I am reposting this article that I wrote in 2010 regarding Evangelical involvement in LGBT persecution. It seems especially pertinent now given fast food chain Chick-fil-a's choice to support Family Research Council who support the Ugandan Gay Genocide law. It sickens me that as a nation we are clearly still so unaware of what the extremists among us are truly married to.
Originally published in '09 by MotleyQueer.com
In December ’09 the nation of Uganda tabled a bill that
proposed “ prohibiting any form of sexual relations between persons of the same
sex, any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex and the promotions
or recognition of such sexual relations.”
Entitled the Anti Homosexuality Bill, the proposal seeks to codify the
prejudicial treatment of gays already rampant in Uganda, where homosexuality
has been illegal since British Colonial rule. The law, if passed, would enact its tenets via a terror
campaign against LGBTI Ugandans. This will mean prison sentences for gays and
anyone seen to assist them, extradition of gay Ugandans living abroad, forced
conversion to heterosexuality and possibly death for “repeat offenders” of
“aggravated homosexuality”.
Since that day, insurmountable evidence has surfaced that
the inspiration for Uganda’s act of inhumanity was the latest American
Imperialist export: Evangelical Zealotry. Ugandan President Museveni, recently
backslid in his support of the bill’s life imprisonment and death sentence
clauses, apparently cowed by foreign disapproval. Regardless, Museveni and
members of his parliament have seized an opportunity to expand their power to a
fourth term by crafting a “threat” to Ugandan family values in the guise of
“Western sexual decadence”. These nefarious ambitions have resulted in breeding
even more dangerous circumstances for gays in Uganda for whom brutality is a
constant fear. Since the proposal of the law, vicious anti gay protests have
been mounted. It is only a matter of time before loathing leads to bloodshed.
When it does many non-Ugandans, along with Musaveni and members of his
parliament, will bear the shame and responsibility of that blood being spilled.
Scott Lively, Exodus International Board Member, and Don
Schmierer and Caleb Lee Brundidge of the International Healing Foundation,
spoke at an anti-gay conference in Uganda last March 5-7th.
According to videos of the speech created by watchdog site “Box Turtle
Bulletin”, Lively’s oration was replete with libelous remarks against gays,
equating Nazism’s rise with homosexuality, describing AIDS as natural
retribution for having homosexual sex, and reinforcing a false stereotype
depicting gays as pederasts. On March 17th, Lively proudly likened
his speech to “delivering a nuclear bomb against gays in Uganda.” Of ten
anti-gay hate groups on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s watch list, Lively
serves as foundational member for three: Abiding Truth Ministries, Watchmen On
the Walls, and the School of Christian Activism.
The vein of American Evangelical influence runs deep in
Uganda. Ugandan Member of Parliament David Bahati, who drafted the murderous
bill, and Ugandan MP Benson Obua-Ogwa, who co-sponsored Bahati’s draft, were
both in attendance at a prayer meeting held by College of Prayer
International’s Dr. Fred Hartley in Kampala. The COP, which operates
extensively in various African nations, maintains a specific agenda of
recruitment of Governmental officials in Uganda where they see a large
potential to expand their ministry.
The opportunities for modern missionaries to exploit a
nation freshly rebuilding in the aftermath of civil war are not overlooked by
American Evangelicals with deep pockets and an even deeper hatred of
homosexuals. Lively and his cohorts recognized an easy opportunity to exploit
extant homophobia in Uganda where homosexuality is believed by many to be a
culturally destructive, colonial import. Anti-gay sentiment has reached fevered
levels among the nation’s people despite historical evidence, which indicates
that homosexuality existed in Uganda previous to any Western introduction.
American Evangelical svengalis driven by entirely selfish motives, display
arrogance in their presumption that their core beliefs are the true raison
d’etre for a potentially dictatorial government to ally itself with what they
preach.
It would be convenient and very shortsighted to assume that
like many African nations, Uganda, which in the past sacrificed much of its
identity upon the altar of Western Imperialism, has once again foundered under
the yoke of Colonialism in its decision to write an inhumane and homicidal law
against certain of its citizens. While the destructive impact of Colonialism upon
the African continent cannot be denied, it is interesting to note that Uganda’s
government is falling “prey”, in this instance, only to the agenda of radical,
religious American “imperialism” as it simultaneously chooses to virtually
ignore the criticisms levied by more humane voices against its determination to
witch-hunt and execute gays. World political and religious leaders, including
U.S. President Barack Obama who called the bill “Odious”, Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper who described it as “Orwellian”, and Canon Gideon
Byamugisha, Ugandan Anglican Church Leader, who has labeled the bill as
“state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans”. Although
the bill may be revised in the face of foreign pressure to exclude its harshest
clauses, it will, if passed in any form, mean a life of terror for anyone gay
in Uganda.
While Byarmugisha and other moderate members of the clergy
within Uganda risk their safety and express their outrage, some clergy serving
an angrier god continue to curry favor with the ruling party. Pentecostal
minister and vice president of The Born Again Federation, Julius Oyet, who had
tremendous potency in bringing the bill forward, remains highly influential.
Oyet’s prayers against Northern Uganda have made him a favorite of the
President, and he also maintains stewardship over 9 million Christians in 10,00
churches. Not coincidentally, Northern Uganda is where the rebel Lord’s
Resistance Army used to reside, and the Lord’s Resistance Army were the enemies
of President Musaveni.
The President’s convenient adherence to a militant stripe of
Christian belief more suited to his political designs cannot be ignored. Nor
can his ignorance of African cultural history. Dr. Sylvia Tamale, Dean of Law
at Kampala’s Makerere University and Human Rights activist is authoring a book
on African sexual orientations. She has publicly asserted "Homosexuality
or same-sex attractions have been part and parcel of African communities for
time immemorial. But the terms 'homosexuality,' 'lesbian,' 'gay' — those are
relatively new. And those are terms many Africans attracted to people of the
same sex never use or never identify with." In a speech given before
parliament during the public dialogues on the bill, Dr. Tamale cited several
very real crises requiring immediate attention in Uganda (none of which were a
result of homosexuality). These crises include: child rape by known
heterosexual predators, Parents forcing 14 year old daughters to marry in
exchange for gifts, millions of AIDS orphaned children needing homes, and
rising poverty forcing 60% of rural Ugandans below the poverty line. After noting these and other very real
problems facing her nation, Dr. Tamale then went on to state that
I do not see how two people who are
in a loving relationship and harming no one pose
a threat to the
family simply because they happen to be of the same sex. The argument
that homosexuality is
a threat to the continuity of humankind and that it will lead to the
extinction of human
beings in the world simply does not hold water because there are
too many
heterosexuals in the world for that to become a reality. How many of you
in
this room would
“convert” to homosexuality any time soon?... So, just as the priests,
nuns and monks who
are sworn to a life of celibacy will not cause the extinction of
humanity, homosexuals
will not either.
Whatever hidden and hideous machinations are unfolding in
the shadows of Uganda’s political landscape, back on our own shores we have
some serious thinking to do. The vile disregard for human life we’re watching
become codified in Uganda has happened at the behest of U.S. citizens, and this
fact begs the question – when? When will the radical members of the religious right
be held accountable for the hatred, mayhem, and murder they incite?
Were I to aim a pistol in the face of a cashier and demand
all the cash in the till in “Jesus’ Name”, I would more than likely be
arrested, tried, and found either criminally culpable or mentally incompetent.
When tyrannical cowards hide behind the mantle of political ideology in order
to justify cruelty, exploitation, and genocide, they are tried for crimes
against humanity. If representatives from U.S. Christian churches travel to far
off lands and help convince people that a minority group is a plague upon
humanity worthy of nothing more than slaughter, then we give them tax-free
status for their churches and air-time to promote their ideology. Sometimes
hiding behind belief systems is not an option, in which case those who endorse
murder suffer a different fate. Charles Manson was not guilty of a single
murder by his own hand, and yet he serves life behind bars because he persuaded
others to commit unspeakable acts. Cult Leaders Jim Jones and David Koresh are
recognized as mass murderers solely for their ability to manipulate those
around them into suicidal contagion. The tragic lesson of these events is that
we mutely watched them unfold to gruesome conclusions, in the name of religious
freedom.
Religious organizations and, by proxy, their leaders must be
held to the same standard of lawful conduct as anyone else. The right to
religious freedom cannot be employed as a shield deflecting the consequences of
one’s actions against other sentient beings. If we allow, by merit of
“spiritual belief”, the special privilege to hate, discriminate, and
exterminate those who do not conform to proscribed notions of piety, then we
are no longer just walking on eggshells to satisfy religious freedom, we are
walking on the bone fragments of those we’ve let be murdered via our implicit
consent. The proponents of Evangelical fervor who went to Uganda in March of
’09 to foment anti-homosexual rhetoric must not be allowed to live in comfort
stateside while hundreds of innocent victims abroad suffer vilifying cruelty
and quite possibly death. Their vehemence in proclaiming the “good word” of
their God has become a rallying cry for death to those they don’t favor. When
ideology is employed to eliminate a group of people, it is a crime against
humanity and should be punishable as such. To silently abide such horrific
inhumanity would be an unforgivable transgression, especially when the bloody
footprints lead directly back to our own most hallowed ground.
