglican: Zac Niringiye.

    http://www.ugpulse.com/uganda-news/government/religious-leaders-ask-parliament-to-pass-the-anti-homosexuality-bill/25697.aspx

    (Another possibility is the UGPulse is wrong again [we’ve had “the Bill is about to pass” on more than one occasion from them] – it is true that most religious leaders in UG do not ‘support homosexuality’, but many also oppose the Bahati Bill. After all, I don’t ‘support’ people having multiple consenting sexual partners, but do not advocate imprisonment or hanging for people who engage in consensual sex.)

  23. Looks like the principal villain this time is an Anglican: Zac Niringiye.

    http://www.ugpulse.com/uganda-news/government/religious-leaders-ask-parliament-to-pass-the-anti-homosexuality-bill/25697.aspx

    (Another possibility is the UGPulse is wrong again [we’ve had “the Bill is about to pass” on more than one occasion from them] – it is true that most religious leaders in UG do not ‘support homosexuality’, but many also oppose the Bahati Bill. After all, I don’t ‘support’ people having multiple consenting sexual partners, but do not advocate imprisonment or hanging for people who engage in consensual sex.)

  24. Indeed, Father. Ab+p Lwanga, pursuant to the very clear Vatican Statement of December 2009, did express opposition to the Bill as a whole, saying that it is ‘unnecessary’ and its provisions are (and I quote) “at odds with the core values of the Christian faith”.

    The official Anglican position is more problematic (reflecting perhaps the current ‘crisis’ in the Anglican Communion?): the leadership’s statements on the Bill have, as far as I can see, been mealy-mouthed and half-hearted, although some individual Anglican clerics have shown strength. Orombi’s own ‘agenda’ when it comes to relations with Lambeth Palace is, I suspect, a particularly problematic element of this situation. And, as I said before, he is rumoured to be close to Bahati.

  25. Not all Uganda’s clergy support the dreadful antii-gay bill.Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Catholic archbishop of Kampala, opposed the bill because it violated some basic rights of the individual, including the right to free expression, the right to life, the right to privacy, and the right to freedom from discrimination and persecution.

    It is of worthy note that the catholic church, in this instance, considers these rights of the individual,above the actual ‘sin of homosexuality’ …..

  26. Not all Uganda’s clergy support the dreadful antii-gay bill.Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Catholic archbishop of Kampala, opposed the bill because it violated some basic rights of the individual, including the right to free expression, the right to life, the right to privacy, and the right to freedom from discrimination and persecution.

    It is of worthy note that the catholic church, in this instance, considers these rights of the individual,above the actual ‘sin of homosexuality’ …..

  27. Here’s an interesting article on the tensions within between ‘church’ factions: http://allafrica.com/stories/201206040070.html

    It appears that the ‘born-again brigade’ object to suggestions by senior Catholic (and even Anglican – gosh!) clerics that M7 should not serve another term after his current mandate expires in 2016. (Maybe the ‘born-again brigadiers’ needs to refresh their memories of the UG Constitution, which currently precludes M7 from being head of state after his 75th birthday in 2019.)

  28. Here’s an interesting article on the tensions within between ‘church’ factions: http://allafrica.com/stories/201206040070.html

    It appears that the ‘born-again brigade’ object to suggestions by senior Catholic (and even Anglican – gosh!) clerics that M7 should not serve another term after his current mandate expires in 2016. (Maybe the ‘born-again brigadiers’ needs to refresh their memories of the UG Constitution, which currently precludes M7 from being head of state after his 75th birthday in 2019.)

  29. What IS odd is why, given the claims of widespread support, the Bill hasn’t been passed already. The Nigerian ‘anti-gay’ Bill has also seems to have ground to a halt, and the Liberian ‘Taylor’ Bill could be suffering from its close association with a certain individual who has put away for 50 years for crimes against humanity.

    Then again, it isn’t odd at all: the Bahati Bill is part of those on-going ‘political games’. And opposition politicians who snuggled up to Bahati over his bill have now been well and truly ‘dumped’ as Bahati helps lead the push for the POMB 20111.

  30. Dante’s Inferno is full of hypocritcal bishops (then all of them were Catholics but let’s add Anglicans now) calling for death, torture and maginalization of innocent people who dared dissent from their wicked church status quos.There is no difference now in the utterances and fatwas of these same know-nothing bishops. To the fires of Hell with all of them!

  31. ItΒ΄s true. Archbishop of Orombi is taking a early retirement and they, the house of bishops of the Anglican Church of Uganda (cronnies all), will elect a replacement this month…not a moment too soon as Orombi has the great disease of PRIDE and is probably just restating his anti-lgbt nonsense to play Β¨big manΒ¨…unfortunately, for him, his take over campaign of Episcopal Churches in the United States fell FLAT (like the world he believes in)…of course, he wasted millions of dollars on of other peoples money to be rejected by State Supreme Courts in California and Georgia…the guy is filled with notions that the sounds he utters are Godly…the reverse seems true to me.

  32. It should be remembered that the UJCC (which includes Catholic representation) has long supported a (slightly?) modified Bahati Bill. In early UJCC discussion, it appears, from what I can gather, that Ssempa (who is alleged to have been involved in drafting the Bill) and similar characters were opposed to any modifications, but that others were wanting substantial changes.

    The Catholic Church (the largest in UG) ‘broke ranks’ in December 2009 when Archbishop Lwanga suggested he was opposed to both the murder (he didn’t use that word, of course) and incarceration of gays, and called the Bill ‘unnecessary’. The Anglicans subsequently behaved as Anglicans so often do and set out a position that nobody could really understand (!), although they seemed to say they didn’t like the death penalty and the ‘informant’ clause. I suspect that Orombi is ‘hard-liner’ – but he’s ‘on the way out’ now.

    (In such circumstances as these, I am really quite relieved that the church is so split. Such disunity is probably a good antidote to potential theocratic totalitarianism. Maybe God knew what he doing when he created ‘denominations’!!!)

  33. Orombi and Bahati have been rumoured to be close (‘spiritually’ and/or politically, I mean – LOL!). But Lynn may be correct.

    A small technical point (ignored by the likes of Bahati and his cronies): same-sex marriage is currently not legal n Uganda, so ‘doing nothing’ will mean no same-sex marriage in Uganda. (We all know that the Bahati Bill has nothing to do in reality with same-sex marriage – it’s about repression, ‘theocratization’ and/or power struggles.)

  34. What IS odd is why, given the claims of widespread support, the Bill hasn’t been passed already. The Nigerian ‘anti-gay’ Bill has also seems to have ground to a halt, and the Liberian ‘Taylor’ Bill could be suffering from its close association with a certain individual who has put away for 50 years for crimes against humanity.

    Then again, it isn’t odd at all: the Bahati Bill is part of those on-going ‘political games’. And opposition politicians who snuggled up to Bahati over his bill have now been well and truly ‘dumped’ as Bahati helps lead the push for the POMB 20111.

  35. i wonder how anybody still mentioning that bill hopes to be taken seriously.

  36. Dante’s Inferno is full of hypocritcal bishops (then all of them were Catholics but let’s add Anglicans now) calling for death, torture and maginalization of innocent people who dared dissent from their wicked church status quos.There is no difference now in the utterances and fatwas of these same know-nothing bishops. To the fires of Hell with all of them!

  37. It´s true. Archbishop of Orombi is taking a early retirement and they, the house of bishops of the Anglican Church of Uganda (cronnies all), will elect a replacement this month…not a moment too soon as Orombi has the great disease of PRIDE and is probably just restating his anti-lgbt nonsense to play ¨big man¨…unfortunately, for him, his take over campaign of Episcopal Churches in the United States fell FLAT (like the world he believes in)…of course, he wasted millions of dollars on of other peoples money to be rejected by State Supreme Courts in California and Georgia…the guy is filled with notions that the sounds he utters are Godly…the reverse seems true to me.

  38. It should be remembered that the UJCC (which includes Catholic representation) has long supported a (slightly?) modified Bahati Bill. In early UJCC discussion, it appears, from what I can gather, that Ssempa (who is alleged to have been involved in drafting the Bill) and similar characters were opposed to any modifications, but that others were wanting substantial changes.

    The Catholic Church (the largest in UG) ‘broke ranks’ in December 2009 when Archbishop Lwanga suggested he was opposed to both the murder (he didn’t use that word, of course) and incarceration of gays, and called the Bill ‘unnecessary’. The Anglicans subsequently behaved as Anglicans so often do and set out a position that nobody could really understand (!), although they seemed to say they didn’t like the death penalty and the ‘informant’ clause. I suspect that Orombi is ‘hard-liner’ – but he’s ‘on the way out’ now.

    (In such circumstances as these, I am really quite relieved that the church is so split. Such disunity is probably a good antidote to potential theocratic totalitarianism. Maybe God knew what he doing when he created ‘denominations’!!!)

  39. Orombi and Bahati have been rumoured to be close (‘spiritually’ and/or politically, I mean – LOL!). But Lynn may be correct.

    A small technical point (ignored by the likes of Bahati and his cronies): same-sex marriage is currently not legal n Uganda, so ‘doing nothing’ will mean no same-sex marriage in Uganda. (We all know that the Bahati Bill has nothing to do in reality with same-sex marriage – it’s about repression, ‘theocratization’ and/or power struggles.)

  40. The Anglicans and Catholics had prior positions against the bill. I’d bet that that line in there about the bill is a lie.

  41. The Anglicans and Catholics had prior positions against the bill. I’d bet that that line in there about the bill is a lie.

Comments are closed.