Category: sexual orientation

David Bahati denied entrance to Washington DC conference

Doug Hadden, spokesman for the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management, just informed me that David Bahati, author of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill attempted to enter the financial management conference this morning, saying:

He arrived mid morning and was informed of the decision. It turns out that we didn’t have his proper e-mail address for his phone. There was a frank but calm discussion and Mr. Bahati was not able to enter the building.

Mr. Hadden is referring to the decision to bar Bahati from the ICGFM conference going on now in Washington, DC.

Uganda Monitor covers the Bahati trip to DC; is visa valid? UPDATED

UPDATE: Bahati is a no-show at the ICGFM conference. ICGFM spokeman Doug Hadden told me that some delegates from Uganda are attending but Mr. Bahati has apparently not made an attempt to enter.

12/7/10 – Mr. Bahati emailed me this morning to say he is in DC. I know he is doing some media as well.

Interesting claim that Bahati’s visa is specifically for the event he now cannot attend. What happens when he is unable to enter? Bahati commented on the situation:

“I know US as a defender of democracy in the world and can differentiate between the efforts of a legislator in a democratic parliament from acts of dictatorship,” he [Bahati] said. Unlike other MPs, the American mission in Kampala gave him a single-entry visa specifically for the event.

Mr Bahati and five other MPs are scheduled to attend a financial management conference of practitioners in the US starting tomorrow. The gays also want to demonstrate at the venue of the meeting to show their distaste of the Bill and Mr Bahati. But Mr Bahati said he would continue with his trip.

David Bahati: No action on Anti-Homosexuality Bill until after 2011 elections

I spoke to Ugandan MP David Bahati this morning who told me that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill will not be considered by Uganda’s Parliament until after the February 18, 2011 elections.

When I spoke with Bahati on November 16, he was hopeful that the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee would consider the bill before the recess last week. But today, Bahati said that due to the upcoming elections no significant legislative work is anticipated. He continues to believe that the bill will be considered and debated in Parliament after the elections.

Mr. Bahati said that the delay should not be taken as a sign of lack of support by the committee chair or his peers in the Ugandan Parliament. Just yesterday, Bahati told journalist Jeff Sharlet the same message, adding that the elections were the main focus in Uganda right now. 

In addition to campaigning for re-election during the recess, Mr. Bahati plans to travel to the United States next week with a group of MPs to attend the 2010 Winter Conference of the  International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management. The conference will be held in Washington DC from Dec. 6-8.

UPDATE: Adding some confirmation to Mr. Bahati’s forecast regarding his bill is this motion regarding conduct during elections which was referred to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee – the same committee which has the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The code of conduct resolution will need to be acted on quickly and that will go before anything else.

Martin Ssempa resigns from the Oral Roberts University Board of Reference

Back in January, I noted that Martin Ssempa, at the time the most vocal pastoral supporter of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, was a member of the Board of Reference at Oral Roberts University. At the time, the school had no comment about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill or Rev. Ssempa’s controversial public pornography displays.

Recently, Change.org crafted a petition delivered to ORU asking them to denounce the anti-gay effort. This petition and another article were triggered by Ssempa’s involvement in campaigns of outing gays published in the Ugandan tabloids, Rolling Stone and the Campus Nail.

Earlier today, ORU Director of Public Relations Jeremy Burton sent an email with this simple message:

I wanted to let you know that Martin Ssempa has resigned from the ORU Board of Reference.

I followed up with questions about the timing and circumstances of the resignation but Mr. Burton has not replied as yet.