Category: sexual orientation

It gets better: A Christian speaks out against anti-gay bullying

On 10.20.10, the Golden Rule Pledge is partnering with the National Bullying Prevention Month to raise awareness among people of faith about bullying prevention.  Later today, I am going to post a link here and on the Golden Rule Pledge website to some resources which I hope will be of use to youth leaders in talking to youth groups about becoming part of the solution to school bullying. One resource I am going to include on that page is the following video from the You Tube page of The Poultry Press. Roll the tape:

This video is a direct challenge to far right observers who believe the distress felt by many young people is due to their sexual orientation. This young man identifies as straight and yet reports repeated harassment due to perceptions that he was gay.

Now, go check out the resources (small in number but growing) on the Golden Rule Pledge site.

AP reports Ugandan Hang Them campaign, obscures status of AHB

On October 4, BoxTurtleBulletin and I reported (with more here) that a Ugandan tabloid – Rolling Stone – started a campaign of outing gay people with the caption “Hang Them” on the front cover of the rag.

Today, the Associated Press published a story covering the same issue with some new details of the worsening conditions for gays in Uganda. Check this out and compare it to Martin Ssempa’s contention that gays are not in danger in his country.

The AP story did obscure one important point:

KAMPALA, Uganda — The front-page newspaper story featured a list of Uganda’s 100 “top” homosexuals, with a bright yellow banner across it that read: “Hang Them.” Alongside their photos were the men’s names and addresses.

In the days since it was published, at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding, according to rights activist Julian Onziema. One person named in the story had stones thrown at his house by neighbors.

A lawmaker in this conservative African country introduced a bill a year ago that would have imposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others. An international uproar ensued, and the bill was quietly shelved.

As I noted on the 14th, the anniversary of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill’s introduction, the bill remains in committee. If by shelved, these reporters mean the bill has been withdrawn, they provide no direct confirmation of this. To my knowledge, the only source close to the bill who has provided a comment is Charles Tuhaise who told me recently that the bill remains in committee and awaits hearings and a second reading.

On September 13, Peter Boyer of The New Yorker reported without source that the Fellowship was involved in the withdrawal of the bill, writing:

Hunter brought Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the former African rebel who became Uganda’s President, and other key Ugandan leaders into prayer groups. When Uganda’s Parliament took up a bill last year that would have punished some homosexual acts with death, Hunter and his friends in the Fellowship felt they had the standing to urge the proposed measure’s defeat. Museveni appointed a commission that studied the matter and then recommended that the bill be withdrawn.

Since this is the extent of Boyer’s reporting on the bill, it misleads the reader into thinking that the bill was, in fact, withdrawn. Not so, according to the Parliamentary Research Services’ Charles Tuhaise.

The AP article does not source their contention about the bill. Instead, the writers reveal that they were not able to get anyone in Parliament to talk about the bill:

Four members of parliament contacted by The Associated Press for this article declined to comment, and instead referred queries to David Bahati, the parliamentarian who introduced the bill. Bahati did not answer repeated calls Tuesday.

While I do not know what the future holds for the AHB, I am aware that, as recently as the beginning of this month, supporters were still calling for the passage of the measure. As reported here on October 11, Martin Ssempa was still promoting the bill’s passage in a private talk given several days before. If anyone would know about the bill’s status, it would be Ssempa who emerged as the bill’s chief pastoral supporter in Uganda.

One year later: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Yesterday, I posted a statement from Uganda’s sexual minority community about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009. Today, I want to post a current status report and some observations.

My first post on the bill was titled, Uganda: The other shoe drops and detailed the little we knew at the time based on Ugandan news reports. Within a couple of weeks, it became clearer who in Uganda was promoting the bill (e.g., Martin Ssempa) and attention turned to American connections to those Ugandan ministers and politicians.

I started writing early (Oct 28) on this topic hoping to get some attention on these American connections as well as generate response from American evangelicals. The Facebook group (now 16,000+ members) quickly generated thousands of members involving liberals, conservatives, gays, straights, people of faith and people of no faith. At heart, it was an effort to mobilize people of faith to speak out. All of the blog posts (well over 100) can be seen here.

The current status of the bill is that it remains under consideration by the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. According to Charles Tuhaise, a researcher in the Parliamentary Research service, no public hearings have been scheduled. A second reading cannot be scheduled until hearings have been conducted and a committee report has been prepared. Time is running out; the Ugandan elections are coming and the current Parliament ends inn May, 2011. Hon. David Bahati, the mover of the bill, has not responded to my questions about where he takes the bill from here.

Even though the bill seems to be stalled in committee, the effects on the daily lives of GLBT people in Uganda are quite negative. As noted in the statement yesterday from Sexual Minorities Uganda, since the bill was introduced conditions have worsened for them. Even though the bill has not moved, that has not stopped bill supporters such as Julius Oyet, David Kiganda, and Martin Ssempa from preaching stereotypes about gays and continuing what Martin Ssempa called “the war.” 

Due to the ongoing efforts of Ssempa and allies, attention has turned to the Americans which support these Ugandan preachers. Julius Oyet has been supported in the past by an Atlanta area church, New Gate International Church, headed by Apostle Venessa Battle. Rev. Battle is one of the approved apostles listed in C. Peter Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles. Last month, when I called New Gate, a representative there said the church has support Rev. Oyet in the past but declined to say to what degree. She also said she would provide a statement regarding Rev. Oyet’s support for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, but never followed up.

The most prominent American church involved with a Ugandan leader in the anti-gay movement is Canyon Ridge Christian Church. Canyon Ridge leaders told me recently that they continue to evaluate their stance and may have a new statement soon.  The fallout from the AHB has been substantial for CRCC. They have experienced unflattering national attention to their support for Martin Ssempa, and the loss of two community partnerships with AIDS related groups – Southern Nevada Health District and Aid for AIDS Nevada. One group, the Human Rights Campaign – Las Vegas met with Canyon Ridge leaders in September but has not said anything publicly about the church’s stance on the AHB. The HRC-LV has not responded to repeated requests for information about their stance on the AHB or CRCC’s support for Martin Ssempa.

There are many other American connections I could raise (e.g., Lou Engle, College of Prayer). Overall, Uganda’s AHB has become a point of division for American evangelicals. Some evangelicals believe criminalization of homosexuality would be a good thing (most recently the Tea Party darling, David Barton), while others (e.g., Rick Warren) do not. (Count me squarely on the side that believes the state has no business regulating such behavior.) And as indicated by Barton’s comments, one year later, the issues raised by the AHB in Uganda are still alive in American politics as well.

Carl Walker-Hoover’s mom speaks her mind

I can’t add much to this statement from Sirdeaner Walker.

At some point, it might occur to the religious conservatives who are blaming the victims for their distress that they are talking largely to themselves.

Perkins says:

Some homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal–yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are “born gay” and can never change. This–and not society’s disapproval–may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide.

Many problems, the first of which that occurs to me is that the common denominator is anti-gay bias, not gay identification. He has a theory that fits his biases about homosexuals but it doesn’t fit all the facts of the situation.

Perkins column is a case in point of something Albert Mohler wrote in a recent commentary about Tyler Clementi:

Yet, when gay activists accuse conservative Christians of homophobia, they are also right. Much of our response to homosexuality is rooted in ignorance and fear. We speak of homosexuals as a particular class of especially depraved sinners and we lie about how homosexuals experience their own struggle. Far too many evangelical pastors talk about sexual orientation with a crude dismissal or with glib assurances that gay persons simply choose to be gay. While most evangelicals know that the Bible condemns homosexuality, far too many find comfort in their own moralism, consigning homosexuals to a theological or moral category all their own.

Mohler barely scratches the surface of the biases involved, but he gets closer than most prominent evangelicals are willing to get.

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill one year later

On October 14, 2009, David Bahati tabled the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda’s Parliament. As of now, it remains in committee awaiting a second reading. On this ocassion, LGBT groups in Uganda have issued a press release, which follows:

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KAMPALA – UGANDA

One Year since the introduction of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill – 2009

On October 14, 2009 the draft Anti Homosexuality Bill was introduced to the Parliament of Uganda by Ndoorwa West MP David Bahati. Mr Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill stipulates the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for all other homosexual acts. A person in authority who fails to report an offender to the police within 24 hours will face 3 years in jail. Likewise, the promotion of homosexuality carries a sentence of 5 to 7 years in jail.

This Bill is an expression of prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and violence. The bill abuses the dignity, privacy and equality of people with a different sexual orientation and identity other than heterosexual. If passed into law, it will further legitimize public and private violence, harassment and torture.

It has promoted hate-speech in churches, schools and the media. It has led to defamation, blackmail, evictions, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and unlawful detention, physical assault, emotional and mental assault of LGBT activists, our families and allies.

The bill has further led to increased violence incited by local media, particularly The Red Pepper tabloid and recently launched Rolling Stone newspaper. The headline of the Rolling Stone viciously screamed “100 pictures of Ugandan’s top homos leak- Hang them” in their Vol. 1 No. 05 October 02-09, 2010. They published pictures, names, residences and other details of LGBT activists and allies.

“When my neighbors saw my picture in the paper, they were furious. They threw stones at me while I was in my house. I was so terrified somehow I managed to flee my home to safety.” said Stosh [Programme Coordinator- Kulhas Uganda]

“The sad truth is that most evil in Uganda is done by people who end up never being held accountable for their deeds. The Rolling Stone publication has incited violence against a group of minorities making them seem like less of HUMAN BEINGS” Gerald [Admin – SMUG].

The bill constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of privacy, association, assembly and security of the person as enshrined in Constitution of Uganda’s and International Human Rights Law.

The impact of such legal and social exclusion is being felt in the lives of LGBTI Ugandans. Sexual Minorities Uganda strongly condemns such laws and media witch-hunt of homosexuals.

We would like to acknowledge Human Rights institutions and activists, local, regional and international Civil Society, Development partners and friends around the world for the  enormous support to the Uganda LGBTI community and request for your continued call to African governments to repeal the ‘sodomy laws’.

Contacts:

Frank Mugisha                                                Pepe Julian Onziema

[email protected]        [email protected]

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