David Bahati, the Ugandan lawmaker behind the Kill The Gays bill, is in Washington D.C. this week. He was supposed to attend the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management Conference, a three-day event (about exactly what you think it is) that wrapped up today. Except nobody would let him in. Was he using the conference as a cover to get into the U.S.? Or just because he wanted to have a great chat with Rachel Maddow?
The conference doors were closed on Bahati — precisely because of his support for the deadly legislation he’s sponsoring. And Bahati might’ve known he wasn’t welcome: Conference organizers rescinded their invitation once they were made aware of Bahati’s background, but apparently were unable to reach him by phone. Interestingly, it’s this conference — which he registered to attend via email, as many others undoubtedly did — that was the only reason he was allowed in the country; a special visa was granted to allow him to attend. (Retorted Bahati: “This conference is not about gays. It has nothing to do with homosexuals but I don’t know why I was denied entry. My colleagues wanted to boycott the conference but we later agreed that they should go ahead and attend and we petition the State Department because we can’t stand this kind of discrimination.”)
But at least he can have a sleepover with his friends at The Family!
Except Bahati knew he wasn’t welcome, claims LezGetReal, which asserts he usurped the stipulations of his visitation. “Bahati is expected to use this denial of entry as an excuse to leave D.C. and to travel to New York where he will stay at UGANDA HOUSE, where he has been before.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
And to travel to Rachel Maddow’s show. Via satellite.
“We have a huge problem in our country,” says Bahati on Maddow’s program tonight, speaking about his wonderful theory that foreigners are coming into Uganda — as part of a $15 million campaign — and converting the locals into rabid homosexuals. “We believe our children should not be recruited.” When asked by Maddow to provide evidence of such, Bahati eventually says he’ll make the data available. On the Internet even! (We’ll be waiting, sir.) And Bahati says all that in the same conversation where he insists we need to “tolerate” each other. This man is lovely! “I do not hate gays. I love them. At the same time I must protect children who are being recruited into this practice. … I’m just a simple young man. … I have a passion for children.” FOUR MORE YEARS!
Do diplomatic visitors get to skip the TSA pat-downs when exiting the country? If so, I think we should make an exception.
PART TWO OF MADDOW’S INTERVIEW:
sam
What a disgusting man
a
I love gays, but sometimes I must kill them.
DBA
The Bible is clear and this country is founded upon it, many of our laws are based on God’s Word. Bless David Bahati for standing up for what is right and protecting the Ugandan children from the recruiting tactics of homosexuals. You can love someone even though they are doing wrong and you can try to help them to do right.Choose life.
davidbrokaw
@DBA:
there is no god. his point is moot.
Kev C
Ugly AND stupid!
Dollie
@DBA: So, Jesus Christ sounds like he was probably a cool cat. Must have been- people wrote books about him, adoring and immortalizing him. We can assume then that he was probably a kindly and compassionate individual who stood up for the underdog and made friends with everyone. If you are trying to emulate this guy’s life, you have clearly failed. Killing gays is far from “right.” If Jesus wasn’t dead, I’m sure he’d be crying.
Wyatt
Let’s just stop supporting Africa already. Honestly, they are a strain on everybody.
geri
According to the info on avert.org about age of consent laws worldwide it is legal for women to have sex with women in Uganda. It says: male-male sex illegal, female-female sex 18. i.e. the age of homosexual consent for women in Uganda is 18. There are quite a few countries that have very similar laws. There is no country in the world where it is illegal to be a gay or bi woman but legal to be a gay or bi man. Where female-female sex is illegal homosexual acts between males is illegal.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if David Bahati was sexually abused by a male sex abuser when he was a child. One of those “pedophile catholic priests” for example. Even if he wasn’t a victim I’m sure he knows of other people who were.
The lgbt community needs to acknowledge that the “myths” Bahati believes in are not entirely without any “evidence” at all to support them. And Bahati needs to seriously acknowledge that most of the rapists and child sex abusers in his country are males who abuse females. And of course he needs to learn that homosexuality and bisexuality are not learned and that some people are just naturally queer because that’s the way God made them. And seriously consider the sixth commandment – Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Rachel could have done a better job on this interview.
Dina
I wish Rachel Maddow had been tougher on him. She questioned some of his views, but she was too soft on him. The man is promoting life sentences for gay men.
SteveC
What is Bahati doing in Washington DC?
Why was he given a visa?
Isn’t incitement to commit genocide a crime in the US (or is is one of those ludicrous ‘freedom of speech’ things?
Why hasn’t this monster been arrested and jailed.
SteveC
Bahati is an emblem of all that is wrong with Africa – corrupt, murderous, intolerant yet at the same time full of whining, self pity.
Allowing that evil bigot wander outside of Uganda is bad for Uganda as it allows the rest of the world to say to Uganda:
“Fuck off with your begging bowl Uganda, you clearly don’t need our financial assistance if you have enough money to persecute sexual minoriies.”
Aaron in Honolulu
I laughed at just about everything he said. Unfortunately, the thousands of GLBTs in Uganda are not laughing with us. When this bill passes they will pay the ultimate price while we walk freely in the streets of our country.
Scott
Disgraceful! Comes to show how much these bastards pretend to have statistics behind them! This is another reason why religion is poison!
Roman
He is a terrorist and should be treated as such by this Government.
Michael C.
@DBA:
Sorry, dear, but your “god” doesn’t exist. It’s just a make-believe excuse for you to make yourself feel better about your ignorance and bigotry. And if you “god” did exist? You and your ilk would be the first ones to be destroyed. Though so many of you “christians” claim to have moral authority, you don’t have the moral authority to lick dog shit off the heel of a crack whore.
Dave
@STEVEC, Unfortulately yoiur rants are reducing you to this mans level. Your HATE speech is as bad as his HATE speech.
Cassandra
Michael C.
You are Mr. Bahati’s peer. He claims that homosexuality, as homosexuals experience and know it, doesn’t exist. Your remark about religion is the exact same thing.
You are a bigot, as bad as Mr. Bahati.
Most of humanity, Michael, experiences God in some way. The fact that you do not, does not make most of humanity wrong. It just means something about you.
Your use of obscenity indicates that you have even less moral authority than Christians do, and your derogatory generalizations about Christians means you have no moral authority to criticize Mr. Bahati.
Your post is hate speech, and is exactly as evil as anything Mr. Bahati has said in public. You are his peer, his brother in spirit, a bigot equal in caliber and hate.
But, your exploitation of one prejudice, homophobia, to advance your prejudice against religion compounds your crimes, making your behavior actually worse that Mr. Bahati’s.
Dollie,
DBA is wrong about Christian theology, but that doesn’t make your mockery any less wrong. Your post is as equally offensive, condescending and contemptuous of people as DBA’s. You are equally misguided and equally in error.
DBA
You post is comprised of one false statement after another. The Bible is not universally clear, and certainly does not contain a clear endorsement of Mr. Bahati’s position and behavior. It does, though, contain very clear condemnations of injustice, deception, abuse and persecution – all of which Mr. Bahati’ is engaged in. So, in a sense, the Bible is clear that you, and Mr. Bahati’, are disobedient and wrong.
The U.S. was not founded on the Bible, and its laws are not directly based on “God’s word” – though the spirit of justice and compassion that is the heart of the Bible does contribute to our laws against oppression, violence, hate speech, hate crimes, and discrimination.
Mr. Bahati’s work is not blessed by God, as you sinned by asking God to bless persecution and destruction, lies and hate. Mr. Bahati is standing up for evil, DBA, for everything God condemns and Christ died for. You and Mr. Bahati sin when you accuse homosexuals of recruiting children, and that puts you under God’s judgement.
You do not get to decide that someone else’s capacity for love and intimacy is wrong. Your second to last sentence:
“You can love someone even though they are doing wrong and you can try to help them to do right.”
Is a case of you playing god, assuming for yourself knowledge and authority you do not possess, can never possess, and frankly, would never ever tolerate if someone tried it on you.
Since you are probably offended by Michael C. and Dollie, you are their peer as much as they are yours. There is no difference between what they are saying about you and Christians, and what you and Mr. Bahati say about homosexuals. Both prejudices are equally wrong.
Scott
Prejudice is poison. Religion is not. Some religious people are prejudiced. Atheism is only a prejudice, it is only derogatory and abusive, and your post was poisonous. You, too, are no better than Mr. Bahati or DBA. All bigotry is equally wrong, equally degrading and arrogant and ego-driven, equally abusive, regardless of who is targeted.
All of you, please keep your dehumanizing hate speech to yourself. No one needs to see the ugliness inside you paraded in public like this.
Mark
@DBA: trolling are you??
Mark
@DBA: I have no problem following the Bible… 1 Samuel 18:1-4 “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul… And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments.” — 1 Samuel 19:2 “Jonathan … delighted much in David.” — 1 Samuel 20:41 David and Jonathan “kissed one another, and wept with one another” when they parted for the last time. — 2 Samuel 1:26 David loved Jonathan more than women. — Deuteronomy 22:13-21 If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately. — Mark 10:1-12 Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments. — Mark 12:18-27 If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir. — Exodus 21:7-11 When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of 6 years as men are.
the crustybastard
@Dave:
Sorry, Dave. Like you, I wish SteveC was wrong. Unlike you I’ve been keeping up with current events. Unfortunately, he isn’t wrong.
Tru_Agape
@DBA
I agree with you, the bible is very clear! It is very clear that the sin of sodom is what Exekiel 16:49-50 says it was. It is very clear that the two strangers the city tried to mistreat where not human, they were materialized angels. Therefore the possibility of a HOMOsexual encouner isn’t even plausible, mortal-man + materialized angels DOES NOT EQUAL A HOMOSEXUAL ENCOUNTER, thus rendering the manmade term “sodomite” (in relation to homosexuals) dishonest and inaccurate. It is very clear that Jude 7, maintains Sodom’s biblical account’s by accurately referring to Sodom as going out behind “sarkos hetras” or “strange flesh”. This fact is even clear to the translator’s footnotes of the 1966 Jerusleum Bible, ( a Catholic translation , I might add). It is very clear that (unlike church leaders) no biblical writer, including Paul, ever referenced the reason for this city’s destruction as being related to homosexuality. Since the first biblical commentary regarding the REASON for Sodom’s destruction (which was voiced by God himself in Exekiel), all references have been in the context or a discussion regarding hospitality and abuse. Even Peter, higlighted the intended abuse of the city indicating their abusinve intent – “defiling flesh”.
Also clear is Jewish history (predating Josephus by at least 1000 years, whose commentary as a jewish historian, is one of the earliest examples of one deviating from scripture regarding the Sodom account). Out of all of their known writings regarding Sodom’s reputation, not one refers to the idea of homosexuality. In fact, the Jews’ extra-biblical laws against homosexuality, was fueled by the Levitical texts, not the Genesis account. And even then, they needed to add their own man-made interpretations to it, stripping those Levetical texts completly of it’s context.
So yes, the bible is very clear! And because of that fact, it makes your post and it’s devotion to man-made religious traditions and prejudices as oppose to the clarity of the scriptures just as clear. In reality, considering your post, it’s you who could careless about what the scripture’s say and don’t say. It’s you who prefer’s an intrepretation (based on elements that don’t even exist), over scripture. And on that note, it’s worth reminding you of your own advise:
“You can love someone even though they are doing wrong and you can try to help them to do right. Choose life.”
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Nothing but an ignorant, vile, bigoted scumbag. His soul is as black as his skin……………
Soupy
Some christians seemed to have learned only the judgement and condemnation part of God.
Oli1989
@Cassandra: With respect, I don’t think Micheal C’s word choice detracts from his moral authority. I agree its not kind or productive to speak that way to anyone, but it is very frustrating to constantly have to tolerate bigotry on the basis that homosexuality is proscribed by religion. I think suggesting that Micheal C’s behaviour is worse than Mr Bahati’s is quite silly. Micheal was antagonized into an aggressive response by religiously justified bigotry – Mr Bahati is calling for life imprisonment for gays, and possibly execution (that was all a little unclear to me). These do not seem to be comparable crimes! Anyway.. there are my 2 cents.
WillBFair
@Oli1989,
The point is that too many queers don’t know the difference between fundamentalism and real christianity. And condemning all religion alienates our allies in the liberal church.
People, get a clue.
SteveC
@Dave No 16: you say:
“Unfortulately yoiur rants are reducing you to this mans level. Your HATE speech is as bad as his HATE speech.”
Please point out the hate speech I used. I don’t consider telling the truth to be hatespeech.
Is it not a fact that South Africa is about the ONLY country in Africa where homosexuality is not punishable by death or imprisonment?
This Bahati person is a genocidal maniac and in the country of Uganda he is advocating genocide because his opinion is the majority opinion.
That is not hate speech.
It is perfectly reasonable to question the wisdom of giving aid to a country which has sufficient resources to fund state sanctioned genocide.
greenmanTN
I’m an atheist, but don’t care much what other people believe UNTIL they start trying to have their religious beliefs codified into secular civil law or force them into public school classrooms as a valid alternative to science. Unfortunately it seems that most religions get there eventually. If you want to believe the delusional ramblings of a convicted 19th Century con-man that’s your business, until you start using the vast wealth you’ve extorted through mandatory ‘tithes’ to sway elections. You can put all your faith into the obscure, contradictory writings of desert nomads who didn’t know better than to get their drinking water from the same place they took a dump, but when you start trying to impose them on everyone else YOU brought them into the public sphere and forfeited whatever ‘respect’ that’s due individual belief, opened them up to criticism and debate.
So don’t tell me I’M the one being rude or aggressive when YOU are the one bringing your religious faith into the public arena, putting it forth as a basis for law. All other political, legal, or philosophical theories and ideals are subject to criticism, even attack, and religious beliefs are NOT immune just because they involve a deity. Mentioning God, Jesus, Mohammad, Angel Moroni, Xenu, or any other mystical being as a source of wisdom is not a “Get Out of Any Criticism Free” card, doesn’t somehow exempt you or your faith from criticism.
Oli1989
@WillBFair: Sure, but I’m not certain thats the fault of gay people. More the fault of vocal fundamentalists. I guess I’m just saying I think its obviously a very difficult area but I really don’t think the real antagonists are gay people.
Oli1989
@Oli1989: sorry, that reads really badly!
WillBFair
Oli1989,
You’re right. It’s not the fault of gay people. It’s the fault of a few gay people who don’t bother to see a difference between fundanmentalists and liberal christians. I can understand why. A lot of religion has been very cruel to us for a very long time. So it’s understandable why some queers would have a knee jerk reaction. It’s just not good strategy because there are a ton of christians who are on our side.
It’s also the fault of the atheist movement who are trying to make themselves superior by trashing all religion.
WillBFair
@Oli1989,
Anyway, thanks for the response.
Oli1989
@WillBFair: Its so the fault of fundamentalists being fundamentalist and making the moderates look bad by association! I really don’t think its the fault of the discriminated against minority when they react badly to stuff like this. I know you’re saying its an understandable knee jerk reaction, but I reckon its pretty much impossible to get everyone to think strategically all the time. The world is too frustrating for me!
Oli1989
@Oli1989: oh, and you’re welcome for the response.
Dollie
@Cassandra: Offensive towards people who condone the murder of my queer brothers and sisters? Ok, that is certainly a title I will take.
wtf
@DBA: you know this is a GAY website, right? FOAD already, dipsh!t. oh and for all of you religious apologists: you can FOAD too. Quit pushing your farking fairytale beliefs on everyone! I don’t HAVE to respect your BS! In fact, I’m ALLOWED to call you out as a fool for praying to your sky daddy and believing in magic! Don’t like it? Too bad! Whine away! And don’t think for ONE MAGIC SECOND that those HATEFUL CHRISTIANISTS who want gays DEAD would accept you as a “real xtian” unless you believe EXACTLY AS THEY DO. Why protect a religion that wants people dead, or ANYONE dead? What kind of backasswards BS is that?! Sorry, I’ve still yet to find ANY ‘crazy atheists’ who murder, maim, torture and kill people for some effed up reason – it’s ALWAYS some wackdoodle who BELIEVES IN MAGIC aka ‘god’, etc. My saying that your belief system is stupid IN NO WAY takes away any of your rights, you fucking douchebag. QUIT PERSECUTING PEOPLE FOR BEING GAY – THEY AREN’T HURTING YOU – LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE.
Heather
@ Wyatt and SteveC: Yes, let”s fight homophobia through racism and US white supremacy! Because just as Bahati represents all of Africa, anyone who’s gay speaks on my behalf. This bullshit is exactly why mainstream queer advocacy groups experience so little solidarity from other movements that could otherwise be allies. You expect the rest of the world to give a shit about your struggle when you can’t be troubled to give a flying fuck about anyone else’s.
Kev C
@Heather: You can take your noble compassion and yearnings for solidarity to your grave with you while the people you sympathize with and support are trying to kill you. And me. The way I see it, you’re empowering them to do so.
Dan
OMG, this shithead is beyond disgusting. I feel so bad and sad for LGBT people in Ugandan.
natt
Dead eyes.
ewe
He is a walking talking fucking hate crime.
Jonathan
@Scott: I only wish for the hateful Christians that the poison was once that was fatal.
I’ve met many wonderful Christians. Mr Bahati, as long as he uses the Bible to condone persecution of gay people – should not mind a return of slavery? After all, the Bible condones slavery, too.
I hate organized religions that demonize people. Drop Dead, David. I hope your rotten country hangs you from a lightpost.
Jonathan
@Cassandra: Look at the organizations that present themselves as “Family values” Christians. They want you dead. Hate speech? How about life imprisonment? Death sentences? You claim hating religion is on par with Bahati promoting witch hunts to imprison people? You’re deranged. Many people dislike or even hate relgion for this very reason. It is perfectly understandable to despise something that wishes you dead and/or miserable. Bigot? Please. I can’t stand organized religion, Your Christian theology is garbage. Don’t use false equivalencies to try to support your stupid argument of anti-Christian = bigotry.
Jonathan
@greenmanTN: BRAVO. I don’t have any issue with Christians, until they start telling me how I should live to their standards of behavior and their beliefs.
At that point, they caN FUCK OFF. Liberation Theology ihas been a good thing for the U. However, Fundamentalists, evangelicals, and Dominionists are a threat to our country and should be treated as such.
Kyle M.
RELIGION KILLS. don’t buy into that fake, phoney baoney man made trash. It is FAKE. Don’t believe one bit of it. It is trying to control your life, and only the foolish surrender their free thinking brain cells to disproven dogma.
-
“Atheism is only a prejudice”
? wow. that was a loud brainfart.
-
most historically congruent explanation: like most pols, bahati will do anything (including licking canine poo from the footwear of a substance abusing econosex purveyor) for a taxpayer-paid junket.
ewe
here is an example of someone who thinks a suit and tie is all he needs to gain credibility. He is a stupid little turd. dumb, small, uglyhearted and fucking dense.
ewe
why the hell didn’t she go after him for talking about his delusional made up gODD as if he had some sense or grasp on reality? WHY???