He only said that penalties for sex among minors should be lessened a wee bit.

Then he suggested that more lazy, careless, ignorant evangelical prayers for “redemptive” vigilantism and prosecution might alleviate a situation that he created and that he continues to support.

A:Yes.

Is this a serious question? We all know the answer to it.

From Randy Thomas on the Exodus Blog: I asked Don… about his thoughts on what is happening now in Uganda. He responded:

What this David Bahati is introducing does not reflect the Ugandans that I have ministered too. The only place where I have run into this thinking is from some former Russian hardliners and that was only a very small percentage of the participants attending my seminars. After some challenges from me (except for one person) they softened up and came around to a more redemptive position.

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How does Schmierer’s statement compare with what one of his associates in Uganda, Stephen Langa of the Family Life Network, has been doing – after the conference Schmierer attended, for instance [http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Homosexuality_threat_to_Ugandans_activists_83727.shtml]:

Activists against homosexuality in Uganda stormed parliament on Tuesday protesting against the practice and demanded a probe into the practice in the country. The activists who were holding banners denouncing the activity were led by the Family Life Network in conjunction with religious leaders.

The groups led by the Executive Director of Family Life Network, Mr Stephen Langa while handing over their petition to the Deputy Speaker, Ms Rebecca Kadaga said the Parliamentary select committee should also assess the extent of the damage homosexuality has caused to children and Ugandans.

…Mr Langa said the homosexuals under the group Sexual Minorities Uganda spend huge sums of money to recruit University students and those in secondary schools into homosexuality. They did not give details.

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Another Uganda news outlet, UGPulse [http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Civil%20society%20petitions%20Parliament%20over%20homosexuality%20vice&ID=9749], reported that Deputy Speaker Kadaga “promised to push for the amendment of Article 31 of the Constitution which prohibits homosexual marriages. Langa had earlier noted that the article prohibits gay marriages but not the actions.”The Daily Monitor’s article indicates that the group explained that they wanted the proposed amendment to be broadened to “openly prohibit homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality and other related practices.”
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Then there was the time Langa sponsored a press conference in which another allegedly “former gay activist” Paul Kagaba accused a very popular Catholic priest and gospel singer, Fr. Anthony Musaala, of being gay.
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The blogger GayUganda is has reported that Stephen Langa, the director of Family Life Network, spoke on Ugandan FM radio stations advocating the arrests of Ugandan LGBT leaders. [http://gayuganda.blogspot.com/2009/03/anti-gay-agenda.html]
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Now how is it that these actions by Langa are not supportive of Bahati’s bill on homosexuality? Schmierer certainly didn’t “soften up” Langa and get him to “come around.”

… … …

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910161126.html

Everything else I can say, has been said. Scum, just pure f***ing scum. May their actions against LGBT Ugandans come back to them with interest.

Exodus allowed its name and board members to be used in the conference that set the stage for this current law. Exodus did nothing to distance itself from the conference, praised Schmierer’s participation and Randy Thomas made snide remarks about not being forced by anyone to speak up about Exodus’ involvement in this whole debacle.

I don’t think that Alan and Randy care in the least about the damage that they did to the people of Uganda for years to come. Perhaps one day, they will land in Entebbe and be convicted of “agravated sodomy” based on nothing more than someone looking at them and deciding they are both just a bit to feminine.

Are you saying there are no Ugandan left leaning religious groups who could energetically represent the rest of scripture?

@ Bruce,

“That is who they are (there are other Biblical taboos…but they are not central to Exodus’ identity).”…

Religious conservatives have generally been in favor of the power of the legal system to enforce moral values…

Each sect has forgotten what it was like to be in the minority and to be imprisoned and oppressed by the majority.

They have forgotten their Trail of Tears; they have forgotten what the religious immigrants fled to America to find…

Tolerance…Freedom.

Reminding them, reminding them, reminding them is what must happen–for Baptists, Quakers, 4 Square, Mennonite, Lutheran, Catholic…

Reminding them that acts of conscience are sacred.

So they can’t actually come out and say that imprisoning, let alone executing homosexuals is a bad thing. Fine. Maybe they should change their advertising a tad then. Move the message away from Change Is Possible to Change If You Know What’s Good For You. Ex-Gay Or The Noose…We’re Here To Help You Make The Right Choice…

This should fit in nicely with their rhetoric about how the Gay Lifestyle is unhealthy…

In February, before Schmierer went to Uganda, I warned Alan that Lively’s involvement in the Balkans had “contributed greatly to physical harassment of gay persons” and that his message to Uganda would likely be to “encourage reprisals, state action, and public abuse of gay persons in that country.”

Clearly I was not wrong. I warned Alan that it was dangerous to have an Exodus Board Member affiliated with such actions. But those same Biblical taboos caused Alan Chambers to dismiss my warning about letting Don Schmierer go to Uganda and tell the Ugandans that he was on the Board of a group that proclaims that “Change is Possible”.

Had I said nothing in advance, I would be less critical about Exodus and how they intentionally ignored my warning and how Alan chose instead to look away and do nothing.

Don Schmierer is still on the Exodus Board. Brian Pande is still dead.