Tag: anti-homosexuality bill 2009

The Call removes link to Uganda campaign from website; KC protest planned today?

According to The Call Uganda website, a meeting calling for national repentance is slated for May 2, 2010. However, Sunday night the reference to Uganda disappeared from The Call website (see Google cache for the previous reference). I do not know what the disappearance means. Previous references to plans for The Call Uganda were accidentally released based on incorrect information.

Late last week, a coalition of gay advocacy groups expressed hopes that The Call would not come to Uganda with the intention of stirring up more animosity toward gay people.

In another case of disappearing information, an press release regarding a Kansas City protest of The Call, planned for today, has gone missing from the Kansas City Star.

Here is what shows up on Google news:

KC Faith Leaders To Hold Tuesday Anti-Homophobia Vigil Kansas City Star – Gretchen Renfro – 15 hours ago…Now, anti-abortion extremist Lou Engle of TheCall Ministries, is slated to go to Uganda on May 2 for The Call Uganda, a mass evangelical stadium rally in …

Prior posts on The Call:

Ugandan activist group denounces The Call Uganda

The Call Uganda: Can a nation be changed in a day?

The Call Uganda and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Note:

Daily Monitor: Cabinet split over Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

The Daily Monitor is doing some digging and reporting what seems to be some conflict over how to proceed with Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality BIll.

Two Cabinet ministers have disagreed over the proposed softening of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that seeks to punish those involved the act.

The Committee, however, agreed that promotion of homosexuality should be criminalised. “The law should provide that all the parties: publishers, printers, distributors of any materials that promote homosexuality should all be liable to have committed an offence,” the minutes read in part.

Local Government Minister Adolf Mwesige who chaired the Cabinet Committee tasked with finding possible ways of amending MP David Bahati’s Bill and counterpart James Nsaba Buturo of the Ethics docket failed to agree on the recommendations of the committee.

According to correspondences seen by Sunday Monitor, although the Cabinet Committee was supposed to be attended by seven ministers, only three attended the meeting that took place February 22 in Kampala.

Those who attended are Mr Mwesige and State Minister for Foreign Affair Isaac Musumba together with Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire.

Missed meeting

Those who are on the committee but did not attend the meeting are Gabriel Opiyo (Gender Minister), Kabakumba Masiko (Information Minister), Fred Ruhindi (Justice State Minister) and Dr Buturo.

In a letter dated March 11, Dr Buturo wrote to Mr Mwesige complaining: “The report of the Cabinet Committee … is not in the spirit of the said assignment. There are other concerns that I personally have which that report has not captured.” Dr Buturo argued that Mr Bahati, “an important player in the Bill” should also be invited for consultations in another meeting.

But Mr Mwesige, who chaired the meeting, wrote back on March 15: “The report is already scheduled on Agenda of Cabinet. I am therefore not in position to hold another meeting of the committee as your letter suggests.”

In their recommendations, the committee argued that the title of the Bill; Anti-Homosexuality, is stigmatising and appears to be targeting a particular group of people. They therefore want the “useful provisions of the proposed law” incorporated into the Sexual Offences Act.

Unfortunately, the desire to criminalize consenting adults remains according to this report. Opponents of the bill need to do more than protest. We need to make the case that criminalization is not an appropriate state action.

Click here to see all my posts on Uganda’s Anti-homosexuality Bill.

Ugandan activist group denounces The Call Uganda

Clearly, homosexual advocates in Uganda are nervous about the upcoming event planned by Lou Engle’s The Call Uganda. This statement was released yesterday by a coalition of groups in Uganda and calls for US opponents of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill to speak out against The Call Uganda, planned for May 2 in Kampala. Here is their statement:

**THECALL MINISTRIES FROM USA INTENDS TO FUEL HOMOPHOBIA IN UGANDA**

URGENT CALL TO ACTION:

STOP THECALL MINISTRIES FROM FUELING HOMOPHOBIA IN UGANDA THROUGH THEIR MAY 2, 2010, CRUSADE 

 22.04.2010

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) condemns Lou Engle’s upcoming crusade scheduled for May 2, 2010.  The crusade could cause incalculable damage, as it is designed to label homosexuality as a “vice” in Uganda and to incite people to “fight” against this “vice” in society.  In the context of an already inflamed extremist religious movement against homosexuality in Uganda sparked off by American evangelicals, the inflammatory preaching of Lou Engle and his associates is likely to incite further violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in Uganda.

Sexual Minorities Uganda calls on all human rights defenders, organizations, religious communities and leaders, governments, and civil society, globally to take action to ensure that Lou Engle and his associates do not set foot in Uganda and that the Call Uganda does not proceed with this inflammatory and hate-inducing plan.  While Sexual Minorities Uganda supports freedom of worship, we recognize the need for restriction on any speech that incites hatred and violence against a minority group.  If a prayer event is to be held in Uganda, it should be done in a manner which encourages Christ-like love and acceptance and does not incite hatred and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people.

Background

Lou Engle’s extremist and violence-laden preaching is often laced with references to gay people as being possessed by demons.  During a rally for Proposition 8 in California, he called for Christian martyrs.  His inflammatory speech and focus on martyrdom can easily incite people in Uganda to disregard people’s human rights and go to extreme measures to eliminate whatever they characterize as “evil” or a “vice”.  For example, Lou Engle preaches, “The most ‘dangerous terrorist’ is not Islam but God. One of God’s names is the avenger of blood. Have you worshiped that God yet?”

The crusade is organized by TheCall Uganda and ten Ugandan Pentecostal pastors. According to www.thecalluganda.com, the crusade is ‘intended to awaken and revive the young and the old, men and women, church and family, government and the public to fight vices eating away our society’. TheCall intends to address homosexuality in Uganda as a what they label a “vice”.  The crusade is preceded by a 21 day fast. 

Lou Engle is a core founder of TheCALL in the U.S. but has expanded chapters to different countries.  Last year, TheCALL sent an American Evangelical, JoAnna Watson of Touching Hearts International, to be based in Uganda full-time to orchestrate this crusade to fight vices like homosexuality.

This crusade could have the same kind of impact that the March 2009 anti-gay conference had in Uganda. Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer reinforced the desire of some religious leaders to persuade the government to create laws which would eliminate homosexuality from the nation. Eventually, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in the Parliament of Uganda by MP’s David Bahati and Benson Obua.

Lou Engle’s crusade will be the second major American evangelist event with an anti-homosexuality agenda after the trio to set foot in Uganda and will definitely incite our people into more hatred of homosexuals that may lead to further violence. This is very evident with the nature of preaching that he does in the US. He claims that homosexuals have demons and has mobilized Americans on several occasions for anti –gay rallies. Since the Bill was tabled, the rate of violence and homophobia has increased drastically in Uganda. Lou Engle’s inflammatory preaching is likely to exacerbate an already worrying situation.

Actions:

  • Call and/or write Letters of Protest to TheCall Ministries and ask them stop exporting homophobia to Uganda. The event they are organizing is dangerous to LGBTI people in Uganda.
  • Contact:

JoAnna Watson, Coordinator of The Call Uganda

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +256 779 864 985

Lou Engle

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1 816 285 9351

  • Hold demonstrations and/or marches in Kansas City where Lou Engle’s church is located and protest against TheCALL Uganda

ASK LOU ENGLE AND THECALL MINISTRY TO:

  1. STOP THECALL UGANDA CRUSADE IN THE FORM THAT IT IS PLANNED
  2. PROMOTE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RATHER THAN INCITING VIOLENCE
  3. STOP EXPORTING HOMOPHOBIA TO AFRICA

For further information, contact;

Valentine Kalende Email: [email protected] Tel: +256752324249

Frank Mugisha Email:[email protected] Tel:+256772616062

One does not need to agree with every aspect of this statement to understand the fear these folks experience. One does not need to affirm homosexual behavior to see the potential for renewed stigmatization of homosexuals in light of an event which places the blame for societal decline on them.

Daily Monitor: Ugandan government softens Anti-Homosexuality Bill

The Ugandan paper, The Daily Monitor dated 4/22, is reporting that a government committee has made recommendations which will stall the Anti-Homosexuality Bill indefinitely. Here are the details:

A Cabinet committee has recommended changes to Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s anti-gay legislation that preclude the possibility of discarding it, Daily Monitor has learnt.

Daily Monitor, citing a report in the UK’s Guardian, yesterday reported that British authorities had started a process that could leave Mr Bahati banned from visiting the UK if his anti-gay legislation becomes law.

But the report, which is yet to be discussed by Cabinet, indicts Mr Bahati for not applying the kind of sophistication that would have anticipated the international condemnation that came after the draft legislation was tabled in Parliament last year.

The recommendations mean that the legislation may never be passed in its current shape, if at all, and that it may be long before it is discussed with seriousness.

Disagreeable proposal

“It is far from being a law,” a source on the committee said, requesting anonymity so as to preserve his credibility. “It is a [good] principle, but the approach of the mover has stigmatised his mission.”

It was, however, suggested that some of the proposals in the draft law, such as the death penalty for some homosexual acts, may be disagreeable.

The 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill is currently before the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, which has not indicated when it would begin scrutinising it.

In early 2010, as some foreign governments criticised Uganda over the proposed law, Cabinet established a committee whose report would guide it on the way forward.

Around that time, President Museveni told a meeting of National Resistance Movement officials to be cautious with legislation that had the potential to disrupt Uganda’s foreign policy. Local Government Minister Adolf Mwesige, who chaired the committee, yesterday said they completed their work about a month ago, but he could not say exactly when the report would be up for discussion. “It will be [discussed] in a few weeks,” Mr Mwesige said, declining to offer details.

Read the rest at the Daily Monitor. Looks like opponents will need to remain vigilant since the bill is clearly now on the back burner but not off the stove.

What he said: Parliament committee member says Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill is “useless”

According to this report from News 24, the bill is not as important as, well, important things.

Kampala – A Ugandan parliamentary panel said on Friday there is little backing for the country’s widely-condemned anti-gay bill and no timetable had been set for its debate.

“I think it is useless and will not achieve what it intends to achieve,” said Alex Ndeezi, a member of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee tasked with reviewing the bill before it can be presented to the house.

The bill imposes drastic penalties for homosexual offences, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” in cases of rape of a minor by a person of the same sex, or where one partner has HIV.

The panel’s chairman Stephen Tashyoba said the draft law was not a priority.

“As far as I am concerned, we really have more urgent matters to discuss like electoral reforms, which are already behind schedule,” he said.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda and offenders can be jailed for life.

– AFP

h/t gug