March 8th, 2010
We sometimes make mistakes — nobody’s perfect — but for the most part, they are rare, relatively minor, and corrected when we become aware of them. That was the basis for this post this morning.
But what we will not do is knowingly commit fraud. Unlike Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, one of the main supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill — and yes, we do call it the “Kill the Gays Bill” for a very good reason — who left this bald-faced lie in a comment on our web site this afternoon:
This is one of the many errors that have been made concerning this whole issue of the anti homosexuality bill.
There is too much panic reporting and little double checking of the facts. One hour back I just asked facebook to shut down a false Martin Ssempa who was linked with photos of murders.
You have called this the “kill the gays bill” but it is really about capital punishment for “paedophiles and rapists”. The more we have states this, the more you dont want to hear us.
There’s some debate in the comments whether this particular comment is genuine, but the record shows that this comment is entirely consistent with similar lies that we know Ssempa has repeatedly told elsewhere. I believe the comment is genuine, and it’s that lie which has been repeated numerous times that I want to address.
There is a reason we don’t take the word of liars like Martin Ssempa at face value. The man of “the Word” willfully misrepresents the very words of the “Kill the Gays Bill” — yes, I said it again — and what they really mean. That’s why we have the full text of the bill posted here (PDF: 847KB/16 pages), straight from the official governmental Uganda Gazette in which all bills are published before being voted on. We posted the full text of the bill for a very simple reason — so that you can see for yourself exactly what the bill says.
Ssempa, on the other hand, is too cowardly to post the text of the bill on any of his web sites. And the truth is he can’t, because if he did those very words would show Ssempa’s followers exactly what a compulsive liar he really is. He cannot post the bill, and he desperately hopes that nobody else reads it to learn what it actually says.
But the truth sets you free, and that’s why, with the truth firmly on my side, I enjoy the total freedom of posting the plain and unadulterated text of the bill on this web site to point out Ssempa’s prevarications. Unlike Ssempa, I have nothing to hide and the real truth leaves me free as a bird. And so here are the death penalty provisions, in the plainest of English:
3. Aggravated homosexuality.
(1) A person commits the offense of aggravated homosexuality where the(a) person against whom the offence is committed is below the age of 18 years;
(b) offender is a person living with HIV;
(c) offender is a parent or guardian of the person against whom the offence is committed;
(d) offender is a person in authority over the person against whom the offence is committed;
(e) victim of the offence is a person with disability;
(f) offender is a serial offender, or
(g) offender applies, administers or causes to be used by any man or woman any drug, matter or thing with intent to stupefy overpower him or her so as to there by enable any person to have unlawful carnal connection with any person of the same sex,
(2) A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction to suffer death.
(3) Where a person is charged with the offence under this section, that person shall undergo a medical examination to ascertain his or her HIV status.
True enough, parts 1a and 1c deal with child molestation, as Ssempa says. And whatever Ssempa or anyone else would want to with child molesters is of little concern to me. Sections 1d and 1g deal with rape. Again, while the death penalty is harsh (and I’m against the death penalty on general principles), I have no quarrel here.
However, I would expect that these four provisions apply to everyone, and not just gay people. But they don’t, do they? They only provide the death sentence when it involves people of the same gender. Where are the death sentences for the same crimes when they are committed by people of the opposite gender? Rape and molestation are equal-opportunity offenses. Why are these provisions in an Anti-Homosexuality bill when neither provision has anything specifically to do with homosexuality? Why aren’t these provisions part of anti-rape or anti-child exploitation bills instead?
I’ll tell you why. They are there to serve as a red herring, and to allow liars like Ssempa to divert attention from the rest of the bill. Sections 1b, 1e and 1f have nothing to do with rape or child abuse (and neither do sections 2 through 19, which you can see here). As Ssempa knows very well but is too cowardly to reveal, there is only one target for these other “aggravated homosexuality” provisions: gay people. Anyone with the smallest smidgen of comprehension of the English language can see that as plain as day. It takes a fraud like Ssempa to claim that the words somehow say something other than what they actually say. So much for a man of “the Word” when he won’t read the very words in front of him.
Of one couple that I know, one man has perfect hearing but the other man is profoundly deaf — “a person with disability” as section 1e puts it. They have been happily together for I don’t know how many years, but one would die (the hearing one) and one would live (the deaf man) under this bill. While Ssempa claims that this is only about rape or exploitation, there is no mention of consent in this provision where one has a disability and the other does not.
Closer to home, my partner is HIV-positive; I’m HIV-negative. If we were in Uganda living under this law, I would be imprisoned for life, but my partner would be sentenced to death by hanging. Disclosure, consent — none of that matters. My partner is hanged and I’m imprisoned. Aren’t I the lucky one? Well, knowing the conditions of Ugandan prisons, a man or woman sentenced to a life sentence for homosexuality would be, for all practical purposes, not particularly “lucky.” A lifetime sentence under these circumstances is merely a more torturous and drawn-out death than the one Ssempa would demand for my partner under this law.
But wait! It turns out I’m not exactly saved from the gallows anyway. It’s that “serial offender” provision that would still get me. The “Kill The Gays Bill” — because now we know that this is exactly what this bill does — defines a serial offender this way:
“serial offender” means a person who has previous convictions of the offence of homosexuality or related offences;
Get that? Homosexuality or related offenses. I have violated — and it is my solemn promise to you that I will continue to violate — the following related offenses:
So there you have it; upon a second conviction I will have committed “aggravated homosexuality,” and I too can join my partner at the gallows.
So I have one message for Ssempa: I will not stand by while you post a lie on this web site, and use that lie to accuse me of lying. I publicly dare you to post the text of the bill on your own web site, and refer to it when you try to explain your lies. Failure to take this dare reveals your cowardice and guile. Your acceptance of this dare exposes your guilt as a liar and a fool. What do you choose? Either way, with the entire world and your God as my witness, I call you out.
Ssempa’s lies are no mere “mistake” like the one I corrected yesterday. His are deliberate attempts to deceive, deceits by a unrepentant serial liar. Ssempa claims to be a man of God, but he is a fraud and a serial falsifier. He claims to bring light and truth, but he instead spreads darkness and hatred borne by blatant and clearly demonstrable distortions in order to turn neighbor against neighbor and wreck havoc on God’s creation. Whatever Ssempa accomplishes or fails to accomplish in this life, we can be assured that there will be a very special place in hell set aside for him in the next.
Click here to see BTB’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
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Frijondi
March 9th, 2010
Thank you for continuing to shine a light on Ssempa, and exposing his actions as the evil they are.
Aaron
March 9th, 2010
Yes, I agree, thank you for this enlightening post.
I was horrified to read in Christianity magazine here in the UK has an article supporting this wicked bill. They also made the claim that the bills focus was on rape and gays taking advantage of handicapped people. I intend to write them as quickly as possible to correct their misinformation.
Joe
March 9th, 2010
Bravo, Jim. Excellent job exposing Ssempa’s lies. I sincerely hope he tries to respond; it would be interesting to read.
a. mcewen
March 9th, 2010
Ssempa seems to have an ego complex. he is enjoying the limelight so much that he can realize that he is destroying what little credibility he has. I say keep it coming.
Grant
March 9th, 2010
Ssempa wants to impose a “Final Solution” to the gay issue in Uganda.
Like the Nazis he emulates, he is wicked, pure and simple. Satanic.
Thank God for BTB and the exposure of this evil man and his minions.
That he claims to be Christian would be laughable if he weren’t so dangerous.
martin ssempa
March 9th, 2010
THE TURTLE CONTINUES TO DEFEND STATUTORY RAPE
Jesus said..they have eyes but they dont see..they have ears but they dont hear..
Jim..I am sorry your partner has HIV/AIDS and you are afraid that if you lived in Uganda he would be arrested if he infected you with HIV/AIDS. My brother and Sister died from HIV/AIDS and I am now treating a brother who has HIV/AIDS. SO I am no stranger to pain and closeness with HIV/AIDS in the last 24 years.
However on the issue of the death penalty I would like to state from my reading that there are
a. Offenders and
b. Victims.
Please re-read it again.
You actually have the right draft and when I do see it I focus on the section a)Victim is below 18 and
b) A handicapped person
Indeed the offenders may vary and their status may vary but the focus should be focused on the victim. DO YOU SEE ANY OTHER VICTIMS OR PERSONS AGAINST WHOM THE CRIME IS COMMITTED.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU ARE FOCUSING ON THE OFFENDER AND IN THE PROCESS YOU ARE DEFENDING A PAEDOPHILE AND RAPIST.
I would like to ask what punishment in your view is acceptable for rape of a minor and the handicapped?
We have written to the committee as Uganda Joint Christian Council to make sure that this is clearly an issue of statutory rape and that the death penalty is removed. If you want that document I can send that to you.
Finally you associate aggravated homosexuality and related crimes and put them under one. I agree that equating punishment is harsh and did indeed recommend that it be substantially reduced.
Nevertheless you should not be decieved that this is the work of three Americans who came and told Africans to detest homosexuality. No this is a tradition for more than 5000 years. You would have to travell back to the acient civilizations of Timbuktu, Ghana, Ethiopea to understand where are coming from.
Of course you would like to make us look extremists so you can stirr up the fear of your readers. You continue to INSIST that we want to round up homosexuals in Uganda ..but that is just not true. We are happy with the current punishment of 12 years as a detterent for all those who practice sodomy becuase it is an unnatural act.
I know of no known case where a homosexual has been arrested and hanged for sodomy in Uganda. Yet every day in America using tax payers money more than 3,000 babies are killed not for WHAT THEY have done, but for WHO THEY ARE!
I wonder why your box has no room for the rights of these little ones for whom there is no one who will dare stand up for them.
May God open your eyes to see his truth. May He give you conviction to turn and be saved. That is the CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN, THE CHANGE WE NEED.
Martin Ssempa PHD
martinssempa.blogspot.com
Timothy Kincaid
March 9th, 2010
Mr Ssempa,
Only a fool buys a box of rattlesnakes so as to get the one apple inside. And no matter how much you seek to entice me with the apple, this bill is a box of rattlesnakes.
Eric in Oakland
March 9th, 2010
If the purpose of the bill were truly protecting children and handicapped persons from sexual abuse, then why do Ssempa and his supporters refuse to remove the portions of the bill that penalize ALL homosexual conduct and advocacy?
If that were truly his goal, then he should be overjoyed to remove the portions of the bill that threaten death for consentual sex with another adult. It would remove almost all of the opposition to his bill and he would get him what he claims to want.
And is it so unusual for an advocate of genocide to claim Christian motive? Hitler did so when he sent jews, gays, and gypsies to the concentration camps. The Serbian Christians did so as they murdered hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Shannon Spencer Fox
March 9th, 2010
Yes, I think we all should give Mr. Ssempa (if it is actually him, and I would imagine a look at the commenter’s IP address should give us a clue on that) a hand for doing what Homer Simpson said once ‘You take forever to say nothing’. Though it’s an interesting perspective on the actual bill going through the Ugandan government: a bunch of time spent attempting to gloss over the real viper in the nest, as it were, and only a cursory line thrown out about it.
Regardless, there’s really not much I could say here that Timothy, Jim, and the rest of the people here at BTB haven’t said, so I’ll get to my one concern: are we to believe that, up until this point, there haven’t been any laws against rape or pederasty in Uganda up to this point? And if there weren’t, why is this bill so specific as to what people are covered (which is also a point Timothy mentioned)? I find it incredibly hard to believe there are no laws in Uganda that don’t already cover these, and I’m curious if that information can be dug up.
But let’s face it: much like the anti-gay forces here in America, this is all a massive smokescreen: the American anti-gay forces are more focused on whipping up hate and getting people to donate money, and this is more like a tool for murdering the opposition of whomever’s currently in charge, with the added bonus of not requiring the victims in question to belong to a certain race or whatnot; just have the right people show on the doll where they were touched, and off they go. And apparently with the right whitewashing of it, you can get people to go along with it.
John
March 9th, 2010
I sincerely hope that the US State Department never grants this Ugandan advocate of genocide, Martin Ssempa, a visa to visit the United States.
Jim Burroway
March 9th, 2010
What does the snake do when he is caught in a lie? The Father of Lies tells more lies.
And so it is with Ssempa, when he accuses me of “DEFENDING A PAEDOPHILE AND RAPIST.” I did no such thing. I challenge you, Ssempa, to find a single sentence anywhere where I have defended anyone who rapes children or adults. I don’t just challenge the liar Ssempa, I DEMAND that you answer the false slander that we “Defend statuatory rape”! That is libel. We do not and never have. That is your slander, Mr. Father of Lies.
You also ignore what I wrote just above:
In other words, I don’t give a damn what you do with rapists and pedophiles. I do however insist that whatever you do, you do regardless of the gender of the victims and perpetrators.
Is there a death sentence against fathers who rape their daughters? Is there a death sentence for mothers who sexually molest their sons? If so, then fine. But if not, let’s dispense with the double standard, since the motivation for maintaining that double standard can only come from one particular form of hatred. If you are unwilling to send fathers and mothers who rape their children to the gallows, then don’t even begin to talk to me about defending rapists and pedophiles. That moat is in your own eye.
And finally, let’s also dispense with the lies. Unfortunately, my hope there with you is futile, as it is the only tool in your toolbox.
Paul in Canada
March 9th, 2010
“Stupid is as stupid does.” – Forrest Gump
CPT_Doom
March 9th, 2010
I have consistently been amazed at the level of respect the writers here at BTB have given Ssempa and his fellow travelers in covering this travesty. Even now, when Jim is understandably and righteously angry in his posting, BTB still gives Mr. Ssempa the opportunity to defend himself – something he apparently wants to deny LGBT Ugandans.
What I would like to know is this. I live in DC, and of course we have the Ugandan embassy. That embassy’s land is considered part of Uganda. What happens when they need a catering delivery or a plumber and the individual sent happens to be gay? Should that individual feel at all safe in entering what is considered foreign soil, where laws like this proposal apply?
AJD
March 9th, 2010
CPT_Doom: Yes, that person still would be safe. It’s Uganda’s land, but people who enter it are still subject to U.S. law.
cowboy
March 9th, 2010
I don’t want to sound critical. But, obviously you have some clout here Mr. Burroway. Frustratingly, I don’t know what we can do! Does anyone have suggestions on how to best resolve this crisis? Call the State Department? Get more media involved?
Friends of BTB what are your suggestions?
Burr
March 9th, 2010
No it’s a tradition from when the white man first came and took over your country. You are simply doing the old white colonialist’s bidding now and have failed to catch up to modernity.
Chris McCoy
March 9th, 2010
Martin Ssempa wrote
If the bill addressed ONLY these 2 types of victims IN ITS ENTIRETY, then this would be a very different discussion.
The bill addresses more than that. You know it. We know it. One of us is lying.
Jim, and others, have enumerated – multiple times – the OTHER VICTIMS of this proposed legislation.
Lies.
What do the rape of a minor or the handicapped have anything to do with “aggravated homosexuality?”
If this bill were actually about statutory rape, then why include the sections on “aggravated homosexuality”?
The bill puts them under one. That is the whole point of the bill.
If you are happy with the current law, then why do you support new legislation which severely increases the punishment for consensual adult homosexual sex?
Red Herring. We are not debating the merits or lack thereof of American abortion laws. We are debating the merits of your Kill the Gays bill.
In your comment you state that:
1) You are happy with the CURRENT Ugandan law which punishes consensual adult homosexual sex with a 12-year prison sentence – and NOT life-time imprisonment, and NOT the death penalty.
2) You wish the death penalty for ONLY:
a) the rape of a minor
b) the rape of a disabled person
Please encourage your leaders to withdrawal the current legislation and propose new legislation which matches your stated goals.
Shannon Spencer Fox
March 9th, 2010
Well, personally I have a problem with that concept, but that’s because of my overall stance against the death penalty: what do you do if you find out later that the person you executed was actually innocent? No system can achieve 100% accuracy, and especially not one with laws that want to basically offer a thin veneer of due process to slaughtering the otherwise innocent.
Considering we’ve been in an open state of trade-embargo against Cuba for, so far as I can figure, their system of government being different than ours, I would think that would be a good step, and would at least be done for good reasons. Certainly boycotts on a personal level (which was hinted at by BTB’s recent post about the Uganda-brand coffee in Sam’s Club) would also be a good idea.
Some would say that it’s somewhat cruel to the actual citizens of the land, but as I understand it, almost all the foreign aid sent there gets consumed by the corrupt politician parasites anyway.
RCM
March 9th, 2010
It’s ok for people to be in prison for 12 years for consenting acts of homosexuality, because it is “unnatural”…no, sorry, I cannot see anything natural about locking people up for consenting acts, between adults, conducted in private. Caring that much what other people do to each other (presuming adulthood, permission and privacy), it just seems so unnatural to me.
Richard Rush
March 9th, 2010
Hey ssempa, you said:
Are you proud of looking back 5000 years to justify your position? You should be embarrassed. If that’s typical among people in Africa, it’s no wonder that so many African nations are backward, and overwhelmed with poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy. While the prosperous nations of the world have managed to learn and discover over that time, you seem to be pound of being as ignorant as your ancestors were 5000 years ago.
I’ll bet when you drive a car you spend most of your time looking in the rear-view mirror.
Pender
March 9th, 2010
Great post.
If there is a hell, men like Martin Ssempa who attempt to commit genocide will burn the hottest of them all. Compared to genocide, it almost seems silly to expect him to care about bearing false witness.
F Commento
March 9th, 2010
“You have called this the “kill the gays bill†but it is really about capital punishment for ‘paedophiles and rapists’.” Martin Ssempa
No, Martin, you are wrong.
As stated by Amnesty International (page 12):
“Sexual crimes against children are already criminalised under Ugandan law. Section 129 of the Ugandan penal code provides that ‘any person who performs a sexual act with another person who is below the age of 18 years, commits a felony known as defilement and is on conviction liable to life imprisonment.’24 This section also provides for the offence of ‘aggravated defilement’ punishable by death.
http://www-secure.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR59/003/2010/en/befd26d0-8051-469b-af76-b76858c423ff/afr590032010en.pdf
The ONLY sections of the bill that are new are the ones that DON’T protect children. The bill itself confirms that is not designed to protect children:
The Bill itself explicitly states:
“The objectives of the Bill are to:
“(a) provide for marriage in Uganda as that contracted only between a man and a woman;
“(b) prohibit and penalize homosexual behavior and related practices in Uganda as they constitute a threat to the traditional family;
“(c) prohibit ratification of any international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreement and declarations which are contrary or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act;
“(d) prohibit the licensing of organizations which promote homosexuality.”
No mention of paedophilia or rape.
While the problem that that you have claimed to address (supposed recruitment of heterosexual boys by European tourists) is largely mythical, the bill fails to remedy the genuine, widespread and extreme abuse of LGBT youths by their classmates, parents, teachers and preachers.
LGBT’s are born, not recruited, There is nothing in the bill to protect LGBT youth from bullying, from aggression and eviction by their parents, from expulsion from school, from the trauma of supposed conversion “therapy,” nor from homelessness, blackmail and outing, from homophobic stigmatisation and persecution and its results, suicide and addiction.
On the contrary, the bill criminalizes anyone who provides LGBT youths with the support they desperately need.
James
March 10th, 2010
They have ears but they can’t hear. Jim, Timothy and the rest…there is no need for a curse upon your lives. We Ugandans have stood with the bill and nothing can be done about it. Wallowing and trying to bash Ssempa does not help at all. A depraved mind has never produced anything better except destroying people’s images.Ssempa has clearly stated his stand. By the way, he is no politician, no millionaire like the homos in US,Europe, no nothing and yet he is shaking the “big nations” and “big peoples”. Oh Ssempa, go on and on. I support you. Iam Ugandan and forever I will be Ugandan.
Shannon Spencer Fox
March 10th, 2010
First off, thank you, F Commento, for confirming something I had guessed at; that child-molestation is in fact against the law in Uganda, which is a fact that should surprise absolutely nobody.
As for ‘James’, a few things…
1) While I dislike playing the role of ‘grammar-Nazi’, the best way to make a point is to use proper punctuation and spelling, unless you want your post to look like a somewhat more well-crafted piece of spam mail. Of course…
2) If this ‘James’ isn’t just a sock-puppet for whomever ‘martin ssempa’ is, I’d be terrifically impressed. Again, I’m curious if there’s any matching of IP addresses here…
3) Regarding this:
That’d be real news to the Ugandans that marched against the bill, apparently…
Shannon Spencer Fox
March 10th, 2010
(Gah! Hit the Post button as opposed to Preview…)
4) Finally, regarding this:
If by that you mean he’s obviously a very influential pastor that’s able to be invited onto various evening talk shows not a ‘politician’ or ‘millionaire’, I suppose that’s technically accurate. But I suppose he’s got the whole shaking thing going on, if by that you mean causing most of the rest of the civilized world to go ‘No, really, are you &*%#!@# kidding?’.
But, hey, feel free to stand by this all the way to the ground, since if there’s any kind of justice, most everyone’ll stop trade relations and aid… not to mention corporate investments.
----
March 10th, 2010
Ssempa, if you’re so proud of what Africans thought 5000 years ago, then go back to animism, since Christianity and the Bible is not something they would have accepted (without force of course).
Rob Tisinai
March 10th, 2010
For a video walk-through of the issues Jim has talked about, check this video out:
http://wakingupnow.com/blog/uganda-kill-everyone-video
Nevada Blue
March 10th, 2010
Well its two days now, and though Ssempa has posted his own BTB comment on his blog – surprise surprise – he has still not posted the text of the kill the gays bill. Cowardice and guile duly revealed…sadly, it’s not surprise to anyone.
Burr
March 10th, 2010
And your country will forever be poor and drowning in HIV/AIDS if it stays on this path. Enjoy.
DN
March 11th, 2010
To everyone at btb, you guys are doing an amazing job. Your integrity in dealing with Martin Ssempa is flawless, and (Jim Burroway in particular), your patience in dealing with Martin Ssempa is simply colossal.
I know there’s more to a complex news story than just one blog keeping a story alive, but given that the media has sourced you on their reporting, I think you guys deserve a lot of credit for keeping this story alive.
Keep up the good work – god knows I wouldn’t be able to.
Dr. Michael L. Brown
March 11th, 2010
To hear my interview today with Martin Ssempa today, in which he agreed with some of Jim’s concerns, go here: http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/
Cley
April 10th, 2012
You say that Ssempa is a liar and that he lies when saying that the bill deals with “paedophiles and rapists.” But when I just read the section of the Bill you posted, from point 1a through 1g, I see that, as Ssempa says, the Bill deals exactly with homosexuals who rape children and handicaps, thus “pedophiles and rapists.” So who is the liar here? You or Ssempa? It seems like you are!
Plus, you should definitely learn to do more research on Ugandan’s law to realize that until then, Ugandan law Uganda did have laws that addressed heterosexual rape and pedophilia just like in most countries, but didn’t have laws that dealt specifically with homosexual rape and pedophilia.
Please be objective and not emotional in you writings before deceiving all your readers who obviously cannot think by themselves to draw a conclusion but take for granted everything that you and the media say.
Jim Burroway
April 10th, 2012
Cley,
Since you have trouble with reading plain and simple English, let me refer you to the entire bill, and compare that with Ssempa’s lie that the bill’s capital punishment is only for “paedophiles and rapistsâ€. A simple reading shows that it clearly is not, as plainly spelled out here. The bill is so broadly worded that virtually anyone can be put to death, whether they are rapists or pedophiles or not.
And as for this:
We have done our research, and Uganda indeed does have laws that already apply to homosexual rape and pedophilia. In fact, Uganda’s laws don’t mention gender, making those offenses illegal regardless of the gender of the perpetrator and victim.
So yes, Ssempa is a liar. Which is why he is being tried in court in Uganda, isn’t he?
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