Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJanuary 16th, 2010
Washington Hilton, site of the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4, 2010.
That’s according to a feature story in Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, The Sunday Monitor:
In February, David Bahati, the mover of the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill is expected to attend a prayer breakfast in the American capital of DC.
Mr Bahati, according to reports, may speak at the event where President Barack Obama – a gays-tolerant liberal president, is also expected to attend. On Friday, Mr Bahati said he would attend. The event is organised by The Fellowship- a conservative Christian organisation, which has deep political connections and counts several high-ranking conservative politicians in its membership.
“I intend to attend the prayer breakfast,” said Mr Bahati – himself a part organiser of the Ugandan equivalent of the national prayer breakfast. This week, citing international pressure, President Yoweri Museveni advised his party\’s National Executive Committee, his cabinet and the NRM parliamentary caucus to “go slow” on the Bill.
MP David Bahati
MP David Bahati is the sponsor of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Uganda’s Parliament. He is also a member of the secretive American evangelical group known as the Family, which founded and organizes the National Prayer Breakfast held on the first Thursday in February, typically at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue N.W. The Monitor reports that the Family has invited Bahati to the prayer breakfast.
Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, another is also said to be planning on attending the National Prayer Breakfast as well.
I find it absolutely incredible that secretive Family would risk this kind of attention at their premiere event. Did the Family actually extend an invitation to Bahati, as he has told The Monitor? If they did, will they honor that invitation or will they publicly repudiate their connections with Bahati and Buturo as had been suggested?
Also, every U.S. President since Eisenhower has attended and spoken at the breakfast. Will President Obama agree to share the same room with these two would-be murderers?
I think it’s a good time to convene a special session of the rainbow welcoming committee.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year\’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.
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wackadoodle
January 16th, 2010
I won’t be the least bit surprised when President Spineless Bigot sits down in the same room as this guy and says nothing.
John
January 16th, 2010
The United States is under no obligation to allow someone who advocates the murder of up to 5 to 10% of the Ugandan population (those who are gay/lesbian). The State Department should declare David Bahait to be persona non grata in the United States.
This man is an advocate of genocide. What’s next, welcoming those who orechestrated the Rwandan genocide to tea at the White House?
Eric in Oakland
January 16th, 2010
Does anyone know if there is a protest planned?
Ray Foster
January 16th, 2010
I will say this. If Bahati comes to this Prayer Breakfast and the President is there, then Obama has NO WAY of ever getting my support or vote EVER AGAIN on ANYTHING.
I mean it. Bahati should be BANNED from this country.
Bob
January 16th, 2010
This is amazing. Will he get to speak before or after the witch burning?
Lynn David
January 17th, 2010
Might be a new weapon in the fundamentalist Christian arsenal, writing bills which limit constitutional free speech guarantees. Having Bahati on American soil would be bad enough. To commiserate with those who consider themselves the best among leaders of the US, is sickening.
a. mcewen
January 17th, 2010
Instead of all of the rhetoric, why don’t we busy ourselves with bringing this situation to everyone’s attention.
Neo Blaque
January 17th, 2010
This is a not a question of endorsement, it is a question of attendance. As vile as this Bahati is, he will be only one person of hundreds in attendance. If President Obabma would not attend, then the right wing would pounce on it with all their hate and fury, and your hoped for message with that stand would be lost.
Sign up for lists of where Buhati is going to appear on his tour, and then protest him and his ideas, not the President.
While things may not be moving as quickly as you like, they are moving. Protesting the President over this will not speed up the process, it will only hurt your cause.
gayuganda
January 17th, 2010
Hey, I know the procedure is different in Britain, but, cant he be kept out by petition or something????!
AJD
January 17th, 2010
I agree with a.mcewen… Forward the link to the News Tips email addresses at newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, etc.
Rev Dr.John McNeill
January 17th, 2010
In my recent book, Sex As God Intended, I argue that gay marriage is closer to the Christian ideal for human marriage than the tradional patriarchal model for two key reasons. First gay marriage is based on the equality of the partners; where as traditional marriage is based on male superiority and female inferiority. The second is that gay marriage allows both parties alow both parties to be fully in touch with everything masculine and feminine in themselves, whereas the patriarchal model is based on the masuculine party suppressing and denying the feminine in himself and projecting that out on the women. The women in turn must repress eveything masculine in herself and project that out on the man. As a result neiether party can experience the fullness of human life and love. Thank God fo the blessing of gay marriage as a pardym for all humans.
Scott
January 17th, 2010
As one commenter noted, there will be many with a varied set of beliefs at this meeting. It is not a meeting consisting solely of those out to kill or torture gays in Uganda. As such, Obama’s attendance is probably not out of line, and in his recent efforts to appear middle of the road I suspect he will attend. The man seems to be preoccupied with avoiding any behavior that might diminish his chances for re-election even if it means reneging on campaign promises. So, in answer to Neo-Blaque, we are seeing a president without any spine. The real proof of character here would be for him to actually say something at the meeting that condemns this Uganda legislation. The old rhetoric of “sit back and wait, things are being done” is patronizing and irritating. He needs to show some moral fortitude which is not the same as espousing what is politically convenient for that momement in time.
Shanna
January 18th, 2010
This is outrageous, and I am appalled that this man – who is about to authorize mass imprisonments and killings in a shocking human rights violation – is being allowed to attend.
Maybe The Family has decided to keep their connections less under wraps since being so exposed in the last few years? Perhaps they feel it is time to “take a stand” and come out with their true, pseudo-pious, anti-Christian-like beliefs? They consider themselves men of God, but not one appears to have any concept of the actual supposed teachings of the man they profess to worship and follow.
I would hope that President Obama would take this opportunity to make a stand against not only Bahati and his countrymen that are for this murderous bill, but against The Family and their hand in what is happening in Uganda.
One could understand that he might not want to rock the boat during this long-held tradition amid all of the other crises that are going on in this country and in the world, but it is hard to imagine how he could sit by silently and break bread with this man who feels he is divinely justified in killing innocent people.
I wonder if Bahati’s appearance – and a mention of his connection to The Family and their hand in this whole mess – will get any more mainstream media attention than it has to date (which is to say, sadly, not nearly enough)?
William Courson
January 18th, 2010
A petition is presently circulating to prevent David Bahati’s entry into the US.
Please view it online at http://www.petitiononline.com/crosswix/petition. html.
Your signature(s) is (are) urgently requested.
William Courson
January 18th, 2010
A petition is presently circulating to prevent David Bahati’s entry into this country. Please view it online at http://www.petitiononline.com/crosswix/petition.html. Your signature(s) is (are) urgently requested.
Steve Schalchlin
January 18th, 2010
If Bahati is there, then Obama MUST go.
He should take control the room, describe the horror of what Mr. Bahati is doing, and do it to his face.
And then ask for a show of hands of how many people in that room support this kind of hate legislation.
wister
January 18th, 2010
First Warren and now this.
Neon Genesis
January 18th, 2010
Frankly I just think they should get rid of the National Prayer Breakfast all together. This whole problem of Obama sharing a dinner with this man never would have been a problem if The Family had never violated the separation of church and state in the first place. The U.S. is a secular nation founded on the separation of church and state and the government should remain neutral to religion instead of using tax payers’ money to pay for the breakfast of a murderous religious extremist.
smkovalinsky
January 18th, 2010
I think Neon Genesis above has summed the whole thing up for all. The breakfast itself is not legitimate, thus, the unwanted guest is not even to be taken seriously. No member of a progressive democracy can support the bill.
polyorchnid octopunch
January 18th, 2010
Hey, rewarding persecution of the powerless… how very Christian of them.
David C.
January 18th, 2010
Exactly, for the very specific purpose of denouncing the “Kill the Gays” legislation and any Family involvement in it. He should not stop there and should go on to in private excoriate those members of The Family and also in public service here in the US to refrain from engaging in back-door foreign policy and the exportation of religious fundamentalism in contradiction of the principals of the United States.
Rachel
January 18th, 2010
If Obama refuses to enter any room an asshole is sitting in, he could never enter anywhere, let alone learn to understand his opponents so that he can understand how to defeat them. Politics is not as simple as black listing every person you disagree with. Get a grip!
Timothy Kincaid
January 18th, 2010
Oh, Rachel, it’s not “every person I disagree with”, just the ones who want to kill me.
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