Box Turtle Bulletin

Ugandan Pastor Responds To Rick Warren’s Statement; Revives “Forced Therapy” Option

Martin Ssempa

Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, who had met several times with Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, is positively livid over Warren’s statement calling on Ugandan pastors to oppose the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. In a letter addressed to Warren (PDF: 88KB/4 pages) and obtained by Christianity Today, Ssempa acknowledges receiving a letter from Warren asking Ugandan pastors to speak out against the bill, and counters with a deliberately misleading and convoluted defense of it.

After nearly three pages of ranting, Ssempa says that two amendments will be proposed for the bill:

At a special sitting of the Uganda Joint Christian Council taskforce sat and reviewed the bill to make comments. We resolved to support the bill with some amendments which included the following:

a. We suggested a less harsher sentence of 20 years instead of the death penalty for pedophilia or aggravated homosexuality.

b. We suggested the inclusion of counseling and rehabilitation being offered to offenders and victims. The churches are willing to provide the necessary help for those who are willing to undergo counseling and rehabilitation.

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.

This revives the forced therapy proposal brought up last March during a three-day anti-gay conference in Kampala. That conference, organized by Stephen Langa of Kampala-based Family Life Network featured Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Brundidge.

The Ugandan Parliament will reportedly bring the Anti-Homosexuality Bill up for a second reading debate on Friday. It’s unknown whether these proposals will be brought up during that debate.

Ssempa also recounts Warren’s 2008 trip to Uganda in support of the Anglican Church of Uganda’s boycott of the Lambeth Conference over the U.S. church’s ordination of Rev. Gene Robinson as the denomination’s first openly gay bishop. Ssempa lectured Warren:

When you came to Uganda on Thursday, 27 March 2008, and expressed support to the Church of Uganda’s boycott of the pro-homosexual church of England, you stated; “The Church of England is wrong, and I support the Church of Uganda”. You are further remembered to say, “homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus (its) not a human right. We shall not tolerate this aspect at all.”

Ssempa later returns to this subject at the end of his letter with a reference to Warren’s PEACE plan for Africa:

We note with sadness the increasing levels of accepting of the evil of homosexuality. The ordination of Mary Glasspool a Lesbian as a bishop in Los Angeles without any condemnation from you, has increased the widening gap between the global south church in Africa and the global north church in Europe and America. In these increasingly dark days, we encourage you not to give into the temptation to water down what the bible says so as not to offend people. Jesus’s gospel is a stumbling block, and a rock of offfense. Rick you are our friend, we have bought many of your books and have been blessed by them. Do not let the pressure of bloggers and popular media intimidate you into becoming a negotiator for homosexual pedophilia rights in Africa. As you yourself say about evil, — “the Bible says evil has to be opposed. Evil has to be stopped. The Bible does not say negotiate with evil. It says stop it. Stop evil.” Since the bible says that the giant of homosexuality is an “abomination” or a great evil, you cannot achieve the peace plan without a purpose driven confrontation with evil.

Ssempa has been a leading promoter of harsher treatment for that country’s LGBT citizens. He has also accused rival pastors of homosexuality. These allegations were found to be false, and Ssempa found himself under investigation for filing false reports. That investigation was apparently halted when President Yoweri Museveni intervened.

Rick Warren recently distanced himself from Ssempa:

Martin Ssempa does not represent me, my wife Kay, Saddleback Church, nor the Global PEACE Plan strategy. In 2007, we completely severed contact with Mr. Ssempa when we learned that his views and actions were in serious conflict with our own. Our role, and the role of the PEACE Plan, whether in Uganda or any other country, is always pastoral and never political. We vigorously oppose anything that hinders the goals of the PEACE Plan: Promoting reconciliation, Equipping ethical leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation.

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

Honduran LGBT Activist Murdered, Laid To Rest

Honduran LGBT activist Walter Tróchez was murdered earlier this week. He was a member of the National Resistance Front, a group opposed to the right-wing coup d’etat. He was shot and killed on December 13 in a drive-by shooting. Veteran reporter Doug Ireland says that Honduran security forces were likely responsible for Tróchez’s murder:

Trochez, who had already been arrested and beaten for his sexual orientation after participating in a march against the coup, had been very active recently in documenting and publicizing homophobic killings and crimes committed by the forces behind the coup, which is believed to have been the motive for his murder. He had been trailed for weeks before his murder by thugs believed to be members of the state security forces.

(AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Tróchez was buried on Tuesday. His coffin was draped with a rainbow flag.

The Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras (which goes by the Spanish acronym CIPRODEH) has more information about his earlier kidnapping and beating:

On December 4th the human rights advocate Walter Tróchez, member of the LGBT community and active member of the Resistance Front was kidnapped and savagely beaten outside the “El Obelisco” Park in Comayaguela, by four hooded men who drove a gray pickup, without plates, presumably of the DNIC [national criminal investigation directorate] (a vehicle of similar description, as he denounced publicly several months ago, had been staking out his house, obligating him to move).

On that day the kidnappers told him they knew him well and they were going to kill him. They hooded him, insulted him, and began to interrogate him about the resistance, asking for information about its leaders and its movements. At that time he managed to escape alive, and the next day he filed a complaint with national and international authorities.

Ugandan Parliament to Debate “Kill Gays” Bill Dec. 18

The Times of London reports that the Ugandan Parliament will debate the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill tomorrow, Dec 18. If I understand Uganda’s Parliamentary procedures correctly, I believe this would constitute a second reading and debate. A vote comes after the third reading. If it passes (and it is expected to pass with a near-unanimous vote), it then goes to President Yoweri Museveni to be signed into law.

In unrelated news, the government-owned New Vision reports that Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, who had been an outspoken supporter of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, spoke at a fundraiser for the construction of a Catholic Church. This time, he spoke about the need people could live together despite tribal and religious differences. “If we are to have everlasting peace, the need for tolerating each other cannot be over-emphasised,” he said. “People living together in peace is the foundation for developing this country.”

New Vision doesn’t say so specifically, but I assume Buturo said this with a straight face.

Update: This debate will not be part of a second reading. It now appears the second reading won’t take place until February.

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

K’zoo Churches: we can’t be seen with tolerant Christians

Some things are so spiteful and full of malice that I – as cynical as I can be – still am shocked. I shouldn’t be surprised that nastiness can raise its head, but it does shame me how often downright meanness comes trotting along waving the “Christian” label.

Take as example a situation that is happening in Kalamazoo, MI. Eight churches had joined together to provide food for the homeless. They would provide food and religious support hoping to gradually draw the homeless back into society.

But then in June the city council of Kalamazoo voted to ban housing and employment discrimination against LGBT people. And some of the churches in Kalamazoo said, “Treat all God’s children with dignity? Yeah, I think we can get behind that.” But when the voters of Kalamazoo passed the non-discrimination ordinance with 62% of the vote, this became too much for some anti-gay ministers.

So they decided that they just couldn’t serve food to the homeless with someone who thought that gay people should not be, well, homeless. And because some of the other Martha’s Table participants supported the ordinance, then they took their ladles and went home.(Mlive)

Martha\’s Table, through which eight churches have provided Sunday afternoon worship and meals for the needy at First Congregational Church, is losing three of the churches because of the issue of homosexuality, even though the ecumenical ministry takes no position on it, said the Rev. Matt Laney, pastor of First Congregational.

Agape Christian Church and Word for Life Church of God plan to withdraw from Martha\’s Table at the end of the year, and Centerpoint Church (formerly Third Reformed Church) has already done so, Laney said.

For them, it wasn’t about caring for the needy. It was about using the food as a bribe to “bring souls to Christ”. (WWMT)

[Word For Life Church of God’s Pastor Jeff McNally] says that helping the homeless alongside supporters of the ordinance is something the bible just won’t let him do.

“I don’t feel comfortable recommending people that I love and I care about, that I’m trying to lead to Christ, to go to a church that I feel that may lead them astray with their interpretation of the scriptures,” said McNalley.

The remaining five will continue to, as they put it, in their “commitment to serve Christ and others.” And at least one is a conservative church that still is able to but anti-gay activism as secondary to helping others.

A pastor from another church in the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition, the Rev. Ken Baker of Third Christian Reformed, said his church will continue its commitment to Martha\’s Table.

“I feel very sad about the decision of three partner churches to pull out,” Baker said. “Everything about the ministry of Martha\’s Table reflects the heart of Jesus, who came to preach good news to the poor. Surely, all our churches would agree that mercy and compassion were at the heart of the ministry of Jesus.”

He noted that his denomination takes a “theologically conservative” position on homosexuality, interpreting the Bible to say the practice is wrong but that it is not a sin to have a homosexual disposition. “But I fail to see how our integrity is violated by participating in Martha\’s Table,” he said.

I marvel at the three who left. What, exactly, do they think faith, religion, and Christianity are all about? At this season, Christians speak of joy to the world, of peace on earth, of God’s love, of goodness, of kindness, of charity. How do they reconcile that with a decision to not feed the hungry because another church thinks that gay people shouldn’t be fired or evicted for being gay?

I am a Christian but I don’t pretend to be a theologian. I have no great insights about the nature of what comes after this life – if anything – and I certainly can’t preach with any certainty about the nature of any deities.

But I do know what is moral, what is ethical, what is good and what is right. And I know that I want nothing to do with the spiteful, angry, hate-filled god those three churches serve.

Marriage legislation presented for Portugal

In November we informed you that the current government in Portugal was planning on crafting legislation to enact marriage equality. They now have done so. (AP)

Portugal’s Socialist government has drawn up a proposal that would make Portugal the sixth European country to allow gay marriage.

The law is almost certain to pass, as the center-left Socialist government has the support of all left-of-center parties, who together have a majority in Parliament. Right-of-center parties oppose the measure.

The proposal changes Portuguese law to remove references to marriage being between two people of different sexes, Cabinet Minister Pedro Silva Pereira told a news conference Thursday, adding the government will send its proposal to lawmakers for a debate, probably in January.

The bill is almost certain to pass. If signed by the President, same-sex marriages might occur as early as April.

The bill may also be vetoed by the conservative President. I’ve not determined if supporters have the 2/3rds necessary to override a veto.

NC county commissioner slurs dead son of fellow commissioner

Bill James is a member of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, serving as representative for the suburbs of Charlotte, NC. He considers himself a conservative Republican, attends an evangelical church, and sends his kids to a private Christian school.

Bill James is also an insensitive jerk on a colossal scale.

Last night the Mecklenburg commissioners voted 6 – 3 to provide benefits to the same-sex partners of gay employees in the same way that they do for their heterosexual employees. In the debate one commissioner, Velma Leake spoke passionately about a personal connection she had to the issue. (WFAE)

After about 90 minutes of debate, Commissioner Vilma Leake spoke up for the first time in support of extending benefits to the same-sex spouses of gay employees.

She invoked the memory of her son.

“…And to think about, one, that I had a son that I birthed that I died of AIDS, and I did not know that in 2010 I would be sitting here to defend that process and his lifestyle, so I stand gloriously to vote for this issue….:

Then, a smiling Bill James leaned over and spoke to Leake.

“Your son was a homo, really?” James said.

Most people – well, all decent people who are not raging a$$holes – having realized that they had used a slur in speaking of the dead child of another human being, would have been remorseful and conciliatory. Most people strive to go through life without intentionally causing pain to others or gleefully delighting in the harm they leave in their wake.

Bill James is not most people.

In response to the controversy, James emailed the following statement to a local station:

Vilma is a religious hypocrite.

She was married to a Bishop in the AME Zion church. A church that has historically opposed homosexuality.

She used her son\’s ‘lifestyle\’ and his death from HIV-AIDS to justify in public voting for benefits to allow more individuals to use tax dollars to engage in the very behavior that resulted in her son\’s death.

It is akin to someone whose son is an alcoholic and died from the disease, using his death from drinking as justification to have the taxpayers pay for more booze.

Her position was that her ‘faith\’ demanded that she do this to support her son and his ‘lifestyle\’ which she acknowledges killed him.

Since she didn\’t define what ‘lifestyle\’ she was referring to, so I asked her. Asking the question is completely legitimate since she used him as the basis for explaining her public vote.

Her response to me was threaten violence. This is also nothing new for Vilma as she did that on the School Board as well.

Leake: “Don’t make me hurt you. Don’t do that to me. Don’t talk to me about my son.”

Well, with all due respect to Ms. Leake – if she didn\’t want to talk about her son then why did she use his death from his ‘lifestyle\’ contracting HIV/AIDS as the public justification for spending tax dollars to support the very behavior that killed her son.

I have nothing more to say about Bill James.

LGBT Group: Archbishop of Canterbury Quietly Condemns Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill

The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) has issued a press release indicating that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has condemned Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to the press release:

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s press secretary has told LGCM that Archbishop Rowan Williams is “very clear that the private Member’s Bill being discussed in Uganda as drafted is entirely unacceptable from a pastoral, moral and legal point of view.” The press office went on to tell LGCM that the proposed Bill was “a cause of deep concern, fear and, to many, outrage.”

LGCM has spoken recently on its concern that the Archbishop had not spoken out against this Bill, the Archbishops office assured LGCM that “the Archbishop has been working intensively behind the scenes (over the past weeks) to ensure that there is clarity on how the proposed bill is contrary to Anglican teaching.”

LGCM now calls on the Archbishop to “instruct all Anglican clergy in Uganda to speak out against this Bill and to take whatever action is needed to safeguard the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.” I would also add that it would be helpful if the Archbishop would issue a condemnation directly to the public from his own hand, and not have his dissaproval passed along through his press secretary to another group with the task of making the third-hand information public.

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

EU Condemns Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill

At a meeting in Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament passed a resolution strongly condemning Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The E.U. resolution calls on Uganda “not to approve the bill and to review their laws to decriminalize homosexuality.” The resolution also calls on the European Commission and Council to reconsider EU aid to Uganda if the anti-gay bill passes. The EU currently provides Uganda $275 million annually in developmental aid, which is more than the $250 million provided by the U.S. The EU’s contribution amounts to just under 17% of Uganda’s total foreign aid receipts.

The full text of the resolution is available online.

The EU has been following these developments since the beginning. Last March, European Parliament\’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights condemned the March 5th meeting between several Ugandan parliamentarians and Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge and Family Life Network’s Stephen Langa during their anti-gay conference held in Kampala.

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

Washingon Archdiocese: Forget We Said All That

Remember when the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington threatened to shut down its homeless shelters, food services and other community services if the D.C. city council approved same-sex marriage? Well now they’re saying “never mind.” In a statement issued Tuesday, the Archdiocese said:

Religious organizations have long been eligible to provide social services in our nation’s capital and have not been excluded simply because of their religious character. This is because the choice of provider has focused on the ability to deliver services effectively and efficiently. We are committed to serving the needs of the poor and look forward to working in partnership with the District of Columbia consistent with the mission of the Catholic Church.

This is the opposite of what they said before the same-sex marriage bill passed. At that time, they said they would be “unable” to continue those services if same-sex marriage became legal.

Click here to read the full statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

Jeff Johnson on Homophobia in the Black Community

DC-based journalist and activist Jeff Johnson appeared on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show yesterday and talked about Annise Parker’s victory in Houston, making that city the largest city in America with an openly gay mayor.

Jeff talked about the homophobic campaign associated with her opponent leading up to the run-off election, and the alliances that many in the local African-American community formed with her opponent, former city attorney Gene Locke. Jeff observes the oddity of many prominent voices in the African-American community uniting with other extremely political conservatives who “in many cases, they wouldn’t even want to sit down with dinner with,” and charges that “they based this alliance solely on this woman’s sexual orientation.” He continued:

We as a Black community still have not been willing to have an honest conversation about the fact that we’re homophobic, about the fact that our churches in many cases are running the lead on demonization of homosexuality even when their doctrine speaks to restoration. And so if we want to be serious we’re going to lift up this notion of there’s a problem or theirs a crisis with our down-low brothers — the down-low brothers are leading the AIDS epidemic and we have a problem — but not recognize that you create down-low brothers by having a community that’s unwilling to embrace its own brothers that are gay.

… How can we begin to have honest conversations about the fact that these are our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our sons and our daughters that in many cases are dealing with a crisis of identity in an environment that tells them that who they are is wrong?

I don’t want to argue the theology of homosexuality. I don’t want to argue whether you think it’s moral or not. What I want to deal with is that these are members of our community that needs to be supported. There are young people in schools that are being abused because of their sexual orientation, and we’re turning our backs on it.

You can listen to Jeff’s commentary at the National Black Justice Coalition web site.

Cowboy Museum looks at gay and transgender folk in the wild west

The Autry National Center of the American West is a cowboy museum. In fact, it was founded by one of the country’s best known Hollywood cowboys.

The Museum of the American West, formerly known as the Museum of Western Heritage, was co-founded by Gene and Jackie Autry and Monte and Joanne Hale. With the opening of the Museum in 1988, Gene Autry realized his dream “to build a museum which would exhibit and interpret the heritage of the West and show how it influenced American and the world.”

A museum dedicated to keeping alive the image of the cowboy and the lore of the wild west is not the first place you’d think to look for an exhibit on the LGBT community. But the West was wild enough that gay folk and transgender folk could avoid the close scrutiny of ‘civil society’.

And so the Autry is going to spend 2010 looking at the way in which gay and trans people fit into the American West. (LA Times)

The series is the first of its kind hosted by a Western-heritage museum, say people associated with the Autry. It consists of a gallery tour, panel discussions, lectures and performances to be rolled out in four installments over the course of 12 months. Dates for future events are being finalized.

The impetus for the series was a exhibit of props which included wardrobe pieces from recent western movies such as “Unforgiven” and “Pale Rider”. It also included the two shirts from Brokeback Mountain.

This seemed to have unexpectedly caught the attention of those who attended the museum.

Public interest in the shirts was one of the main motivations for producing “Out West,” according to those involved with the project. If “Brokeback Mountain” helped to open the frontier’s closet door, the Autry is taking the next step by rummaging through the closet’s contents and sharing what it finds with the public.

And perhaps not surprising to those of us who know that gay folk have always been around, it turns out that west had its fair share of gay folk and transgender folk, some – to their surprise – already a part of the Autry collect. And now the fans of the cowboy life will learn of its broader and richer history.

Federal employee partner benefits bill passes out of Homeland Security Committee

From the Senate Homeland Security Committee press release:

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday approved a measure that would provide domestic partner benefits to federal employees by a bipartisan 8-1 vote. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., are original cosponsors of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009 bill.

The measure would provide the same employment benefits to federal employees in same-sex domestic partnerships that are now provided to married federal employees and their spouses – such as healthcare, retirement and disability plans, family leave, worker\’s compensation, and group life insurance. The same obligations would also apply – such as conflict of interest provisions, anti-nepotism rules, and disclosure requirements.

The bill may not fare well in the full Senate, but this is nevertheless a good sign.

DP Benefits for Federal Employes Advance to Senate

The Senate’s Homeland Scurity and Governmental Affairs Committee today approved a domestic partnerships bill for federal employees by a vote of 8-1. The lone vote against the bill was Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT). Committe Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) criticized the U.S. Office of Personel Management for failing to provide information on how to offset the cost of the estimated $63 million a year program. The committee decided to go forward, noting that the price tag for DP benefits was dwarfed by the $277 billion the government spends on the federal workforce each year. That means that DP benefits will make up about 0.02% of the federal outlays in wages and benefits.

The bill now goes to the full Senate. The House has also received a similar bill from the Oversight and Government Relations Committee last month. Nether chamber has scheduled a vote.

BBC: “Should Homosexuals Face Execution?”

Screen capture of the BBC web site, via Pink News (click to enlarge)

It’s hard to imagine any reputable news outlet posing such a question, but that’s what the BBC asked in an online “Have Your Say” forum late yesterday. And to make matters worse, BBC’s editors have defended the decision.

But in response to the furor the the question sparked on Twitter, the internet, and among the forums own respondents, BBC’s editors have since changed the question. It now reads “Should Uganda debate gay execution?” The forum is now closed for comments, but from the outrage expressed by many respondents, it appears that virtually all of them were responding to the original question, “Should homosexuals face execution?”

Most of the comments appear to be a resounding “no!” But there are a few along the lines of this one, from “NF” of Alberta, Canada:

Can I move to Uganda? At least one country in the world is taking moral values seriously (as well as the health of their citizens). It may sound extreme, but that shock value will allow more people to think about their actions beforehand.

And another one from Freetown (no country given):

Bravo to the Ugandians for this wise decision, a bright step in eliminating this menace from your society. We hope other African nations will also follow your bold step.

Next question: Should Kosovars be rounded up an shot?

Uganda’s Slow U-Turn? Leading Minister Supported “Kill Gays” Bill; Now Vows Silence

It’s very difficult to read the tea leaves from halfway around the world, but it seems that if one looks closely, one can detect signs that leading Ugandan officials are looking for a way out of the controversey surrounding the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament. Today’s Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, has an article that reviews worldwide condemnation of Uganda’s attempt to legislate LGBT people out of existence. Significantly, it leads off with these paragraphs:

International opposition against Ndorwa West MP David Bahati\’s proposed anti-gay law continued to grow steadily, drawing support from such unlikely quarters as the White House.

The growing list now includes US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Anglican leader Rowan Williams, some US senators, and several newspapers.

This marks the first time the White House’s condemnation of Uganda’s proposed legislation has been reported in Uganda’s major media. The Monitor is Uganda’s second largest newspaper, behid the government owned New Vision. This particlular article mentioning the White House statement is especially important because President Barack Obama is revered throughout East Africa, which is where his father is from.

The article also summarizes statements from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry, and the prime ministers of Canada and Britain. Sweden has threatened to reduce its aid to Uganda, and the United Nations and World Health Organization announced that they would cancel plans to relocate a major HIV/AIDS research center to Entebbe.  The Monitor now indicates that critical leaders in Uganda’s government are starting to get the message:

Buturo\’s U-turn
The pressure from these and other sources was being felt in Kampala, with Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo now saying he would remain silent about the proposed law until it has been passed or defeated.

The Monitor also reports, “By yesterday, however, the official stance was that the government had not yet reached a position on the proposed law.”

Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has been an outspoken supporter of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Last month, he held a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre castigating donor nations and others who have denounced the bill and pledged that the bill would go foward. A little more than a week later Buturo bragged, “It is with joy we see that everyone is interested in what Uganda is doing, and it is an opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership where it matters most.” This is the latest evidence that the Ugandan government may be reconsidering its support for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Last week, we noticed that the Uganda Media Centre, which acts as a “centralized location where all official government correspondence and information can be easily accessed, published a column questioning Parliament’s decision to take up the bill with so many other more important pressing matters. That was followed a few days later with an op-ed written by a senior advisor to President Museveni that appeared in the government-owned New Vision, which is Uganda’s largest paper. That op-ed said flatly, “Parliament should not pass this bill.”

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