Uganda Proposes Death Penalty for Gays

[atomiczombie]

I just saw something about this on the Rachel Maddow Show tonight, so I did a little digging online and found this link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6935558.ece

I propose we all go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and tell president Obama to pressure Uganda to not enact this legislation.

[Hudson]

Yes, do what atomiczombie said. And in these letters or emails, please ask President Obama to distance himself from Pastor Rick Warren.

I wanted to include a quote from Andrew Brown in The Guardian. He believes the Uganda legislation:

“is a witch craze, pure and simple. It takes the perfectly genuine prejudices of the ignorant, inflames them, and enshrines them in law. I do not expect any bishop of the Church of England to have the courage to speak against it. Give them a hundred years, though, and they will turn up at a memorial service to weep for the victims.
How did we get there? The inquisitors who roll into the town and rouse the peasantry against witches may not actually want to see and smell the witches burning, but once witches are found, there is nothing else to do with them. Although respectable Christians now do not believe in witches as such, there are some for whom gay people play the role that witches once did and the gay-hunting frenzy which is central to the relationship between American right-wingers and some African evangelicals is reaching the point of organized legal killing.”


Warren, having distanced himself (at least publicly) from (his good friend) Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, whom Warren still welcomes with open arms (and pockets) to his church, refuses to condemn the proposed legislation. When he was asked to comment, Warren stated, "It is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations."

Funny, this isn't about the laws of other nations. It's about the protection of human rights. And if you're not for it, you're against it, that's what I always say. Especially when you've spread your message of hate all over that other country (you had no problem getting them to this point - especially with your likening homosexuals to pedophiles which is a big fear fueling this legislation) and you have the influence as an evangelist to spread a different message. This painful silence is a LOUD endorsement of genocide against gay Ugandans.

Ask Obama to distance himself from this cowardly hate monger right here in our own country. Ask him to hold Rick Warren accountable for his words that Ssempa does not reflect the views or message of his church and its programs in much the same way Warren is accusing Obama of being a hypocrite who won't just end abortion (if he wants to reduce the numbers performed).

Ok, I'm done.

[evolveme]

And also there's this:

"The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours. And it would impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians."

[atomiczombie]

Roughly four dozen LGBT activists and allies turned out on November 19 to protest at Uganda House –– that nation’s permanent mission to the United Nations on Manhattan’s East 45th Street –– voicing their outrage about a draconian proposal to criminalize the promotion of same-sex conduct and impose the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”

Amanda Lugg, the British-born lesbian advocacy director at the African Services Committee whose father is from Uganda, told the protesters that she was there “standing in solidarity” with gay, lesbian, and HIV-positive Ugandans.

The proposed Anti-Homosexuality law would supplement existing legal prohibitions on “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” –– a measure already used to persecute openly gay men and lesbians there.

The new measure specifically criminalizes same-sex conduct –– ranging from sexual stimulation to “touching another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality” –– with a potential sentence of life imprisonment.

For those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” –– defined as sexual conduct by “serial offenders” as well as those who are HIV-positive –– the potential penalty is a death sentence.

In prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality,” the bill would not only bar political activity on behalf of gay rights, but would also require anyone learning the identity of a sexually active gay person to report that information within 24 hours, or face a stiff fine or jail time.

Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, in condemning the proposed law, noted that the “promotion of homosexuality” provisions could cripple HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment efforts based in frank discussion of risk factors and harm reduction techniques.

Dipika Nath, an LGBT researcher at HRW, said the legislation is an effort to isolate Uganda’s LGBT population by “removing any social support system” its members might have.

“Complete isolation, complete fear, expurgation” is the goal, she said.

Lugg said that while the Ugandan population is generally supportive of existing prohibitions on homosexual conduct, this more far-reaching proposal has sparked opposition since its introduction in Parliament last month.

Nath argued that just as the existing sexual conduct prohibitions in place in Uganda are a relic of British colonial rule, this more lethal approach is in part an import from the West. She noted that Exodus International, a Christianist group that promotes “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ,” even as it calls for “spiritual warfare” against gay-identified people, recently met in Uganda.

On November 16, however, Exodus International released a press statement noting that it had written to President and Mrs. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda voicing its opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Law, stating, in part, “We believe that sexual crimes against children, homosexual or heterosexual, are the most serious of offenses and should be punished accordingly. Homosexual behavior in consensual relationships, however, is another matter. While we do not believe that homosexual behavior is what God intended for individuals, we believe that deprivation of life and liberty is not an appropriate or helpful response to this issue.”

Talk to Action, a website that monitors the Religious Right, published a post alleging that two allies of the controversial Christian pastor Rick Warren, who gave the invocation at President Barack Obama’s inauguration –– Archbishop Henry Orombi, the Anglican bishop of Kampala, and Pastor Martin Ssempa –– are major supporters of the bill.

Ssempa has endorsed the bill, recently writing to Warren Throckmorton, Ph.D., (himself a controversial figure due to his therapeutic approach toward individuals wishing to "alter homosexual feelings or behaviors"), “I am in total support of the bill and would be most grateful if it did pass.” Ssempa reiterated that view in an interview on Premier Radio, a UK Christian station.

Warren, however, released a statement in October opposing the bill, writing, “Martin Ssempa does not represent me, my wife Kay, Saddleback Church,” and noting that he had cut his ties to Ssempa.

The Contact-Online blog, an Anglican news and commentary source, wrote on November 13 that the Ugandan Anglican Church and Orombi “[do] not yet have an official position” yet on the measure. The Church opposes the death penalty.

Nath pointed out that similar legislation was considered in Nigeria in 2006, but withdrawn in the face of widespread criticism. That bill was re-introduced late last year, but has not been acted on. The time for pressure on Ugandan officials, she said, is now; the Parliament there is expected to take up the measure in January.

“The movement must be global,” Nath said. “The problem is not just Uganda.”

Episcopal Reverend Patricia Ackerman, affiliated with Anglican Women’s Empowerment, is part of an effort, spearheaded by the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, to have religious leaders sign on to a letter to Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, protesting the proposed legislation.

Ackerman said the effort is focusing particularly on winning support from African-American religious leaders and reaching out to the Anglican Church in Uganda.

Approximately 30 activists gathered outside the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, also on November 19. According to Bob Witeck, a DC public relations professional who did pro bono publicity for the Washington protest, three activists were invited inside to meet with Embassy staff.

Katherine Roubos, a 24-year-old journalist who formerly worked for the Daily Monitor in Uganda, said that she had almost been deported after she tried to write about gay issues for that newspaper. At a rally called by Ssempa, she was denounced as a “homopropogandist.”

“I’m touched because I see when I was in Uganda, I felt all the attention on me,” she recalled. “I feel the real issue in Africa is on African people. I’m impressed there are people in America worried about Africa and Africans.”

Michael T. Luongo contributed additional reporting from Washington.

[Hudson]

Pastor Warren issued a statement via Saddleback Church's youtube channel stating that he does not approve of this proposed legislation with a call to Ugandan pastors to speak out against it. He says the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda is opposed to it as well.

It bugs me that he's careful not to 'take sides' and actually outright CONDEMN MURDER (although he states he does not support the death penalty nor imprisonment for homosexuality) but at least he reminds them that it's not exactly a 'WWJD' kinda thing to do. The good thing is he raises concerns regarding how it would affect their ministry (pastors would be required by law to report their conversations with homosexuals or face possible punishment/imprisonment).


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jmGu9o4fDE"]YouTube- Letter to the Pastors of Uganda[/ame]

Here's a link to a transcript of Warren's statement for any who are at work or don't have sound or would prefer to read it instead:

http://wthrockmorton.com/2009/12/10/...omment-page-1/

[Andrew, Jr.]

Sad in this day and age.

[NotAnAverageGuy]

This is all too common in foreign countries IMO