Box Turtle Bulletin

Murder Music Performer Brings Violent Message To Uganda, Sponsored By Pepsi

Uganda’s independent newspaper The Daily Monitor reports on Jamaican dancehall and murder music performer Beenie Man’s concert at Kampala’s Kyadondo Rugby Club last Saturday. According to reporter Rafsangan Abbey Tatya:

The King of Dancehall stuck a sword of words into gay people through singing and talking. “In my family, we don\’t have any gay person but if you\’re gay, my brother that\’s not my fault,” he said as he performed his song Mi Nah Wallah, in which he says he would like to cut the throats of all gay men.

George Bush and Bin Laden were also at the receiving end of the Jamaican\’s wrath calling on the audience to say “murderer” as he sang about the pair\’s warfare.

The concert, which also featured about a half-dozen local performers, was sponsored by Pepsi, and appeared to have had a promotional tie-in with Toyota:

The show was sponsored by Pepsi and it doubled as the Crown Beverages\’ Chamuka Keys Finale with three RAV4 winners presented on stage to join 17 previous winners in receiving their car log books.

April 19, 2009 edition of Uganda's Red Pepper (Scans via GayUganda. Names and faces obscured by Box Turtle Bulletin. Click to enlarge).

This type of performance is extremely dangerous. This past year, Uganda has experienced a round of public vigilantism, in which accused LGBT people were publicly identified in a major tabloid newspaper and on radio and television. That was followed with reports of arrests, blackmail and extra-judicial torture.

Homosexuality is currently punishable with lifetime imprisonment. A new proposal before Parliament affirms that punishment while expanding the definition of homosexuality. It also provides for the death sentence under certain circumstances and outlaws all advocacy or defense of LGBT people with seven years imprisonment. Failure to report LGBT people to police will result in punishment of three years imprisonment.

UPDATE: Pepsi has responded with this statement:

We are appalled by the performer\’s lyrics and find them repugnant.  Our bottling partner in Uganda was not aware of the performer\’s views and never would have sponsored the concert with this knowledge.  Moving forward, we will work closely with our bottling partners to be more vigilant about the events associated with our brands.”

Atlanta mayor-elect finds his election to be confirmation of anti-marriage position

From the Sunday Paper interview with Kasim Reed:

In District 6, the most prevalently gay district in the city, Norwood got 70 percent of the vote, despite your extremely strong voting record on gay issues and Norwood\’s complete lack of such a record. I\’m hearing that it was because of your statement regarding your religious beliefs about [against] gay marriage. What do you think about that?

I think the voters have spoken. I\’ve shared where I am on that. I\’ve shared how I have personally worked through the issue. I have an unmatched track record on legislation that supports the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered] community. I would like to ask them if they would be willing to throw aside a whole career of voting supportively for the gay community because of one issue. I have voted with them over and over again. Would they toss that aside? My position on this issue is exactly where Jim Martin was when he ran for the U.S. Senate. The LGBT community supported him. I would ask those voters only this: I would like to see you apply this standard to all candidates equally, to be as forceful on this issue as you have been with me.

Yep, he thinks “the voters have spoken” and that they endorse his discrimination. I feared that this would be the conclusion if Reed were elected

Archbishop of Canterbury reacts to lesbian bishop

Via the Guardian

Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, urged restraint following the choice of the Rev Mary Glasspool to become the second openly gay bishop in the global Anglican fellowship. The election needs approval from a majority of Episcopal church dioceses before she can be consecrated.

Williams said: “The election of Mary Glasspool by the diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal church and its place in the Anglican communion, but for the communion as a whole.

“The process of selection, however, is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.”

That decision has already been made when the body of the church voted to no longer hold itself constrained by the biases and animus of foreign churches. So you have plenty of reason to be concerned, Archbishop.

Your first concern, however, should be whether you will embody Christ’s welcome and inclusion or whether your fears of schism will bind you to the policies of ignorance and exclusion that dominate the enemies of love.

Sunday Driver: “Cuba Needs More Hookers”

To get to the Four Corners region of the American Southwest, you get off the plane at Albuquerque and take US 550 toward the northwest. But you best be sure to stock up on refreshments, gas and restroom breaks before you leave the northern suburb of Bernalillo, because that’s just about the last chance you’ll get to stop until you reach the small village of Cuba, NM (pop. 590). There, you’ll have a few places to stop and eat: McDonalds, a Subway, El Bruno’s for Mexican food, and the venerable Cuban Cafe, among a few other choices. Last time through there a few months ago, I stopped for a restroom break at the combination McDonalds/Chevron station and found this scrawled in large letters on the stall door:

Cuba’s pretty small. I suppose that Cuba could probably use more of a lot of things. But for such a small town, it struck me as being relatively self-sufficient. I guess that’s out of necessity — the nearest other town of any size at all is a ninety minute drive away.

My immediate needs resolved (the restroom break, not hookers), I decided to head over to the Cuban Cafe for lunch (split pea soup, a grilled cheese sandwich and a Coke). As I ate, I read a copy of The Cuba News (published monthly) to get a lay of the land. There was a great article about the very early days of the town’s founding as a mission outpost, another “news” article that appeared to be compiled by someone scratching down disjointed notes while watching Glenn Beck on Fox News, a rant against the local police department for their vigorous enforcement of traffic laws (Cuba is a notorious speed trap), and the usual assortment of announcements for pot luck dinners, revivals, and other community events.

But as I was reading the paper and thought that I had gotten an idea of what the local landscape was like, I came across another listing that reminded me that no place could be nailed down to just a few simple images, not even a place as small as Cuba. There in the Religion announcements, amidst the Catholics, the Baptists, the Presbyterians and Assemblies of God, there were two — two! — separate announcements for Bahá’i meetings taking place around Cuba.

The Bahá’i faith, if you don’t know, was founded in nineteenth century Persia and emphasizes three principles: the unity of God, the unity of religion, and the spiritual humanity of all people around the world.  Their main focus is in peace around the world, and they believe that all religions in some form or another embody the wonderment of the one God that unites us all. Those are some pretty high-minded (one might say liberal) concepts. (Update: They may be “liberal” but not so much where homosexuality is concerned. But they are decidedly unconventional nonetheless.) There are an estimated six million Bahá’is around the world, and out of the 590 people living in Cuba, there are enough Bahá’is to support not just one, but two different meetings of the faithful for worship and meditation.Well that reminded me of a very important lesson, one that I should have known well from my own background, but that we all have a tendency to forget no matter where we come from. Wherever you go, you hold the responsibility to see exactly what is in front of you and not your preconceived expectations of what you expect to find. Any place — even an isolated town of six hundred souls — is more complex than any snapshot or isolated image can muster.

My great-grandmother used to defend her rural Kentucky background by saying that hicks are just people who don’t know anything about the rest of the world, and that you can find hicks in some mighty fancy places. With her definition, I’ve run across a lot of hicks in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas, Boston, London — just about everywhere you can imagine, I’ve met people who thought they knew everything there was to know about middle America. I expected to find hicks in Cuba according to the more conventional meaning of the word, but it turned out that I was the one my great-grandmother would brand the hick. I can’t say whether Cuba really needs more hookers or not, but the world could probably stand a few more trips to Cuba.

Spain Apologizes To Man Imprisoned For Homosexuality

From the BBC:

A man in eastern Spain has become the first to receive an official letter apologising for his imprisonment for being homosexual in the 1970s. Antoni Ruiz spent three months in prison under a law introduced during Gen Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. In addition to the letter, he has received 4,000 euros ($5,900; £3,600) in compensation. Mr Ruiz estimates around 5,000 homosexuals suffered a similar fate to him during Gen Franco’s dictatorship.

Ruiz came out to his parents when he was seventeen, just months after Franco’s death. His parents sought help from a monk, who reported Ruiz to authorities. He now heads a group of former gay prisoners. Spain overturned its law against homosexuality in 1979, and in 2007 instituted the Historical Memory Law which allows compensation for Franco-era injustices.

Cockroaches

That’s what they think of us. From Uganda’s Sunday Monitor, a “man of God” has this to say about the “kill gays” bill now before Parliament:

A senior member of the Anglican Church has thrown support behind the government move in a bid to phase homosexuality out of the country.

Rev. Michael Esakan Okwi said on Friday that not even “cockroaches” who are in the “lower animal kingdom” engaged in homosexual relations.

“What about the human being who was made in God\’s image?” he asked at the funeral service in All Saints Cathedral – Kampala for Tom Omongole, the former Resident District Commissioner of Bukedea.

They don’t even see us as human beings, let along “made in God’s image.” No wonder the proposal to kill off their LGBT population is going down so easily. It’s a lot easier to kill cockroaches than people.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Undercover At Ex-Gay Camp

Last summer, we mentioned Ted Cox, a straight man who decided to go undercover into the ex-gay world posing as a gay man conflicted over his sexuality. One of the programs he attended was called Journey Into Manhood. Ted tried to write about it last August for the (Salt Lake) City Weekly, but the paper backed down when Journey Into Manhood threatened to sue over a non-disclosure agreement that Ted had signed.

Today, AlterNet published an interview with Ted, in which he describes his experiences in the ex-gay movement. In particular, he describes his time with Journey Into Manhood:

At first, I was very confused and then I became amused. But as the weekend wore on, I became really angry and sad. I was angry because I feel these men are being lied to; they’re being charged $650 for a system that, I think, does not work. I feel [these men] are victims of religious abuse and being told that there is something wrong about their fundamental identity, that they are committing a grievous sin if a man acts on what comes naturally to him. That made me angry.

I saw one man distraught that he was damaging his own sons, that they would end up gay because he was not enough of a man. And I wanted to just hug him, and tell him, “It’s OK, it’s alright. So what if your kids turn out gay? And you can’t turn them gay.” I became sad because I saw men reenact traumatic events from their childhood. The paperwork tells you [camp staff members] are not acting as professionals so you have no idea how ethical this is, how safe — psychologically — any of these programs are. I felt sad that their pain was being used to exploit them to make them feel like that was the reason they were gay.

As we’ve reported before, much of the ex-gay theories center around blaming fathers for their sons’ homosexuality. I have also experienced heart-wrenching personal conversations with fathers at ex-gay conferences beating themselves up over their supposed failures as fathers. While I attended the Exodus “Freedom Conference” in Irvine, California, I talked with one father who came to tears over his teenage son’s revelation that he was gay. Unfortunately, as a condition of attending the conference, I was unable to say to that father what Ted Cox wanted to say. All I could do was remind him of what a great relationship he must have with his son that his son would trust him enough to reveal himself that way rather than continuing to hide it. Obviously, I was imensely dissatisfied with that, and have thought about that father many times since then. It wasn’t what the father really needed to hear, but he did take my words to heart and took some comfort in them. It was a very sad and poignant moment. I really felt the pain that father felt, and was angry with the entire ex-gay message because I saw the pain it brought to a lot of good families. Ted’s characterizing it as exploitation is right on the mark.

So, why did Ted break his confidentiality agreement?

I had to. If I don’t talk about this, this is going to keep happening. I met one man who is married and has children and he would go online to hook up with other men and he was having anonymous sex with strangers and then going home to his wife. Another man was married and making phone calls to gay-sex chat lines and his daughter discovered the bill. A lot of these men are living lies and it affects themselves, their wives, their children. I can’t stay silent about this. I feel like there’s a greater good in talking about this and exposing what’s going on. [Hyperlinks in the original]

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles Elects Lesbian Bishop

As a follow-up to what we first reported Thursday, it is now official: the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, 55, as the first openly gay bishop since the national church lifted the ban on such elections. Rev. Glasspool has been in a committed relationship since 1988.

Rev. Glasspool is the first openly gay priest to be elevated to the bishopric since Rev. Gene Robinson was named bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. Rev. Robinson’s election prompted a huge outcry in the worldwide Anglican communion. In response, the American Episcopal church agreed to a temporary unofficial ban on future elections of openly gay priests as bishops. The church voted last July at its annual convention in Anaheim to re-open its top leadership to LGBT people once again.

Don Schmierer On Uganda: “What, Me Worry?”

L-R: Unidentified woman, American holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, International Healing Foundation's Caleb Brundidge, Exodus International boardmember Don Schmierer, Family Life Network (Uganda)'s Stephen Langa, at the time of the March 2009 anti-gay conference in Uganda.

After more than nine months of controversy over Exodus International boardmember Don Schmierer’s participation in a virulently anti-gay conference in Kampala last March, he has finally deigned to speak up. And his defense is rather novel, something you might call the “Alfred E. Newman” defense. In a statement posted on Exodus International’s blog, Schmierer pretends that he had no idea that there was any problem with that conference until he was mentioned by Rachel Maddow:

Never in a million years did I expect to see my face on MSNBC. But there I was, plain as day – white hair, tanned wrinkles, looking every bit the grandfather I am- in a photo posted on Rachel Maddow\’s show last night. Unbeknownst to me, she had decided to discuss a conference I spoke at in Uganda several months ago.

Remember, this is after nine months of outcry over the outcome of this conference, months of his own organization’s prevarications, half-hearted defenses, and finally — finally! — a letter. Even after all that, it wasn’t until just this past Tuesday that he decided that maybe it was time to add his signature to the letter more than two weeks after it was originally issued. (Exodus vice president Randy Thomas explains that Schmierer’s late signature was due to the fact that he was gallivanting elsewhere around the world with his “redemptive” message — and we all know where that’s gotten us.) But it wasn’t until his mug showed up on national television did he decide it was finally time to make a statement.

No worries.

This international experience, however, turned out to be a bit different. For starters, I didn\’t know much about the conference when I agreed to speak there. At first I thought I was the only speaker and was surprised to hear that Caleb Lee Brundidge of the International Healing Foundation and Dr. Scott Lively of Defend the Family International would be speaking as well. I disagree with several of their respective organization\’s beliefs about this issue and have found several comments to be inflammatory. In retrospect, my decision to speak there might have been different, but one thing I did know was that Ugandans needed to hear a redemptive, compassionate view of this issue. So I set off to do my best in providing it. When my portion of the conference was over, a Ugandan gay bishop complimented me and remarked with gratitude that I “really understood” the gay community as well as the true nature of this issue.

I’m glad he got his “redemptive” message across. But there’s a problem with this statement. On February 27, the week before the conference took place, and the just shortly after we first learned about the conference, BTB’s Timothy Kincaid wrote to Alan Chambers to warn him about the conference:

On Friday, February 27, we inquired to be certain that Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, was aware of the character and history of those participating at the Uganda anti-gay conference. Alan\’s response was off the record. But because he responded we know he received our email and was therefore aware of the list of presenters and of our concerns.

So on Monday we asked him to let us know if he and the Exodus leadership would develop a position on Don Schmierer\’s activities in Uganda.

We never heard back and the rest is a very well-documented history.

So what does this mean? Did Alan Chambers not pass on our concerns to Don Schmierer? If so, that would suggest that he does not maintain very good communications with his own board. But if the opposite is true, then Schmierer should have been warned about what he was up against and chose to go ahead anyway. Either way, this cop-out doesn’t just wash.

Schmierer concludes with what ought to be the main message, instead of his self-serving defense. He says:

What is true, however, and worth all the news media coverage possible, is the tragic nature of and heartbreaking potential this bill holds. I remember the gay bishop I spoke with and am deeply concerned that if this legislation were to go into effect, he would be in danger. I am grieved that the church and social workers I met may now be faced with the gut-wrenching decision of whether or not to turn in a gay friend or loved one. It should not be so. That is why I have signed on to the letter below in speaking out against this legislation. Please join me, and Rachel Maddow by extension, in voicing your concern over this bill.

Again, the concern is not so much over LGBT people (unless he knows someone personally who swallows Schmierer’s ex-gay line), but over church and social workers who may face a “gut-wrenching decision.” Fine. We’ll take whatever we can get. They say “better late than never,” but now I’m not so optimistic.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Now THAT’S Advocacy!

Yale students turned out to demonstrate against an itinerant anti-gay preacher.

Family Research Council Wants Your Holiday Family Photos — And So Do We

Well, they’re a bit more specific than that. They want you to send in your family Christmas photos. Here’s the email that landed in my inbox overnight:

Submit your Family Photos and Win!
December 04, 2009 | Share with Friends

Dear James,

Let’s face it, family photos aren’t easy to get. From children fidgeting, to getting everyone wearing the proper attire, to blinking eyes and lighting, just getting one good shot can often be an ordeal. But in the end, the effort pays off with for better or worse, a snapshot to fuel memories for generations to come. This year, FRC is offering another incentive to grab the camera and gather the family: the FRC Family Photo 2009 Contest.

Here’s the rundown: this Christmas season, send us your best family photos in one of four categories:

* Photo that best captures the spirit of Christmas
* Most original family Christmas photo
* Photo with the most family members
* Funniest Christmas photo

Once FRC has reviewed and posted your photo online, we’ll make them available on an upcoming web page where send your friends and family to vote for your photo. The winners in each category will each receive 2 free standard admission passes to the 2010 Values Voter Summit, to be held in Washington, D.C. on September 17 to 19, 2010. The contest begins now, and runs until January 15, 2010, and winners will be announced on January 20, 2010.

Send your attached photos to familyphoto@frc.org, and be sure to include the following information with your email:

* First & Last Name
* Photo Category (you may enter different photos in each category, but only one photo per category per entrant)

So ready your camera, gather your family, and best wishes in the contest.

Sincerely,

Tony Perkins
President

P.S. Please forward this email to at least one friend.

So what do you say? Send in your family photos and see if you can win. And when you do, you can send a copy to us as well, and we’ll show them what families really look like.

Brazilian Police Arrest Neo-Nazis Over Gay Pride Bombing

Police in São Paulo have arrested seven members of a Brazilian neo-Nazi group linked to a June 14 bombing during a gay pride parade that injured twenty-two people:

The four men and three women arrested are members of the “Hooligan Impact” group suspected of setting off a homemade bomb inside a bar in the city’s gay district after a gay pride parade, according to the police’s Racial Crimes and Hate Crime unit.

…They will be charged with organised crime and with injuring 12 people, police said, adding that only 12 of the 22 injured people came forth to press charges after the bombing.

Police tracked down the suspects from a threatening email sent to the parade’s organiser. The message led to a neo-Nazi website with photographs of its members that were then compared to pictures taken near the bar that was attacked.

Police are investigating whether the group is involved in the murder of a 35-year-old man during the parade.

Last April, a Brazilian advocacy group Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB) claimed that, based on news reports, murders of LGBT people were up sharply in 2008.

Rachel Maddow: Should US Politicians Try To Stop The “Kill Gays” Bill?

Rachel Maddow last night reviewed the role that Rick Warren has played in Uganda, including his siding with the Ugandan Anglican Church against the U.S. Episcopal Church over the ordination of gay clergy and bishops even though Warren’s background is Baptist.

Maddow also reviewed the role that several U.S. politicians — specifically Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) — in their own meddling in Uganda’s political affairs, mostly in changing Uganda’s previously successful fight against AIDS by insisting on abstinence only education. These politicians, it should be noted, are also all members of the secretive Evangelical group The Family, which seeks to “take over” (in Family leader Doug Coe’s words) the political, business and other power spheres around the world in a sort of “trickle down” national salvation plan, as opposed to focusing on individual salvation that is at the core of orthodox Christianity.

Rachel’s panel last night consisted of Congressman Anthony Wiener (D-NY); Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University; and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. She asked them a very pertinent question:

“Is it reasonable to expect that American politicians who have been, frankly, pretty interventionist in Uganda in the past, should be trying to stop the ‘kill the gays’ bill there?”

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

American Episcopal Leader “Deeply Concerned” about Uganda’s “Kill Gays” Bill

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has released a statement on the proposed Ugandan “Kill Gays” Bill.

In tone it appears that Schori has no illusions about influencing the decision in Uganda

We give thanks for the clear position of the United States government on human rights, for the State Department\’s annual human rights report on Uganda, which observes that the existing colonial-era law on same-sex relations is a societal abuse of human rights, and for the State Department\’s publicly voiced opposition to the present bill. We urge the United States government to grant adequate access to the U.S. asylum system for those fleeing persecution on the basis of homosexuality or gender identity, to work with other governments, international organizations, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide adequate protection for these asylum seekers, and to oppose any attempts at extradition under a law such as that proposed in Uganda.

And, further, she recognizes that much of this evil has been exported by anti-gay Anglicans in the United States.

Finally, we note that much of the current climate of fear, rejection, and antagonism toward gay and lesbian persons in African nations has been stirred by members and former members of our own Church. We note further that attempts to export the culture wars of North America to another context represent the very worst of colonial behavior. We deeply lament this reality, and repent of any way in which we have participated in this sin.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

State Department Guidance On Uganda

This is considered “guidance” and not an official statement from the U.S. State Department. But it is on record at least:

“We are disturbed by violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization and prejudice that are directed against persons in all countries in the world because of sexual orientation or gender identity. We condemn human rights violations based on sexual orientation or gender identity wherever they occur. We urge states to take all the necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties– in particular, execution arrest or detention. If adopted a bill further criminalizing homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda.”

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke against efforts to marginalize LGBT people. Without mentioning Uganda specifically, she said, “We have to stand against any efforts to marginalize and criminalize and penalize members of the LGBT community worldwide.” This State Department guidance builds on her statement and addresses Uganda specifically.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.