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 lobbyPosts Tagged As: Uganda
January 10th, 2010
Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton has a rundown on several American evangelicals who support Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, with some even supporting the death penalty or explaining it away by lying about its application. One post by Joel McDurmon appeared on the American Vision web site, appropriately titled “A Perfect Hatred.” He writes:
Where God says a civil crime deserves the death penalty, I propose that we keep in step with the first greatest commandment and recognize His total sovereignty in heart, soul, strength, and mind…. Now, it just so happens that God revealed that the homosexual act is a civil crime, and it just so happens that He revealed that the homosexual act as a civil crime deserves the death penalty.
Larry Jacobs of the World Congress of Families rushed to defend Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, but offered not one word of criticism of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill which came on the aftermath of Schmierer’s March 5-7 conference in Kampala. He didn’t even bother to mention the death penalty provisions.
Warren also noted one article by Cliff Kincaid which earned a LaBarbera Award from BTB’s Timothy Kincaid (no relation), but that’s not the only example from this guy. In another post Cliff Kincaid complains that criticizing the wide-ranging bill amounts to “bashing” Uganda’s Christians, metaphorical language that is insulting in the extreme to those gays and lesbians who have actually been physically bashed bodily, sometimes to death.
If you know of other examples of American supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, feel free to leave them in comments at Warren Throckmorton’s web site.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 10th, 2010
Life is becoming dangerous in Kampala for Dr. Paul Semugoma (NZHerald.com)
“They are saying that I’m the ‘gay tycoon’, spreading the infectious disease of homosexuality in Uganda,” he says with a bitter laugh. “It’s such nonsense.”
In reality, he is a respected doctor who has volunteered his time to help with HIV and safe sex education programmes and writes a weekly medical advice column for a popular newspaper.
But in the last month he has been publicly outed as a homosexual four times with government officials offering money to anyone willing to inform on his private life.
December 30, 2009 edition of the Red Pepper (Click to enlarge)
Dr. Semugoma had been named in Uganda’s notorious tabloid Red Pepper as one of the “city tycoons who bankroll Ugandan homos.” Although Box Turtle Bulletin has focused a good deal on the situation in Uganda over the last year, the proposal to execute gays or imprison them for life is but the most drastic measure in a continent-wide effort by politicians to blame their nations’ ills on the “Western import” of homosexuality.
Writing for the New Zealand Herald, Daniel Howden provides a picture of a picture of Africa that is disconcerting. In addition to Uganda and the Milawi couple being held without bail,
“Sodomy laws”, legislation criminalising same-sex intercourse, are under consideration in new commonwealth member Rwanda and in neighbouring Burundi.
In Nigeria, a bill awaiting legislative action would impose criminal penalties for engaging in or performing same sex marriage ceremonies.
In Senegal, nine men, including a prominent HIV prevention worker, were sentenced to eight years in prison last year for “engaging in acts against the order of nature”.
Their sentences were commuted to a fine and they were finally released three months later after an international outcry.
…
The current anti-homosexual crackdown is drawing worldwide attention, but 38 out of 53 African countries had already criminalised consensual gay sex.And in many cases, sodomy laws had remained on the books from the colonial era.
In many ways the Western world is only just beginning to realize the extent to which homophobia and homohatred has become instilled in African cultures. And it is just now beginning to see the danger of western missionaries stirring the fires of bigotry into conflagrations that they cannot control.
Let’s hope that with increased knowledge will come increased responsibility. Sadly, so far, those who have been most guilty have shown no desire to accept or acknowledge their responsibility.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 10th, 2010
Continuing in our quest to to understand the role of American religious conservatives in African politics, we posted yesterday a comment by Bob Hunter, an associate with the heretofore secretive religious group known as The Family. In that comment, Hunter provided a brief excerpt from a transcript which he says supports his statements made on Rachel Maddow’s program earlier last week, and which were contested a few days later by Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Late last night, Sharlet left this comment answering some of Hunter’s points.
I spoke to Bob Hunter this evening after this went up on Box Turtle. The bottom line is that we\’re in agreement on some central points: The bill, proposed and supported by men in relationship with the Family — David Bahati, James Nsaba Buturo, and Yoweri Museveni — is wrong and must be stopped; the Family has been too secretive, which has hindered its ability to take a stand; and Hunter is doing the right thing by going public in order to make that stand.
My use of the phrase “Jesus footing” was not derogatory. It was, as I told Bob tonight, in recognition of the Family\’s long stated goal of a “God-led government.” The particular document I had in mind — related to Senator Jim Inhofe\’s extensive work in Uganda on behalf of the Family — describes one aspect of the Africa work thusly:
“2. THE EXECUTION OF THE VISION
A. A congressman and/or Senator from the United States will befriend the leader of another country and tell him/her how Jesus and His teachings will help his country and its poor.
B. U.S. leader and foreign leader will select 5 men (mentors) from the foreign country to commit to learn about Jesus and how He will help themselves, their country and the poor.“… We will teach the mentors to confess their sins (known or unknown) and to ask the Holy Spirit of Christ to live in them, and to teach them how to live, what to think and what to say.”
Bob says he\’s unfamiliar with this document. I believe him. There\’s a lot of paperwork in the Family. And, to be fair, Bob\’s pretty busy doing consumer advocacy work.
We also agreed that a there\’s no point in us having a pissing match here in America while Uganda burns, so to speak. So, in that spirit, I\’m going to take Bob\’s word that he was simply trying to clarify the record; accept his apology for saying that I\’ve disowned my book (a misunderstanding, he says); and leave the transcript above to speak for itself. It was an on the record conversation. “Bait” is “bait,” the use of a big name to bring people to the table behind the scenes. Whether that\’s a good approach is in the eye of the beholder. I think it\’s fair to say — and that Bob would at least in part agree – that in the case of Jim Inhofe, the fiercely anti-gay senator identified by a 2003-4 budget as responsible for maintaining relationships with leaders of 11 African nations, including Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi — the “bait” may have brought his own baggage.
But Hunter, thank God, is cut from a different cloth. The point is that Bob is trying to bring peace and human rights to Uganda. We can disagree about how to do that, we can even disagree about what constitutes “peace,” but right now, on the brink of murder, our disagreements don\’t matter as much as our common cause.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 10th, 2010
Many of those behind Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill complain that homosexuality is a foreign import, despite the ironic fact that it was Europeans who imposed bans on homosexuality on their African colonies — and despite the huge impetus given the current drive to legislate LGBT people out of existence by three American anti-gay extremists. The idea of homosexuality being somehow “un-African” is widely believed, despite being ignorant nonesense. Douglas Foster, writing for the Los Angeles Times, provides proof of that from his visits to a Johannesburg, South Africa gay nightclub which served as a haven for Africa’s gay diaspora:
To get to Simply Blue’s curved bar and large dance floor, patrons had to climb a long flight of stairs and go through a security pat-down. You could always spot newcomers because they usually sat off to the side in the shadows, on broken-down couches, their eyes wide and jaws slack. Many of them literally had had the idea beaten into them that they were part of a cursed, despicable, tiny minority.
There was the middle-aged man from Zimbabwe, formerly married, whose brother had plotted to have him killed because of the shame he’d brought to his family when he’d switched to dating men. There was a young Nigerian who lingered on the sidelines for weeks before inching out onto the dance floor, but then moved in an explosion of long-suppressed joy at finding himself dancing in public across from another man. I met an older fellow, a soft-spoken farmer from Uganda who’d raised his children before leaving his home, his wife and his country. He’d finally decided he couldn’t live to the end of his life without having the chance to express his truest self.
[Hat tip: BTB reader Regan DuCasse]
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 9th, 2010
I just discovered that NTV, Uganda’s independent television station run by the same media company that publishes The Monitor, has a YouTube channel. We reported yesterday on conflicting statements by Uganda’s cabinet members, some saying that the government will pressure MP David Bahati into withdrawing the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, while others say the bill will proceed through Parliament. Here is NTV’s take as reported earlier this morning (or late evening in Uganda), January 9:
Here is NTV’s January 7 coverage of reaction to the New York Times editorial condemning the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 9th, 2010
In the context of understanding the role of American religious conservatives in African politics, particularly in Uganda, there has been a back-and-forth between Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
On the 7th, Sharlet appeared on Rachel Maddow\’s show. He asserted that statements by Hunter on a previous episode were inconsistent with his conversation with Hunter and that both he and Hunter had a copy of the transcript of that conversation.
Hunter also included a letter he sent to Rachel Maddow, reinforcing his contention that he did not know Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo personally, and “had not even heard of him until this story broke, even from my Uganda friends.” But, as with the rest of us, he has learned of him since then in connection with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The following comment was made to the thread of our posting about that appearance:
Hi, Bob Hunter here.
I thought you might like to see the transcript of the interview Jeff Sharlet and I had, where I make clear that the reason a Senator and a former UN Ambassador were willing to be “bait” was not about a “Jesus footing”, whatever that is (I have never used the phrase) but about trying to bring peace to Uganda. It worked, eventually helping create a few friends from various political perspectives, meeting around the teachings of Jesus about loving enemies and turning cheeks. Here is the transcript that makes this clear:
Hunter’s transcript of this interview is available after the jump.
January 8th, 2010
Yesterday we noted that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Uganda had endorsed the Anti-Homosexuality bill which, in its current form, would incarcerate for life any gay person that touched another and which had death penalty provisions, including for “repeat offenders”, a very broadly defined category.
We also noted that the response of the church in America to having this brought to their attention was woefully vague. It could have meant most anything, including their endorsement of the bill. Today they have a new statement:
Church leadership noted with concern some statements reportedly made by the Uganda Union Mission Executive Director in connection with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill under consideration in Uganda. These views do not reflect the values of the Church as expressed in published statements on same sex conduct.
Seventh-day Adventists continue to affirm the equal dignity and rights of every person as articulated in the relevant international human rights declarations and Covenants.
–Rajmund Dabrowski, Communication Director
While this is more informative, it is far from an unequivocal opposition to this piece of legislation. And considering that many other Christian voices – including those who do not need to reverse public statements of endorsement – have been clear in their opposition, I think that the church does a disservice to itself by speaking in generalities.
It would well serve the integrity of the church to clearly state that they, as a body, oppose the criminalization of non-coercive same-sex behavior and support the rights of gay persons to live in freedom.
If, indeed, that is what they mean.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 8th, 2010
Late last night, we noticed an item in Uganda’s largest independent newspaper reporting that the Ugandan Minister of State for Investment Aston Kajara said that the government would ask MP David Bahati to withdraw the Anti-Homosexuality Bill due to backlash from foreign investors. Now the Associated Press reports that MP David Bahati, the lawmaker who introduced the private member’s bill, will not back down:
“I stand by the bill,” Bahati said. “I will not withdraw it. We have our children in schools to protect against being recruited into (homosexuality). The process of legislating a law to protect our children against homosexuality and defending our family values must go on.”
Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo also insists that debate on the bill will take place in about three weeks, claiming that “there is no way government can withdraw that bill.” He also warns that any elected politician who opposed the legislation would be comitting “political suicide.” Parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled for 2011.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 8th, 2010
We tried diligently to get Don Schmierer to not go to Uganda. He went anyway.
We tried desperately to get Don Schmierer to speak out against the legislation proposed in Uganda to execute gay Ugandans or imprison them for life. He was silent.
In fact, Schmierer ignored us and the results of his international anti-gay activism until he was exposed on Rachel Maddow’s show. Then he issued a statement that appeared to be in conflict with the facts as we knew them to be.
Now he has told the Fox affiliate in Sacramento that it’s all a misunderstanding.
He says he thought he was preaching about open communication in parenting.
But now that his inbox is being flooded with hate-mail he says it’s all a misunderstanding.
“I’m trying to help people understand the differences and how to communicate and how to listen to each other.”
If Mr. Schmierer wishes to communicate, he knows how to reach us. If he wishes to clear up any misunderstandings, he can explain why his version of events contradict the video, news reports, and first hand accounts from the conference. We’d be happy to let him set the record straight – accurately, this time.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 7th, 2010
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Sharlet revealed that just this week he had obtained a budget for The Family’s work in Africa “identifying (Sen.) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) as the designated point man selected to work with eleven African leaders, most of them Presidents including the President of Uganda Museveni, President of Rwanda Kagame and to work with them to help set their nations on a sort of a Jesus footing. … There’s a budget, there’s money, there is a support staff, it’s a very formal effort that he’s undertaking.”
Sharlet also said that the Senators use their status as U.S. Senators to open doors for the Family in Africa. Sharlet said of Hunter:
He explained to me that those senators who were traveling with The Family… I had made the mistake of saying that Mr. Hunter travels at the behest of the U.S. government. He corrected me. He said ‘No, Senators travel at the behest of me. I use them as bait; I use them as tools to reach those in power, and then we can go about trying to get them on this Jesus footing.
Rachel clarified that it is not the Family that is at the beck and call of the U.S. government, but that the U.S. government is at the beck and call of the Family.
Hunter had denied knowing Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, implying that Buturo was not a member of The Family. Sharlet said he was puzzled by that, saying that Hunter had told him that establishing the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity had been created for The Family, and that Buturo “inherited” that position, along with his position in the Family. Buturo has since traveled overseas representing Uganda at Family events.
Oh yeah, we got a shout-out from Rachel as well. You can find the Scott Lively videos here.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 7th, 2010
Uganda’s largest independent newspaper The Monitor is reporting that governmental officials are looking for a way out on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to The Monitor:
The State Minister for Investments, Mr Aston Kajara, yesterday said the government was looking at the Bill with the possibility of withdrawing it. “The government\’s official position is that we have enough laws to cover homosexuality acts,” Mr Kajara said. “Government did not sponsor this Bill. It is a private member\’s Bill. The government is studying it and we may talk to the honourable Member of Parliament (David Bahati) to consider withdrawing it.”
On December 11, a senior adviser to President Yoweri Museveni published an 0p-ed in the state-owned New Vision calling on Parliament to drop the bill. At the time, we considered that a very encouraging sign, since nothing gets printed in New Vision unless it has some backing from within the government. That followed an op-ed posted just a few days earlier on the Uganda Media Centre web site, which normally operates as an official governmental clearing house for press statements. That op-ed said that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was not needed and that Parliament had other more important things to worry about.
Since then, there have been reports in outside media that others within the government were considering dropping the death penalty, but keeping other aspects of the wide-ranging and draconian bill intact. Some of those same reports were reported in Uganda’s independent press, but suggestions that the bill would be dropped have not been made publicly by members of Uganda’s government to Ugandan press. Until now, which is why this may well be a very significant development.
This doesn’t mean the bill is dead. Ardent supporters of the Bill vow a nationwide rally on January 19. It has not been withdrawn, but it is encouraging that a member of Moseveni’s cabinet has given the government’s “official position” that the bill is not needed.
Update: Geoff Magga at Afrik.com also reports on Kajara’s statement. He also has this from Kajara, indicating that Uganda’s reputation is suffering among foreign investors:
“We are not happy with what is being said about Uganda because of the anti gay bill. Ever since the anti-gay bill was tabled, there has been outcries not only here but from allover the world against it. This is likely to affect the flow of foreign investors into the country,” Aston Kajara said.
The BBC has also picked up on the story, citing AFP as a source. But of course that is not the full story. Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsabe Buturo, who is also a member of the secretive American evangelical group known as The Family, insists that the bill will be ready for Parliamentary debate within the next three weeks.
Update: As I said, the bill is not dead. MP David Bahati, who introduced the legislation as a private member’s bill, refuses to budge.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 7th, 2010
Spectrum is “a journal established to encourage Seventh-day Adventist participation in the discussion of contemporary issues from a Christian viewpoint”. As such, it is uniquely qualified to discuss the recent statements coming from Seventh Day Adventist religious leaders in Uganda in support of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality bill.
Spectrum’s Alexander Carpenter has written an online commentary expressing concern about the bill and the way in which support for it is contradictory to church policy.
Given this attempt to mix church and state, it is particularly troubling that the highest ranking Adventist leader in Uganda would support this law.
Furthermore, the law states that,
Where the offender is a corporate body or a business or an association or a non-governmental organization, on conviction its certificate of registration shall be cancelled and the director or proprietor or promoter shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for seven years.
Thus, if, as has happened in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church administrator turns out to be gay, John Kakembo’s support for this bill could actually threaten the work of the church in Uganda.
Given the parameters outlined in the Working Policy of the church, John Kakembo’s common cause on the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 lies outside our religious liberty principles, breaks church policy, and is opposite the goal of following Christ in helping, not jailing, the least of these.
In response, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has issued the following statement:
The church has made official statements on the issue of homosexuality. These continue to be our expressed position. Our inquiries with the Uganda Union indicate that not all that is being reported or interpreted in the media coverage is factual.
Our office has taken steps to inform the Uganda Union president\’s office about the officially articulated position of the church regarding homosexuality. There will be on-going communication with the East-Central Africa Division and the church administration in Uganda.
I am uncertain what the church means by “not all that is being reported or interpreted in the media coverage is factual”. If that indicates that the church leader in Uganda, John Kakembo, has been falsely claimed as a supporter of the bill, then I am encouraged.
If, however, it indicates that the church is dismissive of public criticism of the bill, then that is most distressing. And sadly, while the statement of church principles does mention compassion and value, the only principles stated consist of condemnation of homosexuality and same-sex relationships and do not clearly articulate a position on criminalization of gay persons.
It is difficult to determine from this vague statement whether the Seventh-day Adventist Church opposes the bill or if it stands in the unique position of being the only denomination in the West to publicly endorse the death penalty as punishment for homosexuality.
I would encourage the church, and all Adventists, to read the language of the bill and issue a statement strongly condemning it as contrary to the teachings of Christ. Until it does so, the only position on record is that of Kakembo’s announcement of Seventh-day Adventist endorsement and of the Church’s refusal to refute that endorsement.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 7th, 2010
The Associated Press story we pointed to this morning indicating that Uganda’s president is urging lawmakers to drop the death penalty provision from its otherwise still-draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill contains a horrible misquote by a Ugandan LGBT activist, one which completely obscures the fact that this proposed modification is almost negligible. The AP story suggests that all the Ugandan Parliament needs to do is drop the death penalty provision, and Uganda’s LGBT advocates will then fall in line and support the government.
This is a gross misrepresentation Let me explain. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, as currently written, would:
As you can see, dropping the death penalty provision, while an important feature, is barely a concession given the scope of the bill. It’s debatable whether there’s much of a difference between the death penalty and spending a lifetime in Ugandan prisons. It still criminalizes knowing someone who is gay, it still criminalizes renting a room or flat to someone who is gay, it still criminalizes gay Ugandans living abroad, and it still criminalizes all acts of free speech or giving any sort of aide to gay people.
But the AP article implies that it is only the death penalty provision that Ugandan LGBT advocates object to:
Frank Mugisha, leader of Sex Minorities Uganda, said the gay-rights group will campaign for and support President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 polls because of his opposition to the bill’s harsher provisions.
“If one scratches your back you also scratch his back,” Mugisha said. “Museveni’s action shows that he is a true democrat. As a head of state he is doing the right thing of protecting all interests of its citizens including those of the minorities.”
Frank Mugisha tells Warren Throckmorton that this is not at all what he said:
I called Frank Mugisha to ask if he was quoted correctly and he said no, he was not quoted correctly. He said he did not say, ‘if one scratches your back, you also scratch his back.\’ He also noted that Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUg) does not support specific political parties, saying
We are not political. As an organization, we don\’t support any party. Like all Ugandans, some of our members support one party, and others support another party.
Regarding President Museveni, Mugisha said he did not know what stance he had taken. His comment to the reporter was meant to be a hypothetical statement, saying
I said, ‘if the President protects gays, then he is being democratic.\’ We do not know yet what he is going to do.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 7th, 2010
There are reports out this morning that Uganda President Yoweri Museveni wants the death penalty provision removed from the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill which is now before Parliament. The Washington Post, in a strongly worded editorial this morning, says that this move is not worth celebrating.
As currently written, the bill would:
As you can see, dropping the death penalty clause barely scratches the surface of what the Washington Post calls an “ugly and ignorant piece of legislation.”
This retreat from the death sentence originally proposed should neither be celebrated nor considered a concession by the government in response to pressure from the United States and other nations. The proposal is barbaric. That it is even being considered puts Uganda beyond the pale of civilized nations.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
January 6th, 2010
Bob Hunter appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night on behalf of the secretive conservative Christian group known as The Family, to talk about The Family’s role in the Ugandan proposal to legislate LGBT people out of existence. Most of his statements on Rachel Maddow were a repeat of what he had said earlieron NPR’s Fresh Air on December 22. He claimed that The Family never involved themselves in politics — he was particularly combative on that point on Maddow’s show — and that The Family was working to try to get the Anti-Homosexuality Bill withdrawn. You can see the videos from Rachel Maddow’s show here and here.
As I said, Hunter was particularly combative in insisting that The Family is just a bunch of small groups of people who gather for prayer and Bible study, and doesn’t get involved with politics. He also vigorously slammed Jeff Sharlet’s book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
With respect for Bob\’s good intentions in opposing the bill and bringing a smidgeon of transparency to an organization that has been defined by secrecy for 75 years, there\’s much in his statement on Maddow — which I helped arrange — that is inaccurate. I\’ll have more on this later today, but the most significant point is that the Family/Fellowship has functioned as a political organization ever since it was first formed in the 1930s to elect Arthur Langlie to the office of the Washington governor\’s office. It was political when it threw its muscle behind the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act that undid much of the New Deal … it was political when it sent Senator Chuck Grassley to Somalia (and Uganda) in the early 80s to build U.S. support for the genocidal regime of dictator Siad Barre; and it\’s political now, as it struggles to do damage control over the Uganda issue. Sending someone like Senator Jim Inhofe to meet with foreign leaders — readers should know that goes through the State Department — on the taxpayer\’s tab is political. ..There is a religious function, too; but let\’s lay all the cards on the table.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
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