It’s been a little while since we’ve heard much about Uganda’s Kill The Gays bill, but things are looking on the up and up — if you favor executing queers. Lawmaker David Bahati says the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, as it’s formally known, will “soon” be law.
“We are very confident because this is a piece of legislation that is needed in this country to protect the traditional family here in Africa, and also protect the future of our children,” says Bahati in his typical rhetoric. Of course that’s just Bahati’s version of things, and may not represent true forward movement on passing the bill. It’s been stalled for months as international critics swarmed.
And that Rolling Stone newspaper article listing 100 gays to “hang”? Supposedly it’s helping Bahati’s cause. The newspaper’s editor Giles Muhame, who previously insisted violence against gays wasn’t his fault, says, “We thought, by publishing that story, the police would investigate them, prosecute them, and hang them.”
What it has done is rally citizens in anti-gay witch hunts: The people who were named on that list are being harassed, verbally and physically, and I fear it’s only a matter of time before Bahati’s wish for death sentences against gays, if not sealed into law, will continue to be a part of some sick vigilante justice. [CNN]
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Andy
Islam is the religion of peace, Christianity is the religion of love!
I’m an atheist and haven’t met one who wasn’t for gay marriage etc.
Mark
Mr. Bahati is a terrorist who should be dealt with appropriately by world governments.
Comixbear
Some days I suspect that God is looking down on all of us and feeling so saddened and ashamed…..
Mark
Not a single penny of international aid should be given to Uganda unless there are cast iron guarantees that the aid will not be used for persecuting minorities. Uganda sounds like a hateful, monstrous backward country.
Dallas David
This is as good a reason as any to not be a Christian.
Jack
Well… I’ve officially lost faith in Africa. While most of the world is you know evolving when in comes to basic human rights, Africa seems to be taking quite a few steps backwards. The plight of the Ugandan gays saddens me, and I really wish I could do something about it.
Oh yeah, if anything this proves being gay isn’t a choice. Why would anyone choose to be gay in such a hostile environment?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
This filthy scumbag’s country is a cesspool of a nation. One of the highest percentages of infant mortality and shortest lifespans on the globe. Yet for the past year he has ignored those and a myraid of other problems to concentrate on this bill………
ewe
This is a valid reason to invade and another country.
Naya
Everyone needs to red the incredibly in-depth and insightful article Jeff Sharlet wrote for Harper’s magazine about the anti-gay movement in Uganda and it’s origins.
It was fascinating. I was someone who only understood the situation’s form an outside surface perspective, but once you read about the forces at the root of the issue, you will see it in a whole new light.
The influence of western Evangelical Christianity, preachers and politicians who’ve propagated and fueled the situation for their own sick interests, is truly mind-boggling and sickening. The Evangelical movement The Family have poured millions into propelling their agenda in Uganda and it’s anti-gay movement. John Ashcroft, Sen Jim Inhofe (both Family men) and Rick Warren all have blood on their hands and have frequently attend Ugandan Fellowship meetings (Ugandan Fellowship are the Ugandan Parliament’s branch of The Family)
In the article Bahati even makes a comment about Warren to the effect of “he tells us homosexuality is a sin we should fight”
The influences of, and connections to, the American Evangelical movement outlined in the article are terrifying. It’s almost as if, in Uganda, they are trying to create the perfect theocracy they haven’t managed to in the West.
Everyone really should article, it is very thorough, and takes us from the working of the political system and antigay laws, to the policy-makers pushing these things, to the social climate, and culture, to personal profiles of different players in the movement and activists, especially the everyday lives of people, and so on. It’s a great read, and I never expected to be as fascinated with it as I was. (which sounds kind of ignorant and assholish, but what I mean was that I wasn’t even in the mood to read something heavy on that commute home, but the article was so engrossing that I purposefully missed my stop just so I could sit there and finish it)
The article is titled: STRAIGHT MAN’S BURDEN – The American Roots of Uganda’s anti-gay persecution
I would post a link, but I can’t seem to find the full-version online and i’m pretty sure I gave my copy away. Sorry fellow gays, but I do recommend trying to get your hands on it anyway possible.
Naya
Excuse me
*read