international relations

Meet America’s Bigots (And Lawmakers) Spearheading Uganda’s “Death to Gays” Bill

We all know how outrageously terrible Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexual Bill of 2009 is. Aside from life imprisonment for gays, and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” the bill calls for the anyone who knows A Gay but does not report him to face a three-year prison sentence. Oh, and the extradition of native Ugandans who dare venture elsewhere in the world to commit homosexuality. But despite their best intentions, Uganda’s lawmakers and executive branch leaders didn’t come up with this on their own. They had help from Americans. Which ones?

There’s Don Schmierer from the conversion therapy/”you can change” group Exodus International. There’s Caleb Lee Brundidge from International Healing Foundation, a similar group. And Scott Lively, president of the group Defend the Family. All three men traveled to Uganda, allegedly to voice their support for the bill and advise lawmakers how to pass it. But as Rachel Maddow, who recently jumped into the fray, explains: Schmierer insists he’s against the bill; Brundidge’s IHF denied knowing about the bill, and then said it “condemns … harsh punishment” against gays; and Lively says the law is too harsh, but its purpose is to fight back against Western folks homosexualizing Ugandans.

Well! Glad to have you gentlemen on board with “fighting” the bill. Just like The Family is doing.

Oh, and these American lawmakers.

Meet your stand-up elected officials (with ties to The Family): Sen. Tom Coburn, Rep. Bart Stupak, and Rep. Joe Pitts.

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