May 10th, 2010
I’m still keeping the word “rejects” in quotation marks for the time being, but this marks the second independent media report indicating that Uganda’s cabinet is trying to put the kibosh on the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Saturday Monitor, Uganda’s leading independent newspaper, carried a very similar report to the New York Times indicating that the Cabinet was trying to kill off the bill. The Times’ reporter appears a bit more certain than the Monitor’s. Josh Kron quotes Adolf Mwesige, a lawmaker and chairman of the special Cabinet committee set up by President Yoweri Museveni to look into the bill:
Adolf Mwesige, a lawmaker and chairman of the special committee, said that virtually all clauses in the legislation were either unconstitutional or redundant, and that any other clauses should be placed in another bill dealing generally with sexual offenses.
“Ninety-nine percent of all the proposals in the Bahati bill have been done before,” Mr. Mwesige said. “If we proceeded, it would definitely provoke criticism, and rightly so.”
…Mr. Mwesige said he expected the full Parliament to vote down the bill within weeks. “The influence of the cabinet is very important. If it takes a decision, it must be taken seriously.”
Speaking of provoking criticism, today’s Monitor carries an op-ed by Wanume Kibedi who asserts that the greatest beneficiaries of the anti-gay bill has been Ugandan gay activists themselves. I’m sure Ugandan advocates (and especially those who have been arrested, mistreated, and even killed in the uproar) would vigorously disagree, but Kibedi (who harbors the prevelant notion in Uganda that homosexuality is a western imported vice, along with prostitution and strip clubs) senses that international outrage over the bill has had its effect:
There is also the argument that in the days of globalisation, a country cannot act or behave as if the views of other countries did not matter…
Ironically there are two categories of unintended beneficiaries of this Bill. Firstly, those who are trying to promote gay rights in Uganda, who will be able to generate more funds from overseas on the grounds that they are fighting for equal opportunities and basic human rights. Secondly those seeking political asylum in the West, who will claim that they are fleeing from homophobic harassment and persecution.
Personally I have not come across any gay individual in Uganda, male or female. They must be a tiny minority. Why crack a nut with a sledge hammer?
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
David C.
May 10th, 2010
There was a very telling article in the online NYT: At Front Lines, AIDS War Is Falling Apart. The dateline is (May 9, 2010) Kampala, Uganda.
The author is blunt about the story in the ground:
The global recession has hit donors hard, and aid organizations that supply medicine and medical care for AIDS and other killer diseases in Africa such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and tetanus have seen funding go flat. Such funding would have to triple just to stay even with the infection rate for AIDS alone.
Ugandan authorities I believe are beginning to realize that they have a real problem on their hands and they very much need the world to continue to support efforts in their country to help with the fight against a host of devastating diseases. The reality is however that the world’s donors are moving away from treatment of AIDS patients because it is too expensive.
Much outcry against the “kill the gays” bill has been heard coming from the United States. Even some of the US religious leaders that provoked the recent anti-gay protests and rallies in Uganda are backpedaling. It matters what people in the US think, and the Ugandan government knows it is playing a dangerous game of chicken.
Uganda cannot afford to alienate the world that it so desperately depends on for aid. All of those here in the US and elsewhere in the world that have been calling for Uganda to be “cut off” from aid if the country should decide to pass the “kill the gays bill” have in a way been heard. It is not that alone, but any erosion or negative perception of Uganda and its neighbors will only make the situation worse. Smart leaders know that they need their partners in an increasingly interconnected world.
Paul in Canada
May 11th, 2010
David C: “Smart leaders know that they need their partners in an increasingly interconnected world.”
Indeed! Therein lies the crucial issue in dealing with any issue: human rights, disease prevention/treamtment, famine, environmental degredation, etc., etc.
We live in a global ‘community’ and are interdependent on one another, either directly (aid funding, research) or indirectly (disease spread through global migration). Ignoring this fact is tantamount to ‘suicide’, economically, culturally and literally. It really has less to do with ‘democracy’ as it does with accepting our ‘humanness’.
Unfortunately, struggling countries and western powerhouses alike often ignore the symbiotic relationship, preferring to bury their heads in ignorance or self-righteousness/ arrogance.
The sooner we realize we are ‘in this together’, the sooner we’ll find common ground and begin to find solutions.
Perhaps the Ugandan leaders are coming to their senses……
paul j stein
May 11th, 2010
The Ugandan leaders are coming to the DOLLARS and CENTS of the issue. They want the money like a PIMP wants it from the whores he lives off of. The leaders scared the “International JOHNS” away with this legislation and with them their MONEY. End of story.
Leave A Comment