This whole situation is egregious. That’s a term I learned when I worked with abused and neglected children. It means that whatever it applies to is so horrendous and horrific that its happening even once, just once, warrants action… it doesn’t require happening more than once, as in enough to see a pattern of abuse, to where action becomes necessary.

Unfortunately, the blacks in Africa, seem to come under a different standard for outrage to be deemed justified.

For me, it’s not time to cut the strings in cases like this, it’s time to attach some ropes… some serious ropes of support and defense of human rights being so egregiously violated that they cannot be ignored. Cutting the strings of financial support, however, as your posting suggests, [ . . . ], seems a good idea to me. For now, the most support I can be is with my name and message.

When I went to the site through the link that Cate provided, I found this poem in one of the comments. I find it to be a tragically representative commentary of how the human rights issues in Africa often end up being regarded by the rest of the world.

[I quoted the "Anatomy of African Pathos" poem here.]

The African
Suffers poverty
Differently
From humans

The African
Suffers pain
Differently
From Humans.

The African
Sorrows, bereaves
Differently
From humans

The African
Suffers torture
Differently
From humans
Because the African pain
Is painless pain.

The African
Starves differently
From humans
Because it is African
To starve.

The African female
Endures rape
Quite differently
From women

The African child
Is a child soldier
A slave child
Or a mere street child.

The African migrant
Is an illegal migrant:
No citizen
But a refugee
In his home.

The African dies
Differently
From humans.

The African’s
Birth mark
Is a black scar

The African
Is African:
Not human.

That is why
African leaders,
A little more African
Than Africans,
Insist on
African solutions
To the African
Pathos.

© 2006, Chris Magadza
From: Father and other poems
Publisher: Poetry International Web, 2006

Not sure just where all Randy wanted to go do with his comment about the lack of concern among gay activists about other countries’ human rights violations. Maybe he felt that was true of entities other than this one. He’ll have to clarify, if he wants to.

I am convinced there is enough smoke behind the scenes of the March conference for there to have been fire. It’s a shame.

Also, typo in my original post: the open letter to Exodus was AFTER the conference. I’d had a sentence in about Alan Chambers being contacted well BEFORE the conference, but obviously also deleted the wrong tense when I gave that part the flick. The letter details the extended efforts made before the conference in any case — I think the Feb 27 reference may be to one of those efforts.

It is also worth noting something — for the record, and completely disproving Randy Thomas’ grossly offensive claim that “These same activists then don’t consistently speak out about other countries or cultures that have enormous human rights abuses (along these same lines or worse.)”

Search here at BTB, or at XGW, or at TWO… and you’ll find a long list of posts dating back years on that very subject; including the infamous trip by Exodus Global to Barbados in blatant support of the criminal laws.

Thanks, grantdale. For once, I am finding myself in agreement with you. I am certainly not being coy, and the record (read Throckmorton’s blog) will bear that out.

I saw a reference to a Feb. 27 letter to Exodus, but I cannot find a link to the letter itself. So that I do not have to wade through a mountain of long reports here, could someone please provide the link to the letter? Thanks.

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.

____________________________________

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.

____________________________________

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.”
____________________________________

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.
____________________________________

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]
____________________________________

Furthermore Dr Throckmorton has reported that the FLN – thus Langa – is directly behind the Ugandan bill [http://wthrockmorton.com/2009/10/19/dispatch-from-uganda-family-life-network-identified-as-backing-effort/comment-page-1/].
____________________________________

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.” All of these activities of Langa and the FLN happened in conjunction with or after the conference.

… … …