Author of Uganda anti-gay bill on his way home

I am trying to confirm these facts but this article from the Uganda Observer says David Bahati is on his way home, with a little help from the US State Dept.

He is not answering his phone and has not returned emails. I suspect he is indeed in transit.

David Bahati on the Rachel Maddow Show, Parts 1-3 with commentary

Here are the Rachel Maddow Show segments with Ugandan MP David Bahati.

Part one:

Part two:

Part three

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US Connections with guest Jeff Sharlet

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Maddow’s opening commentary:

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Bahati criticizes conference ban

As I noted yesterday, David Bahati, currently in Washington DC representing the Ugandan Parliament, was barred from entrance to a conference on financial management hosted by the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management.

ICGFM spokesman, Doug Hadden, told me that Bahati “arrived mid-morning and was informed of the decision [to bar him from the conference]. There was a frank but calm discussion and Mr. Bahati was not able to enter the building.”

Contacted by email, Mr. Bahati said the ICGFM’s action “has exposed the level of intolerance that is inconsistent with the values of American people.” He added, “My resolve to defend the future of our children and the traditional family in Uganda is intact.”

Bahati’s statement is nearly identical to one made to the Uganda Daily Monitor today. The Monitor article added

The other MPs attending the conference are Ms Grace Kyomugisha (UPDF), Mr Gaud Kabondo (Bunyaruguru), Mr William Nsubuga (Buvuma) and Sarah Nyombi (Ntejeru North).

The Uganda delegation later met the Deputy Assistant of Secretary of State Bureau of African Affairs, Ms Karl Wycoff, and raised the matter.

According to a posting on Jeff Sharlet’s C-Street Facebook page, there may be a clue about some American support for Bahati’s work.

Uganda’s leading anti-gay campaigner, Family man David Bahati, is in the U.S. He wanted to talk to Rachel Maddow, so I hooked him up. Her interview with Bahati will be on the show tonight. Interesting side note: He’s being escorted to media appointments by a recently retired senior Department of Education official whom… he met through the man’s Ugandan missionary work with an anti-gay Anglican religious movement.

Developing…

Christian Science Monitor errs on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Another mainstream media source is falsely reporting that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been withdrawn. An article by Scott Baldauf in the Christian Science Monitor incorrectly says:

In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal under British colonial-era laws, the parliament briefly debated and then withdrew a proposed bill that would have imposed lengthy sentences, and in some cases the death penalty, for homosexuals.

CNN reported it in late October and I have confirmed it here and here that the bill has not been withdrawn and is still up for consideration. I have asked CSM to make a correction.