Box Turtle Bulletin

BTB Videos: Scott Lively Delivers His “Nuclear Bomb” To Uganda

“Can anyone say AIDS?” Scott Lively said AIDS was just punishment from God at an anti-gay conference in Kampala, Uganda, March 7, 2009.

Scott Lively was one of three American activists to speak at an anti-gay conference in Kampala, Uganda on March 5-7, 2009. The other two participants were Exodus International board member Don Schmierer and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge. Two weeks after the conference, Lively bragged that he had delivered a “nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Ex-Gay Watch and Box Turtle Bulletin have obtained some videos of that conference, and for the first time we get to see what that “nuclear bomb” looks like.

This first video explores that “nuclear bomb” and its repercussions. In this video, you will see:

• Lively’s defense against being labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (Ex-Gay Watch has posted a longer unedited video segment of his defense),
• Lively equating homosexuality with Nazism and fascism, and blaming the 1994 Rwandan genocide on gay people,
• Lively’s reinforcement of the false stereotype of gay people as child molesters,
• Lively blaming the 1994 Rwandan genocide on “super-macho” homosexuals,
• Lively denouncing foreign influences to “promote” homosexuality,
• Lively describing AIDS as just punishment for homosexuality,
• and the aftermath of Lively’s “nuclear bomb” in Uganda.

Of the three videos we are debuting today, this is the most important as it puts Lively’s presentation in context with existing homophobia in Uganda.

Is it any wonder Ugandans want to kill gay people?

By the way, notice how Lively considers himself as one who “knows more than almost anyone else in the world” about homosexuality. In this second video, we show more clips of him pumping up his credentials and expertise. He then goes on to completely mangle the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of “sexual orientation,” conflating it with an entirely different and unrelated category of sexual paraphilias. (Ex-Gay Watch’s longer unedited video segment is here.)

In the last video, we see Lively explaining his three causes of homosexuality. Yes, just three of them. Unfortunately, none of his theoretical causes are supported by peer-reviewed scientific literature. (Ex-Gay Watch’s unedited video segment is here.)

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

LaBarbera Award: Cliff Kincaid

Cliff Kincaid is not, to my knowledge, a relative. But he is the editor of Accuracy in Media, a watchdog group that “critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage.” What that means is that anything that isn’t presented from the perspective of an ultra-conservative worldview is denounced and “corrected”.

Cliff is not one to mince words. He is bold, he is strong, and at times so extremist that he makes good comedy.

Take, for example, this “un-slanted” description of the Stonewall Riots.

What they did was attack the police when officers conducted a lawful raid.

The police raided the bar because it was operated by the Mafia and illegally serving alcohol. It was a “Mafia-run, Christopher St. bar,” noted the New York Daily News. This information is easily ascertained through a basic Google search.

But Obama and his homosexual backers in and out of the media want to perpetuate the myth that Stonewall is a symbol of an unprovoked police attack on homosexuals, not a symbol of a sleazy lifestyle.

Hmmm. No slant there.

Or consider the bias he observed in the 2004 media coverage over the failed attempt to pass a federal amendment to the US Constitution to bar gay couples from obtaining equal protection under the law:

A supporter of the proposal says, “A two-thirds vote is a difficult margin to achieve in the current Senate on anything even remotely controversial.” But if and when it goes down to defeat, the outcome should be attributed at least in part to a vicious and nasty “outing” campaign against closeted gays in the House and Senate, including members and staffers.

The Washington Post ran a matter-of-fact story about this campaign, never once using the terms “bribery” or “blackmail.”

As the LaBarbera Award is given for the most outrageous, offensive, malevelent, crazy or excessive statement or claim, Cliff’s comedic rants should have long since earned him recognition. Bizarre statements about how gay Republicans (included elected officials) might be “a Democratic Party dirty trick” or that George W. Bush was a pseudo-socialist.

But it is not the wacky or the laughable that has earned Cliff Kincaid our attention. Rather it is a claim that is shocking in both its irrationality and in its callousness.

Cliff has been for months now waging a mostly-ineffective war of smear, accusation, and insinuation on Kevin Jennings, the gay Department of Education official currently being targeted by the right wing. Cliff has been stating the litany of accusations (most proven false) and ranting and wailing when main stream media doesn’t run with his conspiracy theories or claims of guilt by association by association.

But now he has crossed the pale.

Today in an article titled, NAMBLA-gate: The Strange Case of Kevin Jennings, Part One, Cliff concocts a reason why he thinks that no one is giving any attention to his efforts to connect Kevin Jennings to NAMBLA by means of mention of admiration for Harry Hay: too much attention is given to the Anti-Homosexuality bill in Uganda.

But the controversy over Jennings, which had been growing since his appointment in May, has been skillfully deflected by some journalists and commentators who have been attacking the government of Uganda for considering a law that would toughen laws against homosexual behavior that threatens public health and children. “Uganda wants to execute people for being gay,” lesbian commentator Rachel Maddow asserted on her MSNBC program on December 2. She called it the “kill-the-gays bill” and demanded that Christians in the U.S. denounce it.

Jumping on the story, the New York Times has claimed the bill would “impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.”

These claims are flat-out disinformation.

Dr. Scott Lively, who visited Uganda in March of 2009 to encourage efforts to protect traditional family values, says the proposed death penalty in the bill, just one of many provisions, is for “aggravated homosexuality,” which is actually pederasty, pedophilia, homosexual parent/child incest, homosexual abuse of a disabled ward, and knowingly spreading AIDS. Dr. Lively is the author of The Pink Swastika and the president of Abiding Truth Ministries.

You’d think that someone interested in correcting slant and bias would bother to read the bill. Either Cliff Kincaid couldn’t be bothered or he has no regard for accuracy. Yes the death penalty is but one provision but it targets more than he claims. It also sends a “repeat offender”, so broadly defined as to include anyone who has had a relationship with more than one person or who had sex with the same person more than once, to death by hanging.

So yes, the provisions included in this bill would be a death sentence for virtually every gay man or woman were this the law in the Western World.

But not content to broadcast flat lies about the Ugandan bill, Cliff Kincaid makes an arrogant assertion that is staggering in its presumptions and callous disregard for life.

It would appear that the purpose of the orchestrated controversy over the proposed law in Uganda is to divert attention from the real scandal involving Obama Education Department official Kevin Jennings and his praise for the founder of the modern gay rights movement, Harry Hay, a supporter of adult-child sex.

No. Our efforts to stop gay men and women from being slaughtered in Uganda are not in response to Cliff Kincaid’s attacks on Kevin Jennings. Indeed, Box Turtle Bulletin has been following the Uganda situation since before Jennings was appointed or Kincaid’s slur campaign began.

The Jennings stories have no legs because they a weakly constructed weapons in a Culture War and the public, saturated by radical extremism, sees through them. The Uganda story, on the other hand, is a reporting of true evil. And unlike Cliff Kincaid, decent people are less concerned about contrived baseless controversies than they are about an attempt to scapegoat a subset of the population and threaten them with death.

Scott Lively: Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill “A Step In the Right Direction”

Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, one of three Americans who put on an anti-gay conference in Kampala last March which served as a catalyst for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Uganda’s Parliament, appeared on Alan Colmes radio program to discuss the proposal. He called the bill “a step on the right direction” because “they want to actively discourage the mainstreaming of homosexuality.” But Lively said that the bill “goes way over the line in punishment.”

For quite a long time, Lively was unwilling to say what an appropriate level of punishment would be. After several minutes of hemming and hawing, Colmes finally pinned Lively down. With seconds left in the segment, Lively conceded that they should be no imprisonment.

Update: Here is the last part of the segment, in which Lively tries to defend Uganda’s bill being “a step in the right direction”:

Here is the entire interview:

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.

World Vision’s concern about Uganda’s “Kill Gays” bill

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization focusing on care for children and communities. Although there are many organizations showing a child standing in a puddle with flies buzzing about their heads, World Vision is the largest with a budget in excess of $2.5 billion, with over 97 cents of each dollar going directly to programs.

Although a Christian missionary group, their focus is more pragmatic than dogmatic. They deflect criticism about providing needle exchange or condoms to gay Africans and make no pretense that “abstinence only” is going to rid Africa of AIDS.

And they are not at all pleased with the proposed Ugandan Kill Gays bill. (Seattle Times)

World Vision, the Christian relief agency which has worked in Uganda since the mid-80s, said the legislation could undermine its work by stigmatizing people in communities it targets, according to Rudo Kwaramba, World Vision Uganda national director.

“Uganda is one of the first countries in which we started HIV education and prevention programs,” Kwaramba said in a statement. “One of World Vision ‘s prevention models aims to reduce any stigma which may deter people from seeking to know their HIV status.”

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan LGBT Advocates Denounce Child Sexual Abuse

It’s a reflection on the sad state of things in Uganda that the main LGBT advocacy organization has to issue a statement like this. But like many of the most anti-gay extremists in the U.S. ( including some who went to Uganda for the three day anti-gay conference last March), most Ugandans believe that gay people are child molesters. This was a prominent theme of the anti-gay conference, and that theme was like napalm thrown on an already burning bonfire.

In normal situations, being against child sexual abuse and molestation is an assumed position. But things are not normal in Uganda, where child molestation is constantly used as justification for the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament — even though the bill goes much, much further than simply addressing child sexual abuse, which Ugandan law already covers quite nicely. But two of Uganda’s LGBT advocacy groups have issued a statement clarifying what ought to be obvious in normal societies around the world: gay people oppose child sexual abuse with the same fervor as straight people. They also offer to work with the government to fight against child exploitation and abuse.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Click here to read the full statement by Ugandan LGBT advocates.

BBC Faces Furor in UK’s Parliament

British newspapers are reporting that the BBC is facing mounting criticism in the UK’s Parliament over an online poll which asked, “Should homosexuals face execution?” The online forum elicited 206 published comments before it was closed.

Labour’s Eric Joyce, who told MPs about the online forum, said he was “completely mystified” as to why it had been set up. “We should be looking at what is going on in Uganda with abhorrence,” he said. “The BBC are probably thinking they are communicating with people in Africa. As it happens, everyone who has replied comes from somewhere else.”

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem youth and equality spokesman, said: “Suggesting the state-sponsored murder of gay people is OK as a legitimate topic for debate is deeply offensive. The BBC are only fanning the flames of hatred. They must act and apologise for their gross insensitivity.’

The debate was published by the World Service Africa Have Your Say forum, which is part of the BBC’s main news website. Its editor David Stead last night insisted he had thought long and hard about posing the question.

Well, as long as they thought long and hard about it, I guess that makes it all okay then. Incredibly, despite the worldwide outcry a BBC spokesman claimed that it had not yet received an official complaint about the question.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of the past year’s anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Exodus Board Members Plays The “Dupe” In Uganda

L-R: Unidentified woman, Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, International Healing Foundation's Caleb Brundidge, Exodus International boardmember Don Schmierer, Family Life Network (Uganda)'s Stephen Langa, at the time of the March 2009 anti-gay conference in Uganda.

The New York Times has finally taken notice of the anti-gay pogrom that has been brewing in Uganda for nearly a year now. In Monday morning’s edition, Jeffrey Gettleman provides a brief overview of events over the past year that has led up to Uganda’s current attempt to legislate gay people out of existence, beginning with that infamous anti-homosexuality conference put on last March by three American anti-gay activists:

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

“I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

“That\’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

What Schmierer has yet to acknowledge is that he had every opportunity not to be “duped,” as he put it. BTB’s Timothy Kincaid sent a warning via Exodus International president Alan Chambers before the conference took place, explaining exactly what he was getting into. Chambers either didn’t pass the warning on to Schmierer, or Schmierer chose to ignore it. The aggravating thing is that this could have been avoided — or, at the very least Exodus International’s implicit participation in the conference.

And of course, let’s not forget Exodus’s first attempt at “fixing” the problem they created — their hamfisted attempt to put a positive spin on Schmierer’s talk by “applauding” his being there.

Schmierer’s behavior in all of this is beyond appalling. He has yet to man up to his responsibility for his actions. Instead, his only public response has been to behave as a befuddled grandfather wondering what the fuss is all about. Charming in some quarters I’m sure, but of absolutely no use whatsoever to the people of Uganda who now stand to fear the midnight knock on the door  — and possibly even the gallows. We’ve already seen arrests and blackmail, as well as  accusations of homosexuality used as a political and sectarian weapon this year. This Times article provides further illustration of what people in Uganda have gone through:

Human rights advocates in Uganda say the visit by the three Americans helped set in motion what could be a very dangerous cycle. Gay Ugandans already describe a world of beatings, blackmail, death threats like “Die Sodomite!” scrawled on their homes, constant harassment and even so-called correctional rape.

“Now we really have to go undercover,” said Stosh Mugisha, a gay rights activist who said she was pinned down in a guava orchard and raped by a farmhand who wanted to cure her of her attraction to girls. She said that she was impregnated and infected with H.I.V., but that her grandmother\’s reaction was simply, ” ‘You are too stubborn.\’ ”

…”What these people have done is set the fire they can\’t quench,” said the Rev. Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian who went undercover for six months to chronicle the relationship between the African anti-homosexual movement and American evangelicals.

Mr. Kaoma was at the conference and said that the three Americans “underestimated the homophobia in Uganda” and “what it means to Africans when you speak about a certain group trying to destroy their children and their families.”

“When you speak like that,” he said, “Africans will fight to the death.”

This, of course, is nothing compared to what we will see should the Anti-Homosexuality Bill become law.

"What, me worry?" Exodus board member Don Schmierer.

If Shmierer feels “duped,” then he needs to put a stop to his helplessness act and behave like a responsible adult. He has no problem traveling extensively around the world when it suits his purposes. This might be a good time for him to return to Uganda, to go on radio and television and talk to newspaper reporters — to try to fix what he helped break. He’s a world traveler, and he’s been to Uganda before; he knows the way.

But since the Exodus gang has no track record whatsoever in accepting responsibility for any of their actions, I predict that Schmierer, Chambers and the rest of Exodus will sit on their hands and pretend that nothing’s wrong. They’ll point to their solitary letter which got no play whatsoever in Ugandan media, and pretend that this small act was sufficient.

Having said that, I keep hoping that someday someone over there will seize the opportunity to prove me wrong. Sure, they’ll grumble about how mean we “militant homosexual activists”  are. (That’s Exodus vice-president Randy Thomas new euphemism for this blog.) But their own engagement in the culture war blinds them from seeing the win-win two-fer that’s before them: they can take the bold steps necessary to correct their egregious mistakes and simultaneously make all of us “militant homosexual activists” look like idiots. All in one fell swoop.

But since they’ve been so entirely predictable, I’ll stick with my prediction. Schimierer will continue with his helplessness act, Chambers will pretend that his letter is enough, and Exodus will go on its merry way and pretend that nothing went wrong on their watch.

The ball is in their court to prove me wrong. I’ll even sweeten the pot: if they can prove me wrong, I’ll wear a dunce hat, publicly proclaim how wrong I was, and issue an apology of my own. Because I’m a man who stands behind my principles.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan Pastor Issues Video Response To Rick Warren

Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa issued a video response to Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren’s vigorous condemnation of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.  And boy is Ssempa upset with Warren. It took Warren just six and a half minute to concisely and clearly condemn the bill as “unjust, extreme and un-Christian.” It took Ssempa two videos and nearly eighteen minutes to respond.

In the first video posted to YouTube on December 28, Ssempa continues to misrepresent what the text of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would provide.

In this segment, Ssempa discusses one of the misconceptions about AIDS that some hold in Africa, where some people believe that having sex with a virgin will cure someone of HIV/AIDS. Ssempa then argues that the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” is an absolute necessity in order to criminalize raping of children, which Ssempa incredibly claims is not against the law in Uganda.

The problem with that, of course, is there is no such gaping loophole in Ugandan law. Here’s Section 129(3) and (4) of the Penal Code, as amended in 2007 (Act No. 8 of 2007):

129(3)
Any person who performs a sexual act with another person who is below the age of eighteen years in any of the circumstances specified in subsection (4) commits a felony called aggravated defilement and is, on conviction by the High Court, liable to suffer death.

129(4)
The circumstances referred to in subsection (3) are as follows-

(a) where the person against whom the offence is committed is below the age of fourteen years;

(b) where the offender is infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV);

(c) Where the offender is a parent or guardian of or a person in authority over, the person against whom the offence is committed;

(d) where the victim of the offence is a person with a disability; or,

(e) where the offender is a serial offender.

In other words, Ugandan law already covers what is commonly called “defilement” in a very gender-neutral way. What’s more, Ssempa’s contention that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is intended only to cover “defilement” is blatantly false. Again, we go to the text of the bill for its definition of “aggravated homosexuality:”

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.

The text is very plain. The bill goes beyond criminalizing sex with underage minors — which Ugandan law already does. It penalizes any gay person who is HIV-positive with death by hanging, the method of legal execution in Uganda, whether that person had sex with a minor or a consenting adult.

Part 2 continues with Ssempa’s misrepresentation of “aggravated homosexuality.”

Both parts of this video response taken together follow roughly the letter that Ssempa sent to Warren demanding that Warren apologize for his condemnation of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. He repeats that demand in the second part of his video.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan Religious Leaders Announce National Anti-Gay Rally

Pastors David Kiganda (L) and Henry Mina (R) announcing the national anti-gay rally for January 19.

Repeating pastor Martin Ssempa’s call for a nationwide rally in support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Uganda’s Parliament, two more religious leaders have announced plans to participate in the rally scheduled for January 19, 2010. From the independent Daily Monitor:

Addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, Pastor David Kiganda, the leader of Born Again Christians in Uganda, said: “We are here to protect the integrity and morals of our country so we cannot allow conditions from foreign countries to compromise our culture.”

He said this while announcing the fourth National Prayer Day and Night to be held at Nakivubo Stadium starting today until tomorrow.

Kiganda is the pastor of the 3,000-member Christianity Focus Centre in Mengo Kiseny, the largest slum in the Kampala area. Kiganda marched alongside Martin Ssempa during last week’s march on Parliament, when they presented a petition to the Parliament’s deputy speaker demanding immediate passage of the anti-gay bill.

Kiganda was joined in this latest announcement by Pastor Henry Minan from Mbuya Pentecostal Church.

The New Year’s Eve prayer rally at Nakivubo Stadium is an annual tradition, featuring many of Uganda’s most prominent pentecostal pastors. Anti-gay prayers and sermons are expected to be a central feature in this year’s rally.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan Tabloid Invites More Anti-Gay Vigilantism

December 30, 2009 edition of the Red Pepper (Click to enlarge)

The notorious Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper today published a full-page spread purporting to out “city tycoons who bankroll Ugandan homos.” As with an earlier public vigilante campaign waged by the same tabloid last April, this sensationalistic hit piece reveals names, residences, places of employment, and other clues of where people can be found who purportedly finance Uganda’s beleaguered LGBT community.

This article promotes the same allegations repeated by several other political and religious leaders that Uganda’s LGBT community is financed by millions from foreign sources. This article alleges that Ugandan “coordinators” receive a monthly salary of 1.5 million Ugandan Shillings (about US$780), which is ten to twelve times the average Ugandan’s monthly income.

The article cites as its source “the estranged Gay Uganda spokesperson” (we’ve obscured the name pending further information). We do not know whether this is intended to refer to the anonymous blogger GayUganda or not. We know that the anonymous blogger is an individual and not an organization, and therefore would have no need for a “spokesperson.” Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo recently targeted the blogger, claiming that he is one of three “organizations” sharing in US$20 million in foreign money. The so-called Gay Uganda spokesperson in this piece claimed that the Red Pepper’s “list of gay sponsors was just a tip of the iceberg.” The article hints are more follow-up stories.

[Update: The “spokesman” is Paul Kagaba, who GayUganda identifies as an “ex-gay”. GayUganda confirms that Kagaba has nothing to do with him. We have re-posted the newspaper scans with the obscuring of Kagaba’s name removed.]

April 19, 2009 edition of Uganda's Red Pepper (Scans via GayUganda. Names and faces obscured by Box Turtle Bulletin. Click to enlarge).

Last April, the Red Pepper published a “killer dossier” of more than fifty purportedly gay Ugandans, and included such personal identifying features as first names, places of residences and employment, the kinds of cars they drove, and other identifying features as part of a national vigilante campaign.

This article appears to be the handiwork of Pastor Martin Ssempa, who is an ardent supporter of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament. Ssempa has recently called for a nationwide rally for January 19, 2010 to press for the bill’s passage. This appears to be an attempt to intimidate those who might oppose the bill in the days leading up to that rally.  According to the Red Pepper:

Ssempa further said that the main reason Ndorwa West Member of Parliament David Bahati’s Bill is feared is that the mentioned people and organizations will be culprits. He revealed that investigations were underway to ascertain allegations that several politicians and senior citizens were under lobby to frustrate the Bahati Bill.

Among the many provisions of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill is one that would criminalize all advocacy and support by and on behalf of LGBT people in Uganda. The criminal penalties include five to seven year’s imprisonment, with finds of up to US$50,000.

The “investigations” that SSempa refers to may be of recent allegations by supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill who claim to have received death threats. Uganda’s largest independent newspaper The Monitor carried an unverified story claiming that MP Bahati’s cousin had been kidnapped. (Bahati made no mention of that alleged kidnapping during his recent television interview on Uganda’s state-owned UBC.) These allegations sound eerily similar to earlier accusations raised during last spring’s so-called “pastor wars,” in which Ssempa and others accused rival pastors of homosexuality. Those charges also included accusations of kidnappings and beatings, allegedly to coerce more false accusations. Ssempa and pastor Solomon Male are currently charged with filing false reports with the police. Nevertheless, there are fears that these latest allegations may lead to attempts to frame LGBT people and supporters with false accusations of death threats and kidnappings.

It is widely believed in Uganda that the Red Pepper sometimes runs stories at the behest of Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni, particularly the more salacious stories which would appear too unseemly for Uganda’s official state-run newspaper New Vision.

The Red Pepper’s web site is currently suspended by its internet host provider.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

NARTH: Forced Therapy Is “Unethical and Unworkable”

Getting the National  Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) to say specifically whether coercing people into conversion therapy is unethical or not appears to have been extraordinarily difficult, but Grove City College professor has managed to get them to do just that.

The issue has arisen again lately in Uganda, where the Parliament is currently taking up the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would provide for the death sentence for LGBT people under certain circumstances. While the entire bill is wide-ranging and dangerous for straight people as well as gays, the death sentence has garnered particular scrutiny. Now backers of the bill say that they may drop the death penalty and add a clause to provide forced conversion therapy for those convicted. It is unknown whether the forced therapy would be as an alternative to the lifetime prison sentence, or an adjunct to it.

The idea of forced conversions appears to have come from Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, one of three American anti-gay extremists who led a conference in Kampala last March. The other two Americans, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge, were there as conversion therapy “experts,” but they remained completely silent as the idea was allowed to fester for the succeeding nine months. NARTH also remained silent, even though Scott Lively touted NARTH as the leading experts on conversion therapy during the conference.

Finally, Warren Throckmorton was able to get a statement from NARTH. The group’s past president, A. Dean Byrd, wrote this reply to Throckmorton:

Dear Dr. Throckmorton,

As you are aware, NARTH\’s Governing Board has accepted the Leona Tyler Principle which states that NARTH, as a scientific organization, takes no position on any scientific issue without the requisite science or professional experience.  NARTH members, as individuals, are free to speak on any issue.

NARTH values the inherent worth of all individuals and respects individual right of autonomy and self determination.

NARTH\’s position on homosexuality was clearly articulated by Dr. Julie Harren Hamiliton in a recent edition of the APA Monitor: homosexuality is not invariably fixed in all people – some people can and do change.  And psychological care should be available to those who seek such care.

NARTH encourages its members to abide the Code of Ethics of their respective organizations and such codes proscribe the coercive efforts. It goes without saying that NARTH would support the humane treatment of ALL individuals.

We are aware of the situation in Uganda but thank you for bringing this to our attention. I am sure that you are aware that as a scientific organization, NARTH does not take political positions; however, we are happy to provide a summary of what science can and cannot say about homosexuality for those who do.

Dr. Throckmorton, if history is a good indicator, you will likely not be happy with this response. However, I hope such responses will help you understand NARTH\’s mission as a scientific organization.

With warm regards,

A. Dean Byrd, PhD, MBA, MPH

The line about NARTH not taking political positions is utterly laughable. You don’t even have to go beyond the front page on NARTH’s web site before you find links decrying the supposed “dangers” of same-sex marriage.

That aside, it was difficult to find the denunciation of forced conversion therapy. If you blinked, you might have missed it. But here it is again, with my emphasis:

NARTH encourages its members to abide the Code of Ethics of their respective organizations and such codes proscribe the coercive efforts.

After further inquiries from Throckmorton, Byrd clarified:

Research tells us that forced therapy is almost always a failure. It is unethical and unworkable.

Scott Lively specifically recommended NARTH to his Ugandan audience, saying, “After my web site, this is the one I consider the most important.” But if Ugandans go to  NARTH, they will not find a single statement anywhere which provides guidance on coercive therapy. Exodus also continues to refrain from placing a statement on their web site as well, although Exodus President Alan Chambers did say in a Facebook posting, “I am NOT for forced therapy for gay and lesbian people.”

It’s good that NARTH and Exodus leadership has now come out against forced therapy. But since this is not the first time this issue has come up — and it certainly won’t be the last time either — isn’t it time these two organizations finally made these statements official and accessible? What reason could they possibly have for keeping them hard to find and off of their own web sites?

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Anti-Gay Bill Dominates Ugandan Christmas Messages

A typical Christmas message goes something like this: “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” In Uganda, goodwill toward LGBT people is very hard to come by this Christmas season. The nation’s television airwaves were saturated with Christmas messages from various pastors and denominations, and they all had one thing in common: urging for the passage of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

This is what Christmas day looked like for one BTB reader in Uganda.

The speaker of Parliament, Edward Sekandi, had one good observation on the proposal to criminalize those who fail to report LGBT people to police within twenty-four hours:

For instance, how do you imprison a father? Do you think a father should go and tell the police that this my son is doing this and the other?

But he also denounced donor countries for their warnings against the bill. “No… I think, I think even a poor man must, you know, respect himself,” he said.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Click here to read a transcript of the Christmas broadcasts.

Putting the Kill Gays bill in perspective

Joachim Buwembo, writing in the East African, claims to have no opinions about homosexuality. He’s never given it enough thought to have an opinion. However, he is very capable of clarifying what the Kill Gays bill says about the priorities of the Uganda government.

Of course a penalty, whether light or maximum, presupposes a crime.

The gravity of the prescribed penalty also indicates the seriousness of the offence in relation to other offences.

So according to the framers of the Bill, a girl who prefers a girl is more dangerous to the society than officials who robbed millions of dollars meant to treat aids, malaria and tuberculosis patients in 2004. Only four of the over 100 suspects were sent to jail with light sentences.

And we are yet to see a conviction of any of the few men who stole most of the $200 million meant for the 2007 Kampala Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, turning ‘Chogm\’ into a vulgar world in Uganda.

Amidst all the nonsensical hype about “foreign homosexuals paying children to be gay”, his dispassionate voice stands out.

If parliament discusses whether people should be killed, we need to be convinced that indeed these people are worse than the killers who rob medical funds and send thousands to early graves.

But I doubt that the supporters of the bill are much interested in reason or perspective.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Ssempa and Bahati Discuss Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill

Our anonymous reader in Uganda has sent us some more fascinating video from state-run UBC television. In these series of clips, taken from the program Matters of Policy broadcast on December 23, 2009, Pentecostal pastor Martin Ssempa and member of Parliament David Bahati discuss the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament.

In the first part, Ssempa announces a nationwide rally for January 19, 2010 in support of the bill. Bahati says the bill is necessary to fight a “creepng evil in our society,” alleging that wealthy gays are recruiting children in schools. This is a recurring theme in Uganda’s stereotypes about gay people, a stereotype that was vigorously reinforced by the March 5-7 conference put on by three American anti-gay activists.

In the second part of the video, Martin Ssempa rails against Barack Obama and other foreign leaders for denouncing the Anti-gay bill. He also completely misrepresents the “aggravated homosexuality” clause of the proposed bill, which provides the death penalty for LGBT people under certain circumstances. Ssempa claims that those circumstances are limited to rape or child sexual abuse. In fact, the proposed bill (the full text of which we’ve posted online) defines “aggravated homosxuality” this way:

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.

In other words, the bill also includes anyone who is HIV-positive (and mandates testing of anyone suspected of homosexuality to determine their eligibility for the death sentence) or anyone who is a “serial offender” — which could include anyone who has had more than one partner in his or her lifetime. Ssempa (and Bahati) are clearly lying when they claim that “aggravated homosexuality” is limited to rape or molestation. The text of Bahati’s own bill proves the lie.

In the third part, Bahati insists that the bill will not be dropped. He says that it is now before the Parliamentary Committee of Legal Affairs and also the Presidential Affairs Committee. He believes the bill will pass when Parliament returns from recess in February. He and Ssempa also claim to have been under death threats since the bill was introduced. In a recent story by the independent Daily Monitor, Bahati claims that a cousin is missing and blames the controversy over the anti-gay bill, but he doesn’t repeat that claim here. (That story has now gone missing from the Monitor’s web site.)

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Click here to read a transcript of the Ssempa and Bahati interview.

Focus On the Family Denounces Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill

Focus On the Family is famous for adamantly opposing virtually every LGBT-friendly initiative — from domestic partner and survivors benefits, hate crimes legislation or employment non-discrimination measures. They also steadfastly supported Colorado’s Amendment 2 of 1996 (which would have disenfranchised LGBT people from the legislative process) and they opposed the repeal of anti-sodomy laws in the U.S.

But there’s one piece of anti-gay legislation that Focus On the Family doesn’t support:

“The purpose of laws is to make societies safer, and there is legitimate concern that the legislation being debated in Uganda will incite violence against homosexuals,” Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, said last week of the Ugandan bill.”

The Colorado Springs Gazette softpedals the role of American right-wing evangelicals in supporting Uganda’s homophobic culture:

Ralph Blair, president of Evangelicals Concerned in New York, believes the bill was influenced more by African culture and politics than Christian rhetoric against homosexuality. African nations, including Uganda, have had anti-gay laws on the books for decades, he said.

Moreover, it\’s unfair to single out American evangelical leaders and organizations for not condemning the bill when many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, and human rights groups have also been silent on it.

This is blatantly false and extremely poor reporting on the Gazette’s part. President Barack Obama did speak out against the bill long before Focus belatedly jumped on the bandwagon. The President’s statement was not reported by Uganda’s news media, but it outraged Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa.  The White House statement accompanied similar condemnations from Canada, Britain, Sweden, the European Union, and Australia. I guess the Gazette needs to somehow keep its hometown industry feeling happy and protected from, you know, actual reporting.

But back to Daly, Gazette reporter Mark Barna has more of Daly’s statement on the Gazette’s religion blog:

“As a Christian organization, Focus on the Family Action (the political arm of the family group) encourages pro-family policies. As such, we respect the desire of the Ugandan people to shield their nation from the promotion of homosexuality as a lifestyle morally equivalent to one-man, one-woman marriage. But it is not morally acceptable to enact the death penalty for homosexuals, as some versions of the bill are reported to require.”

“My reaction is to denounce this. It sets a horrible precedent and has a potential for developing hatred.”

It’s good that Focus has now spoken out against Uganda’s anti-gay bill, although I wonder what their position would be if the death penalty were dropped. At least Saddleback pastor Rick Warren is now on record as opposing all criminalization of homosexuality.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.