Box Turtle Bulletin

Australia Finally Condemns Uganda’s “Kill Gays” Bill

An Australian LGBT newspaper reports that a diplomatic representative based in neighboring Kenya has personally protested the Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to the Sydney Star Observer:

A Foreign Affairs department spokeswoman confirmed the Head of Mission at Australia\’s High Commission in neighbouring Kenya had made personal representations to the Ugandan Government over the bill. The Head of Mission also wrote to the Speaker of Uganda\’s Parliament, outlining the Australian Government\’s concerns.

Australia doesn’t maintain an embassy or diplomatic mission in Uganda. The Australian mission in Kenya is also accredited to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

Last November, the Australian Senate considered but rejected a motion calling on Uganda to withdraw the proposed legislation.

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

My lunch date with Caleb Lee Brundidge

The last few weeks, media outlets have lit up over Uganda’s proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” of 2009. In case you have been living under a rock for the last month, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Ugandan legislators will soon vote on whether the government will execute HIV-positive men, imprison people for three years for not reporting homosexual activity and for seven years for supporting gay rights or providing services to gays and lesbians.

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.

Last week, while following the story on Box Turtle Bulletin, I was shocked to see a familiar face in several related posts. Caleb Lee Brundidge, a staffer at “sexual reorientation coach” Richard Cohen’s International Healing Foundation, attended a Uganda anti-homosexuality conference organized by the Family Life Network. Brundidge was photographed eating lunch with American holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer and Family Life Network’s Stephen Langa.

I was surprised because I had met Brundidge the month before his Uganda trip. In fact, I asked him out for lunch. Let me explain:

I’m a straight dude who went undercover in so-called “ex-gay” programs. In February, I attended Journey into Manhood, an intense, 48-hour “experiential” retreat designed to help “same-sex attracted men” (SSA-men, in the lingo) become straight. Brundidge was a “Man of Service”, one of the lower-level volunteers who supported the senior staffers, called “Guides”, leading the weekend.

JiM staff employed all sorts of odd exercises intended to initiate us into the elusive world of masculine heterosexuality. To become straight, for example, men reenacted traumatic childhood memories and engaged in the holding-touch therapy pioneered by Cohen. (JiM co-founder Rich Wyler, a Brigham Young University public relations graduate and Certified Life Coach, is listed on IHF’s referral therapist page.)

One exercise, called Clearing, is a conflict-resolution technique where two men stand facing each other while grasping a gnarled wooden walking stick and verbally work out the issues they have with each another. Step 1: Physically describe the person. Step 2: Verbalize the story I tell myself about him. Finally, to resolve the conflict, staffers encouraged us to arrange later one-on-one time to speak with our fellow clear. Most men couldn’t hold back the embarrassed grin as they asked, “Would you have lunch with me today?”

I picked Brundidge for Clearing. I didn’t have an issue with him. Rather, he didn’t look like any of the other men attending the weekend. Brundidge’s long dreadlocks, tattoo-covered forearms and, yes, his dark skin—he’s an African-American man—distinguished him from the clean-cut, tattoo-free Anglo men attending the retreat. Clearing was my chance to speak with the one guy who didn’t look like everyone else.

Our clearing session was awkward. I followed the protocol explained by camp staffers while Brundidge shifted back and forth on his feet and kept looking away. Finally, I asked him to have lunch. He accepted.

OK, there was a personal reason behind my selecting Brundidge for Clearing. See, I love tattoos. At the time, I had two large tattoos hidden safely under my short-sleeve shirt. I wanted a third somewhere on my forearms, but I was freaked out about how visible ink could hinder my future employability. I wanted to know how Brundidge dealt with people’s reactions.

Brundidge found me at lunch and we talked about our ink-work. He told me how people were often shocked to learn he’s Christian. But, he sees that as a lesson they can learn about being quick to judge.

“You can’t choose how people will react,” he told me through bites of food. “You can only be true to yourself and to God.”

Brundidge sure doesn’t look like a stereotypical Christian, and he doesn’t worship like one, either.

He writes techno worship music, he said. He spins bass-heavy praise music at Club Mysterio, which, if you ignore the cry to “Awaken your hearts to God” coming through the microphone, looks like a tame rave. YouTube videos reveal strobe lights, glo-sticks and teenagers writhing to his music. (Brundidge can also be booked for weddings and high school functions, by the way.)

I would learn after the retreat that Brundidge’s involvement with Phoenix-based Extreme Prophetic Ministries included not only throwing raves-for-Jesus, but raising the dead. In another YouTube video, Extreme Prophetic Itinerant Melissa King describes how she and Brundidge took a field trip to several Phoenix mortuaries asking if they could resurrect the deceased. I’m guessing they didn’t have much luck.

I didn’t speak to Brundidge again until last week, after I had learned he traveled to Uganda to participate in the Family Life Network conference.

In his write-up in the summer 2009 IHF newsletter (PDF: 7MB/12 pages), Brundidge gives few details about the trip. He addressed the Ugandan Parliament, the Family Life Network conference and a church. He spoke on the radio and was interviewed by a newspaper. He describes his speech to Parliament as an effort “to help them understand a more compassionate response to anyone who experiences SSA.”

They must have missed that message. How could they get the message when Brundidge himself writes this about the situation in Uganda:

Caleb Lee Brundidge speaking in Uganda

“As I mentioned, homosexual behavior is illegal and punishable by life in prison or even death. They have fear to go [sic]. On the other hand, the word is out on the street to the young people: If you want to make good money, pretend to be ‘gay.’ Why? Gay activists are recruiting impoverished young boys and girls, offering them money to impersonate homosexuals. ‘Just tell people you are gay and we\’ll pay you money.’ In this way, they are trying to skew the data regarding the numbers of people who are homosexual.”

In April, the month after Brundidge and company participated in the Family Life Network Conference, Ugandan legislators began drafting a bill to execute gays.

I e-mailed Brundidge last week, and, after identifying myself as a writer, asked him what he felt about all this. He referred me to the statement on IHF’s website. I pressed him in a follow-up e-mail. After all, didn’t he see how his “gays can change if they want to” message may have influenced the proposed legislation?

His reply, again, was brief:

“I really don’t have anything to say. What I shared is listed on the website on IHF. Thank you for emailing and giving me a opportunity to share. I believe you got a chance to get to know me at JIM so you know my heart is the heart of God. That is Love for all people.”

Up until now, Brundidge was relatively unknown in ex-gay circles. My guess is Brundidge’s race played a factor in his selection to travel to Uganda. Again, from his write-up:

“Upon my arrival, I was greeted by my host Stephen Langa…. He said, ‘Welcome home my brother.’ I was truly home! I saw my mother\’s face in many women.”

Caleb Lee Brundidge and Richard Cohen

I made several attempts to get a comment from Cohen. He didn’t return my calls or e-mails. My guess is he stands to benefit financially from mandatory conversion therapy also being considered in Uganda; Brundidge has facilitated IHF’s TLC seminar and could easily hold similar—or even more intense—events there in the future.

This whole mess in Uganda is an example of how ex-gay ministries play both sides of the field: Brundidge and company speak of love and tolerance and being true to yourself while simultaneously spreading paranoia about gay activists recruiting children. They then feign shock when countries like Uganda draft “kill the gays” legislation.

Leaders of the ex-gay movement still don’t see how they are pawns in the hands of people like Don Schmierer and Scott Lively. Ex-gays and their “people can choose to change” message are used to justify punishing those who choose not to. When will ex-gays wake up and take a stand against the very people who want to see them dead?

I was certainly affected by my lunch conversation with Brundidge. The month after I returned home from JiM, I got a tattoo on my right forearm. Who cares if someone doesn’t like it?

Ted Cox is a free-lance writer from Sacramento, California. He was interviewed earlier this month by Sena Christian at AlterNet about some of his experiences from attending a retreat with Journey Into Manhood.

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

Some of Uganda’s Religious Leaders Walking Back Slowly

While Martin Ssempa and company are pressing full steam ahead in their take-no-quarter defense of Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, other religious leaders may have begun to distance themselves from the controversy.

A few weeks ago, we had reported on a meeting of 200 religious leaders who met in Entebbe as part of the  Inter-religious Council of Uganda’s discussion of the anti-gay bill. The Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper (and one of the more reliable news sources in Uganda) reported that one of the resolutions approved at that meeting read, “Government should cut ties with donor communities and other groups which support ungodly values such as homosexuality and abortion.” As for the bill itself, the The group’s secretary general, Joshua Kitakule, defended it to The Daily Monitor: “The Bill is OK. But it has been misunderstood. We need to educate people on this proposed law.”

All that has changed. In a press release dated December 20, 2009, the Council now asserts that no such resolution was approved:

The idea that development partners should refrain from interfering in the process of legislation regarding the bill or that Government should cut ties with countries supporting homosexuality was not in any way a conclusion but part of the debate on the floor during the Assembly. We understand the Homosexuality Bill is a Private Members bill which is yet to be tabled before Parliament. As of now, IRCU does not have a common position on the said bill. Under any circumstance, our services including HIV/AIDS interventions are open to all persons with out discrimination.

This newly-stated position might begin to knock some of the wind out of the bill’s supporters’ sails. The earlier reports on the IRCU’s position was cited by Martin Ssempa and three other pastors in their recent letter to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. The letter, which calls on Warren to apologize for condemning Uganda’s proposed anti-gay legislation, justified their position this way:

Please note that on Friday 11th December, more than 200 of Uganda\’s top religious leaders met and supported the legislators in strengthening the law against homosexuality.  (Church leaders back anti-gay bill.) The issue is, we all want the law on homosexuality, the only debate is on what penalties are appropriate.

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

Mexico City gets marriage equality

Same-sex marriage will soon be legal in all three national capitals on the continent. Close on the heels of the vote in Washington, DC, legislators in Mexico City have voted to enact marriage equality. (AP)

Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.

The bill passed the capital’s local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: “Yes, we could! Yes, we could!”

Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party is widely expected to sign the measure into law.

Although Mexico City already recognized Civil Unions, this legislation will have a material affect on the live of same-sex couples.

The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city.

Congratulations!!

Ugandan Pastors Demand Apology from Rick Warren

A Martin Ssempa and three other Ugandan pastors have written to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren demanding an apology for his statement opposing Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

In a letter sent sent to Warren, with copies provided to Christianity Today and Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton, the four pastors write on behalf of a task force which met in the offices of the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, who has been an ardent supporter of the bill. The pastors say that the bill has been “greatly misrepresented” and describes Warren’s opposition to the bill as “unwarrented abuse.”

This bill has been greatly misrepresented by some homosexual activists causing hysteria and we take this opportunity to give you the background, facts and response to the concerns you raised. A special meeting of 20 denominational heads met on Thursday 17th Dec in the offices of the minister of Ethics and Integrity, examined your letter and formed a joint task force to respond to you as well as help support the parliament in the passage of this bill.  We are further distressed by your unwarranted abuse of our duly elected officials who are in the process of making laws in the fulfillment of their mission and make demand that you biblically issue an apology for having wronged us as demonstrated by the facts of this letter. [Emphasis in the original]

The letter is very similar to a separate letter sent to Christianity Today, complete with wholesale misrepresentations of what the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would actually provide. We have posted the full text of the bill online where you can see its provisions for yourself. They include:

• Expanding the definitions for homosexual acts, making conviction easier. Current law requires evidence of penetration. The new law would expand the definition of homosexual activity to “touch(ing) another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.” Touching itself is defined as “touching—(a) with any part of the body; (b) with anything else; (c) through anything; and in particular includes touching amounting to penetration of any sexual organ. anus or mouth.
• Affirming Uganda\’s lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of homosexuality.
• Defining a new crime of “aggravated homosexuality” for those who engage in sex with someone under the age of 18, who are HIV-positive, who is 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), or who had sex with a disabled person (consensual or not). The penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is death by hanging.
• Requiring anyone arrested on suspicion of homosexuality to undergo HIV testing to determine the individual\’s qualification for prosecution of “aggravated homosexuality.”
• Criminalizing “attempted homosexuality” with imprisonment of seven years.
• Criminalizing all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.
• Criminalizing the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.
• Addding a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual\’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
• Penalizing landlords and hotel owners with five to seven years imprisonment for renting to LGBT people.
• Adding an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
• Voiding all international treaties, agreements and human rights obligations which conflict with this bill.

There is an additional ominous note in this letter that is not found in the previous letter published by Christianity Today. In describing the developments in Uganda which they say justify the draconian measure specified in the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, they single out an individual Ugandan blogger, GayUganda:

d) creation of organizations whose sole purpose is to promote homosexuality in Uganda; (e.g. (Sexual Minorities Uganda); (Gay Uganda); (Integrity Uganda).

This latest letter, which is reproduced on Warren Throckmorton’s web site, demands that Warren issues an apology and sets a deadline:

Your letter has caused great distress and the pastors are demanding that you issue a formal apology for insulting the people of Africa by your very inapropriate bully use of your church and purpose driven pulpits to coerse us into the “evil” of Sodomy and Gaymorrah. This is expected within seven days from this date.

The letter, at least as it is reproduced on Throckmorton’s web site, does not appear to be dated.

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

Martha Stewart covers Jeremy Hooper’s wedding

Jeremy Hooper, friend of Box Turtle Bulletin and blogger at GoodAsYou.org, was married to Andrew Shulman in Connecticut in June. His wedding has been included in Martha Stewart Weddings, their first same-sex wedding.

Congratulations!!

Your humble Grinch

I have been nominated for an award. I am among a small selection of gay individuals for whom a unique recognition is being considered. By Peter LaBarbera.

LaBarbera, an anti-gay activist who runs the ironically named Americans for Truth About Homosexuality organization, has created the Gay Grinch of the Year award which he promises to “mak[e] light of the bald-faced hypocrisy of homosexual activists, who demand tolerance for themselves even as they maliciously attack and victimize their critics.” It is reserved for “the meanest, most deceitful, most socially destructive and/or most blasphemous “gay” activist of the year.”

The nominees are (drum roll please…)

• Perez Hilton – for his vulgar, bigoted rant against Miss California Carrie Prejean during the Miss USA 2009 pageant
• Wayne Besen — for his ongoing hatred and harassment of former homosexuals and Christians who help “gays” leave the lifestyle
• Frank Kameny — for proclaiming that the God of the Bible is a “sinful homophobic bigot” who needs to repent
• Rachel Maddow — for suggesting that rather than tossing two tomatoes at Sarah Palin, an activist in Minnesota should have thrown a pie at the former Alaska governor
• ChadMichael Morrisette and Mito Aviles — for a parody at Halloween in which they propped up a nude female mannequin with “LIAR” written on the belly and a copy of the face of pro-traditional-marriage advocate Maggie Gallagher attached as the head
• Timothy Kincaid — for preposterously accusing pro-family advocate Laurie Higgins of wanting to see students harmed
• George Fornero — a superintendent of school District 113 in the northern suburbs of Chicago who wrote gossipy e-mails about the same Laurie Higgins

Me? Gosh, I hardly know what to say.

I suppose in fairness I should reveal that I didn’t actually say that Laurie Higgins wanted to see students harmed, something LaBarbera repeats several times in his interview with Concerned Women for America. What I said was that Higgins “believes it is a Christian kid\’s duty to bully his gay classmates” and later that Laurie “sees her goal as defending the culture of disapproval and condemnation.”

But, shhhhh, don’t tell The Peter.

I’m sure there are a great many reasons that LaBarbera could find for determining any of the authors at Box Turtle Bulletin to be the “meanest or most blasphemous gay activist”. But the selection of my criticism of Laurie Higgins is fitting. After all, we did award Higgins with the Peter LaBarbera Award for the “most outrageous, offensive, malevolent, crazy, or excessive statement or claim.” So, in a way, this closes the circle.

And I am proud that we exposed the extremism in Higgins’ writings. I am glad that we revealed that she expresses no concern whatsoever for the real and measurable harm resulting from her rhetoric and that she believes it the duty of Christian students to disregard the concerns of their gay schoolmates.

But I’m realistic.

How could I possibly win when the competition includes Perez Hilton, Wayne Besen, and Rachel Maddow? With such formidable competition, it seems unlikely that I have a even a small chance. Surely this is how Kathy Griffin felt when she learned was being considered for a comedy album Grammy, only to hear that she was up against the recently deceased George Carlin.

But with this year being the inaugural year I say, as countless awards nominees have said before me, it’s an honor just to be nominated.

UPDATE: Dan Savage has now been added as a nominee for past extremism and not seeming to comprehend the radical difference between evolving reforms within marriage and the revolutionary homosexualization of “marriage” that essentially redefines the institution to mean anything.

Whew, that’s quite an accomplishment. Now I have no chance whatsoever.

Uganda’s “Kill Gays” Bill: Will It Stay Or Will It Go?

Uganda’s largest independent newspaper The Monitor has a story in tomorrow’s edition which gives both answers to that question.  Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa says the bill stays:

In a statement issued yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa said the government does not support the promotion of homosexuality “just like we cannot promote prostitution.” “It is a fact that if there are any homosexuals in Uganda, they are a minority. The majority of Africans and indeed Ugandans abhor this practice. It is therefore not correct to allow this minority to provoke the majority by promoting homosexuality,” said Mr Kutesa.

But then again, it might not:

He added: “As to the contents of the Bill, the government is aware that the Uganda Penal Code already provides against homosexuality and it may, therefore, not be necessary to have another law to further criminalise it.”

A very similar story also appeared in the government-owned New Vision.

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

Two Anti-Gay BFF’s Mend Their Near-Falling Out

Matt Barber is patching things up with Peter LaBarbera over a statement by Barber posted on LaBarbera’s web site. It was a bit touchy there for a while, with Barber’s employer, the Liberty Counsel, getting involved with the dust-up. But now things are all smiles.

It all began when Peter “Porno Pete” LaBarbera was trying to build support over a proposed boycott of the Conservative Political Action Conference over its co-sponsorship by GOProud, which describes itself as  “the only national organization for gay conservatives and their allies.” LaBarbera is completely beside himself over this, and when he gets beside himself, his rhetoric becomes even more intemperate than normal (if you can imagine that). This time, I guess words failed him, so he turned to his good friend Matt Barber to supply the pithy line:

It boils down to this: there is nothing “conservative” about — as Barber inimitably puts it — “one man violently cramming his penis into another man\’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.\'” Or two women awkwardly mimicking natural procreative relations or raising a child together in an intentionally fatherless home.

That got Exodus International vice president Randy Thomas’ attention, and that, in turned, spurred a letter by Exodus president Alan Chambers to Matt Barber’s employer, the Liberty Counsel. (You see? Exodus International really is capable of rapid response when they want to call others on the carpet, but not when it comes to keeping their own house in order.) That letter led to a response from the Liberty Counsel, which essentially called Peter LaBarbera a liar:

Neither Matt Barber nor anyone with Liberty Counsel wrote or made any such public statement that is being alleged in this blog. Liberty Counsel promotes the traditional family of one man and one woman because we believe that such relationships are best for society and for children. While we strongly disagree with the sexual politics and agenda of activist organizations and individuals, we also believe that each person is entitled to respect. While there are some that hate us because of our message of sexual integrity, redemption, change, and hope, we have never, and will never, confuse the person with the agenda. We have never sought to dehumanize people to promote our message. Our message is one of redemption through the power of Jesus Christ.”

Nice huh? Barber would never really say anything like that, would he? After all, that would be dehumanizing. LaBarbera defends himself in a comment on the Exodus blog:

The quotation in question by Matt Barber — a brutally honest and necessarily accurate description of homosexual sodomy — is printed verbatim and was made in conversation between the two of us years ago — long before he went to work for Liberty Counsel. I asked Matt at the time if I could quote him on it and he gave me permission to use it, and ultimately I did — in the context of showing how CPAC or any organization that defends sodomy (as GOProud and countless other GLBT organizations implicitly and explicitly do) cannot call itself “conservative.”

LaBarbera also denounced Exodus for being unbiblical. I guess Exodus is too “nice” for LaBarbera’s taste. LaBarbera has also followed up with this on his own web site, and he wants the world to  know that he quoted Barber correctly with this clarification from Barber himself:

“This is for clarification only. As affirmed in Liberty Counsel\’s statement, neither I nor anyone with Liberty Counsel ever publicly ‘wrote or made\’ the comment in question – an unapologetically direct and accurate depiction of the sin of sodomy (a sin that God directly and accurately calls both an ‘abomination\’ and ‘detestable\’). Some years before I began working with Liberty Counsel, I made the comment in private conversation with Peter LaBarbera. At the time, Peter asked if he could ‘quote me on it\’ and I said yes.

Now that Barber is happy to claim ownership to the quote that his own employer characterized as dehumanizing, can we expect another “clarification” from the Liberty Counsel? It looks like the ball is back in their court now.

Lou Engle’s TheCall Going To Uganda in 2010?

Lou Engle at TheCall in Nashville, 2007

Bruce Wilson at Talk To Action has uncovered some very troubling information. Lou Engle, organizer of TheCall who believes that gays are possessed by demons, may be planning on taking his violence-laden rhetoric to Uganda in 2010.

Wilson uncovered a couple of indications that plans are in the works for a massive stadium rally in Uganda for late spring of 2010. Jo Anna Watson, founder of Touching Hearts International, says her November 2009 ministry newsletter:

I attended the International Call Summit, October 28 -30 hosted by Lou Engle and Stacey Campbell. Over 20 participants for other nations were gathered who are interested in holding a Call in their nation. This summit was very informative as we were filled with the DNA of the CALL and encouraged to follow through with what God has placed on our heart. On October 30th I flew to Chicago to attend the last two days of Pastor John Mulinde\’s prayer summit. We met on Saturday to discuss in more detail and make preparations for the CALL Uganda to be held May 29, 2010. I will arrive in Uganda on January 6 and will be living in Uganda to partner with Pastor John Mulinde as we prepare and mobilize this Sacred Assembly, similar to the one described in Joel 2. I ask you to keep theCall Uganda and our team in prayer and if possible to fast one day a week or month, along with us, in preparation for the Call Uganda on May 29, 2010.

According to the Touching Hearts International web site, Watson has been traveling to Uganda yearly since 2002. According to a note on THI’s home page, Touching Hearts International will partner with Kampala-based World Trumpet Mission, which is headed by founder John Mulinde. World Trumpet Mission also has extensive staff in Orlando, Florida under International Director Mark Daniel.

Three weeks ago, we discussed reports by Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton and Talk to Action’s Bruce Wilson describing the importance of  the Seven Mountains Mandate and Transformations theology as key connections between many U.S. evangelical anti-gay extremists and current events in Uganda. Mulinde is an adherent to Transformations theology, which calls on churches to establish theocratic control over governments and civil society. Another Transformations adherent, Julius Oyet, heads the Kampala campus of U.S. based College of Prayer International and has been identified as a key supporter of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill which is now before Parliament.

If a rally by TheCall takes place in Uganda, this is the sort of reckless, fear-mongering and violence-inducing rhetoric we can expect:

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

A Gay Wedding Ceremony In Uganda

Gay Uganda writes a wonderful description of a very important wedding ceremony that took place recently, a traditional elaborate introduction ceremony that formally begins the wedding celebrations between a bride and a groom. Except this time it was a little different. This introduction ceremony was pulled off between to two kuchus (gay men). It’s an wonderful heart-touching story of love and incredible bravery. “They were stupid,” Uganda writes. “They were human. I love their stupidity and humanity.” Read it. It will make your day.

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

State Dept: Ugandan President Promises To Block Anti-Gay Bill

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni

DCAgenda, the Washington, D.C. LGBT newspaper that rose from the ashes of the venerable Washington Blade, reports that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has committed to preventing the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill from becoming law on at least two separate occasions. According to U.S. State Department spokesman Jon Tollefson:

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson received this assurance from Museveni on Oct. 24 during an in-person meeting with the president in Uganda and again during a phone conversation with Museveni on Dec. 4, Tollefson said.

…Asked whether it\’s the understanding of U.S. officials that Museveni would veto the legislation should it come to his desk, Tollefson replied, “Right, that\’s a commitment that he\’s made. He made that personally to the assistant secretary on that first meeting that he had on Oct. 24 and again on a call on Dec. 4, and so we\’re going to continue to expect that.”

Tollefson also said that the State Department wants Museveni to make a public statement against the legislation, but so far the Ugandan president has not done so. While Museveni has not made his position known publicly, he has allowed Ugandan government controlled or owned media to publish two op-eds calling on Parliament to drop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in recent weeks. The second op-ed was written by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and appeared in the government-owned New Vision which is Uganda’s largest newspaper.

DCAgenda’s report greatly expands on the hint that was dropped in yesterday’s AFP article which I discussed earlier today. When I wrote that post, I settled on the headline “Will Musevini Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” I vacillated between that headline and its alternate, “Will Museveni Veto the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” It appears now that perhaps I should have gone with the more optimistic question. But until Museveni makes his views known publicly, it is still an open question.

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

Elane Photography Follow-up

In February 2008, Elane Photography was brought before the New Mexico Human Rights Commission because it refused to photograph the commitment ceremony of Vanessa Willock and her partner. Elane Photography, which consists of Elaine Huguenin and her husband, was found by the commission to have discriminated against Willock on the basis of sexual orientation, and was ordered to pay $6,637 for Willock\’s attorney\’s fees and costs.

Elane appealed. But this week a District Court Judge upheld that decision.

My sympathies are with Elaine Huguenin. I’ve read the correspondence between the two, and I’ve heard her interviewed. Huguenin is not a hater or a Culture Warrior. She’s just some woman who didn’t feel comfortable photographing an event that clashed with her belief system.

Where some might see Elaine, her views, and her opinions as an enemy that must be vanquished, I just see some woman being forced by the government to work where and when she doesn’t want to work. And I find that deeply troubling.

Some may see a distinction between Elaine, the person, and Elane, the business. But as one who works in the business world, I know that the distinction is only one of form and not of function. Bankruptcy law, tort, insurance, and practicality are such that those who offer their services for a living, even sole practitioners, need to have a corporate structure. People like Elaine Huguenin are, for all practical purposes, indistinguishable from their business and any restrictions placed on their company serve only as restrictions on them individually.

Most readers know that I am not wedded to non-discrimination policies to begin with. While I recognize that they were a valuable tool at breaking through institutionalized bigotries, especially racial bigotries, I am sympathetic to the notion that racists, homophobes, xenophobes, and bigots of all stripes have a right to their own beliefs, however abhorrent I may find them to be. And while I insist that any non-discrimination policies must include my community if they include any affected communities, I wonder if social pressure could not at this time play a stronger and more principled role than governmental coercion.

But whether or not you believe that non-discrimination policies should be in place, surely you’ll agree that this was never what we intended?

Americans cherish individuality above almost all else. And gay people know more than anyone that coercion to conform to the expectations of government is by its nature oppressive and prone to abuse. Surely it has never been our desire to force those who don’t like us to perform like puppets on a string?

The court has spoken. The law was broken. Elane Photography is not entitled to refuse to photograph same-sex commitment ceremonies.

And that is a tragedy.

I believe it is time for New Mexico to change its law. A decent and reasonable compromise would be to follow the lead of many other states – and, indeed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the exceptions for for employment and limit the non-discrimination requirements to businesses with 15 or more employees.

Let Elane Photography limit its services to only heterosexual weddings, or only Catholic Weddings, or only weddings between persons of the same race. This is no hardship on us. Elaine Huguenin is not solely responsible for our happiness. Even in Albuquerque there are plenty of other choices.

And ultimately what kind of freedom will we have won to live our lives as we see best if it costs the freedom of others to do the same?

Will Musevini Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni

Timothy Kincaid and I both posted yesterday’s statement by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson about the U.S.’s concern over Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Timothy relied on a Reuters article, while I used a report from AFP. When I prepared my report, I overlooked this potentially important tidbit from AFP:

He [Carson] added that it is premature for US government to consider withdrawing aid from Uganda because (President Yoweri) Museveni himself said he does not support the legislation and the battle is not yet lost. [Emphasis mine.]

This is missing from the Reuters article, which says instead:

Museveni has been quoted as saying that homosexuality is a Western import, joining some Ugandan and continental religious leaders who believe it is un-African.

As I said on Michelangelo Signorile’s show yesterday, it is extremely difficult to read the tea leaves from some 9,000 miles away. We have no idea whether the AFP report, which paraphrases Carson’s statement, is an accurate representation of what the Assistant Secretary actually said. It’s not not a direct quote and Reuters didn’t mention it. [Update: A State Department spokesman now confirms that Museveni committed privately on at least two occasions to block the anti-gay bill.]

This lends more support to what we’ve observed earlier. On Dec. 10, we noticed an article posted on the official governmental Uganda Media Centre web site questioning Parliament’s priorities in debating the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. This is significant because the UMC serves as the official press office of the Ugandan government, and it’s hard to imagine this article appearing without approval, at the very least, from senior governmental officials if not President Museveni himself. As of today, that article is still on the UMC web site, and accessible from the UMC front page.

The next day, we saw an op-ed published in the government-owned New Vision by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to President Museveni. Nagenda was clearer, saying “Parliament should not pass this bill.” I have been following New Vision since the current Ugandan controversies began last February, and this marks the first time that I can recall the government-own paper publishing anything remotely critical of anti-gay efforts.

Then, almost we week later we learn through the Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, that Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has vowed, according to the paper, to “remain silent about the proposed law until it has been passed or defeated.” Buturo had been an extremely loud proponent of the bill, pushing for “strengthening” Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws ever since the American-led anti-gay conference in Kampala last March. This same Monitor article led of by mentioning President Barack Obama’s statement opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, giving ordinary Ugandans their first exposure to Obama’s position. Obama, whose father was of the Luo tribe which lives in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, is revered in Uganda and throughout East Africa.

According to all reports, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is almost certain to pass Parliament, and will probably do so unanimously or by a vote very close to it. It would then by up to President Museveni to either sign or veto the bill. On one hand, I can’t imagine Museveni vetoing the bill while one prevalent argument for the bill is to stand up to pressure from colonial powers. In addition to being deeply homophobic, Uganda is also a very proud nation and many of the bill’s supporters have vowed not to “bend low” before international pressure. On the other hand, there are good, although admittedly tentative and circumstantial signals being sent that this may in fact happen.

There are hopeful signs, but in the end it’s all up to Museveni. And his decision will likely be based on what serves his political interests and not what’s best for the people of Uganda. A Mr. O. Kalinge-Nnyago, writing yesterday for The Monitor, says that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would provide Museveni’s 23-year-old government with a powerful new tool to use against his political opponents to maintain power:

If we let this ill conceived and absurd law to pass, we should also be ready to see it selectively applied to the regime\’s opponents who would be framed when it suits the regime. This is not the first time political opponents have been framed in this country. Former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye was framed for rape.

Who will be the next opposition politician to be arrested for suspected aggravated homosexuality or suspected concealment of homosexual practices? Because homosexuality is an abomination in Uganda, the regime, when it decides to frame you, does not have to prosecute you successfully. It is enough that your name has been dragged in the mud, you have been discredited and that possibly your political career is destroyed. I wouldn\’t trust this human rights abusive regime with any far reaching law.

The question is not whether Parliament will pass the bill. If the bill remains tabled, its passage is assured. The real questions are whether Museveni prevails upon his party in Parliament to withdraw the bill (he controls more than two-thirds of Parliament through his party and the military’s seats) or he vetoes it once it passes. Those questions are much more difficult to answer.

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

Rwandan Justice Minister Denies Plans To Criminalize Homosexuality

Rwanda's Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama

A report from Kigali-based New Times and distributed by allAfrica.com quotes Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama as refuting reports that the government intends to criminalize homosexuality:

“The government I serve and speak for on certain issues cannot and will not in any way criminalize homosexuality; sexual orientation is a private matter and each individual has his or her own orientation – – this is not a State matter at all,” said Karugarama.

Karugarama cites reports from international gay rights organizations who had said that a proposed law was to be debated in Rwanda’s lower Chamber of Deputies on Dec 16. Later reports held that the vote would take place by Dec. 18.  The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission now says that a vote was abruptly postponed for the week of Dec. 21. Karugarama denies that there are any plans for a vote:

“They allege that the law was to be passed in Parliament on December 16, but sincerely there was nothing like that in the parliament that day.”

He clearly stated that; “these people should distinguish between issues debated by private parties and concrete proposals from the government.”

He hastened to add that the government has held a meeting with its development partners on this particular issue and told them their position ‘which is that the government has no intentions whatsoever to criminalize homosexuality.