Box Turtle Bulletin

Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill Author Coming To Washington, D.C. Next Week

MP David Bahati

That’s according to Warren Throckmorton, who has been talking with with M.P. David Bahati over the phone:

In addition to campaigning for re-election during the recess, Mr. Bahati plans to travel to the United States next week with a group of MPs to attend the 2010 Winter Conference of the  International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management. The conference will be held in Washington DC from Dec. 6-8.

Parliament is now in recess in preparation for the February Parliamentary elections. Bahati expects the Anti-Homosexuality Bill to be considered during the Parliament’s lame-duck session between the elections and the installation of the next Parliament in May.

Who NOT to vote for in Chicago

Chicagans have lots of choices to pick from for mayor of ChiTown.

Just not this guy:

James Meeks, a Democratic Senator who is also chair of the the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, is seeking your vote for mayor. Well, maybe not your vote. Because Meeks, is a Baptist minister who voted “no” on civil unions. He “believes in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman,” you see.

Funny. I believe in the sanctity of equal representation of an elected official and all of his constituents. So when it comes to Meeks, feel free to vote “no.”

Cuz of all the sanctity.

Couple recognition, state by state

Upon the governor’s signature, Illinois will become the second state that is currently offering civil unions to same-sex couples. The status of the various recognition mechanisms is as follows:

Marriage on the same terms as heterosexual marriage – 5.1% of US Population:

Massachusetts
Connecticut
Iowa
Vermont
New Hampshire
District of Columbia

Civil Unions – a rights except the name – 7.1% of US Population:

New Jersey
Illinois

Domestic Partnerships will all the rights except the name – 16.3% of US Population

California
Oregon
Washington
Nevada

Limited recognition of same-sex couples – 6.2% of US Population

Hawaii – Reciprocal Benefits
Colorado – Reciprocal Benefits
Wisconsin – Domestic Partnerships
Maine – Domestic Partnerships
Maryland – Domestic Partnerships

In addition, the states of Maryland and New York (6.4% of US Population) will give full recognition to same-sex marriages conducted where legal. Rhode Island may possibly do so also (it’s a bit uncertain) and offers unregistered Domestic Partnerships with a scant handful of rights.

Also, there are dozens of cities offer some form of recognition and protection for same-sex couples.

Heterosexual Agenda: Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage Between a Man and a Woman and Three Dogs

And in Sally Kern’s back yard, no less:

Edward James Double, 35, and his wife, Brandy Teresa Double, 35, were jailed Tuesday on complaints of bestiality, exhibition of obscene materials to minor children, maintaining a disorderly house, possession of illegal drugs and soliciting sexual conduct with a minor. Edward Double also faces a complaint of indecent exposure

…”We’ve recovered videotape of people having sex with animals,” Cole said. “It’s disgusting. And we pray that none of the kids have been molested.”

The investigation started Monday when a girl staying at the house called relatives and the relatives called police. Cole said relatives of the girl in Texas called police about possible sexual abuse of the girl. The girl told her relatives she had seen a video of Brandy having sex with a dog. She said she had received e-mails from Brandy and Edward Double encouraging her to have sex with him.

Three dogs were removed from the home, and the legally-married united-in-holy-matrimony couple’s children are now in state custody.

[Hat tip: Dallas Voice]

Illinois Senate votes for Civil Unions

The Illinois State Senate has now voted to enact civil unions, by a bipartisan vote of 32 to 24, following yesterday’s vote in the House. After the signature of Governor Pat Quinn – who has been campaigning for the bill – the following will be law in the state:

Section 20. Protections, obligations, and responsibilities. A party to a civil union is entitled to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses, whether they derive from statute, administrative rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil or criminal law.

Granted, this does not carry the prestige of marriage, but to those Illinoisans who are now able to access many rights that they could not access before, I offer my joyous congratulations.

Jesus Is Coming On May 21, 2011

This announcement is being presented in the interest of our readers.

Mark your calendar. And don’t forget to make appropriate arrangements.

World AIDS Day 2010

Today is World AIDS Day, a time to reflect, to refocus, and to address the continuing global epidemic of HIV/AIDS. This day always brings remembrances for me, and I thought I’d share some.

But I’ve sat here and written and revised and amended and started over, and I’ve found that I simply cannot share my personal thoughts on this. I’ve been devastated by this disease, but I’ve also been astonishingly lucky. I’ve lost some very dear to me, but considering that I lived within 50 miles of the Castro for all of the 80’s, my loss is nothing, nothing at all, compared to others.

But regardless of the extent, I find that I can’t personalize AIDS on this site. And yet I can’t just write some impersonal analysis, today. HIV/AIDS is personal, intensely personal to gay men of my age.

It has always been a part of our lives, a backdrop to socializing, romance, love and sex; always an issue, always present. It has been the filter through which we have been demonized, the focus of compassion, the impetus for our activism, and the basis of our shellshock. It’s built bonds between gay men and lesbians and parents and churches. It exposed the world to the existence of gay people outside of “the big city”. And it killed many of our best and brightest – some of whom we loved.

I am encouraged about recent studies – and we do discuss them here – and about the statistics regarding longevity and continued effectivity. But AIDS is not statistics, it’s stories, and that’s where I stumble. You’d think after enough time it would become easier, yet there are still things I don’t talk about.

But maybe you can. Perhaps you have stories to share.

Or perhaps you want to reflect on a future, the increasingly likely hopes for both a prevention and a cure. Or to discuss the international consequences of a disease that is ravishing some parts of the world.

If so, here is a space for your recollections and thoughts.

Kenyan Prime Minister Calls For Mass Arrests Of Gays

Prime Minister Raila Odinga, speaking at a political rally on Sunday, said that all gays in Kenya should be rounded up and charged with violating the nation’s anti-sodomy laws. According to the Kenyan independent newspaper Daily Nation:

Addressing a rally at Kamukunji grounds in his Langata Constituency, the PM said their behaviour was unnatural. “If found the homosexuals should be arrested and taken to relevant authorities,” Mr Odinga said.

The PM thrilled the crowd when he asserted that the recent census showed there were more women than men and there was no need for same sex relationships. He said it was madness for a man to fall in love with another man while there were plenty of women and added that there was no need for women to engage in lesbianism yet they can bear children.

Anti-gay rhetoric has been noticeably absent under President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga until now, which is why LGBT advocates describe the Prime Minister’s remarks as “out of left field”:

A board member of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, Nguru Karugu, said the comments could potentially drive Kenya’s gay and lesbian communities underground.

“The community will now fear and go back in,” said Karugu. “Fear to go to testing, fear to go to health clinics, fear to get services, fear to go to the police, for fear of being arrested or being harassed. It was a major blow for some pretty good work that has been going on the last few years.”

LGBT advocates say that they have already received phone calls from people who are HIV-positive who are afraid to go to their clinics to receive refills on their anti-retroviral medication.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister’s office is reportedly backing away from his comments, claiming they were taken out of context and that there is no change in government policy. Kenya’s new constitution contains a bill of rights which prohibits discrimination on any grounds, but LGBT activists fear that Odinga’s remarks will provide official sanction for anti-gay pogroms.

Those fears aren’t without foundation. Last February, anti-gay mobs went on the rampage in Mombasa following rumors of a same-sex wedding in a nearby resort town. At least a few American anti-gay extremists sought to promote violence against LGBT Kenyans by posting “Wanted” posters on the Internet. Some of those posters were printed and posted on the streets in several parts of Kenya.

Last year, Kenya announced that they would count gays in the national census as part of an important effort to gather information for guiding the country’s HIV prevention programs. AIDS activists hailed the move, but many LGBT activists were cautious. Kenya’s colonial-era anti-sodomy law provides for imprisonment for up to fourteen years upon conviction. Odinga’s remarks last Sunday would only heighten those fears.

But despite those problems, there had been grounds for optimism that the climate in Kenya was improving significantly for LGBT people. Last October, Kenya’s Special Programs Minister Esther Murugi told participants at a national symposium on HIV/AIDS in Mombasa that addressing the problem of homophobia was critical to the country’s fight against HIV. “We need to learn to live with men who have sex with other men… we are in the 21st century and things have changed,” she told the audience. Those remarks generated a huge public outcry, but Murugi has remained at her post.

Republicans Unite To Doom DADT Repeal

That’s according to a letter signed by all 42 Senate Republicans to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Read:

…Republicans informed their Democratic counterparts they would not go forward with “any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers.”

The letter goes on: “With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.” 

Given the high political stakes behind the extension of the Bush’s budget busting tax cuts, it’s unlikely that the GOP-induced logjam will be broken anytime soon before time runs out. All of those GOP Senators who claimed they would vote to repeal DADT?  As far as I can see, it was nothing but vacuous political posturing. So what else is new?