Uganda has given us a frightening example of how much influence foreign lobbyists can have. Even Richard Cohen, who's ex-gay manifesto and credibility have been thouroughly trounced still wields an influence on lawmakers there. but why listen to me...Rachel Maddow does a much better job of breaking it down....video after the fold.
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
So they struck the death penalty and life imprisonment from the bill. Thats a very very good thing...but lets not do our victory dances yet...read on....
As Rachel pointed out, there are still a lot of nasty clauses in that bill that can send gays to jail for for years merely for being gay, not to mention the laws demanding imprisonment of gays that already existed before this bill. Also, Those who influenced Ugandan lawmakers into crafting this bill still haven't spoken up to fix the mess they created....Though I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that if I were you.
I have been following the issue at the suddenly very popular blog, www.gayuganda.blogspot.com and it has been an eye opener. Listening to the tiny news blurbs that we get on the Ugandan issue would lead all of America to believe that the crisis is averted...not yet.
Given a purpose and a healthy amount of inertia by American evengelicals, Ugandan religious leaders are still clammoring for the law to be implemented intact and they are passing copies of the law out to parishioners to read. In addition, they are branding opposition to the law as "colonialist influence"....thats an interesting spin..... Where do they think they got that religion from anyway? Were it not for colonialists, they would not be subscribing to that set of beliefs to begin with.
Some of the clauses that still stand:
- Criminalize all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.
- Criminalize the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment. This penalty may be reduced in the new version, but the act still appears to be criminalized to some extent.
- Add a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
- Add an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
- Void all international treaties, agreements and human rights obligations which conflict with this bill.
Good luck Gay Uganda...our prayers are with you.
UPDATE....*pastor Rick Warren issues a statement condemning Uganda's proposed law.
How come people have so much hate?
ReplyDeleteHow can people believe these lies?
International Gay Agenda?
Uganda be kidding me!
You gotta be kidding me!
Again with this agenda! Maybe there is some website where I can sign up for a copy?
We can only hope that Ugandan pastors have access to YouTube... As well as all other sponsors from the Mafia, errrr, I mean, the Family.
This whole thing doesn't wonder me at all. In fact, I won't be surprised if it was a setup by American politicians to push the boundaries to check their endurance... «What if it works? maybe, we'll do that somewhere else in Africa then, than we'll do it in Eastern Europe, than in Russia, and at some point the whole world would be homophobic enough to throw those damn gay Americans into the pit, too, once and for all»... And these people get to say that WE have some kind of agenda? How dare they? They have an agenda to send us all to hell ASAP. Our only agenda is to survive and try to live our lives the way we see fit. Honestly, how horny you gotta be to think about recruiting straight people to become gay? It's just a product of sick minds of those who need a blessing from their priest to hate someone and still hope for heaven. Sick.
And it's good that they're starting to come to their senses, but I think the whole bill should be taken down immediately, and all the copies of its text — burned publicly. Wake up, Uganda, you got played and ass-fucked, don't you dare pretend that you liked it!
Bryan, I thought even now when they made the bill 'less' worse, has it crossed your/anyone's mind they still may kill gay people, just do it secretly, and now Im reading Uganda plans to 'void all international treaties and human rights obligations that conflict with the bill', my suspicion gets more confirmed. They might still do it. Summer.
ReplyDelete@ Summer
ReplyDeleteYour right about that..but...if that were their intentions theres really nothing stopping them from doing that right now. They don't need a law for not-so-secret genocide.
The whole colonial ifluence thing is a common line in African governments. They will play on the feelings surrounding previous independence movements to build support for all types of things.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the ways Robert Mugabe has remained in power for example.
Of course, they are going to do it secretly.
ReplyDeleteWhy the hell else would they leave/add a provision about 3 years of prison if you failed to report a gay person? It's bullshit because it sounds crazy: if you're gay, you have to go to counseling (no prison), but if you know a gay person and didn't report him/her, you go to jail. WTF? So, it's clear that they need to compile the lists of people to give them to those illegal groups of "concerned citizens" who will go out at night and "perform justice" as they see fit. No muss, no fuss. We know about "death squads", that's what they do upon sufferance of local governments. And that's what's gonna happen in Uganda.
for those of you still following the issure Rachel Maddow AGAIN tore up Paster Warren on her show ...if your interested I just found that over at www.queerty.com...or just go to msnbc's site.
ReplyDeletethe was a protest outside of the American embassy and the Ugandan Embassy in London about this.
ReplyDeleteA few of the British papers (the free Metro) for one are blaming the American Christians for the situation claiming all the ideas for this came from them.
Jake didn't have time to go on the march but a few people from his work did.
Rachel Maddow show on msnbc.com
ReplyDeleteList of all the Uganda be kidding me series videos:
• U.S. ties to Ugandan anti-gay bill (November 30)
• Uganda be kidding me (December 2)
• Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill (December 3)
• Uganda be kidding me... (December 4)
• An anti-gay Americans role in Uganda (December 7)
• No comment from Grassley on anti-gay bill (December 8)
• The story behind 'curing' gays (December 8)
• Debunking a 'cure' for homosexuality (December 8)
• The Family's Uganda ties (December 9)
• Americans encouraging anti-gay sentiment in Uganda (December 9)
• Rick Warren forced out of silence on Uganda (December 10)
• How to protest an unjust bill (December 11)
I recommend to watch all these videos to everyone who's interested in this issue: there is a lot of info we didn't know when we were discussing Uganda's "kill the gays" bill. I prepared this collection of direct links to all the videos concerning Uganda anti-gay issue.
@Bryan (10 december,7:24PM) thats very true, very good point, hadnt throught of that.
ReplyDelete@Kirilexx, will check those out, thanks for posting!
Summer x
This week only 2 videos from Rachel Maddow (maybe something will turn up Friday night, dunno):
ReplyDelete• Pressure mounts on Uganda from U.S. lawmakers (December 14)
• 'Family' finally comdemns Uganda anti-gay bill (December 16)
Bad news:
• Uganda is not removing lifetime imprisonment and death sentence from the bill after all.
• At this point chances are the bill will pass as it is, Ugandan government declared it's not gonna listen to international protests.
Somewhat good news:
• White House finally made a statement, on December 11, condemning this bill, though we still haven't heard from the President himself.
If someone still cares, stay tuned.
Kirrilex, where did you get/read information Uganda is gonna endorse the death sentence, this is new to me.Summer
ReplyDelete@Summer
ReplyDeleteIt was said in Rachel Maddow's show on December 14th, I provided the link to that video in the same comment where I posted bad news and good news. I haven't seen this in text anywhere, only heard that in the video.
@Summer
ReplyDeleteI watched that video again, it cited The Observer: Anti-gay bigots plunge Africa into new era of hate crimes, so you can read it there. Beware: it's a HUGE article, though it contains a lot of interesting information.
kirilex, wow indeed! There was this spokesperson that has said the death penalty wasnt taken off. This is confusing. Also, to quote from your link: "He denied reports that international pressure might result in parts of the bill being toned down. "We are not going to yield to any international pressure".
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was a way for Uganda government to have countries to back off, and then now still go through with it.
If I read anything more about it I will post it here. Thanks! Summer
@Summer
ReplyDeleteI think it's more like one politician said one thing, the other politician said the other thing, and now they don't know who has more authority. Clearly, the Ugandan President along with his Christianized wife wouldn't mind to kill the gays.
What strikes me most is that they introduced death penalty for contributing to delinquency of a minor, but only for gays, as if all gay people are pedophiles (which is NOT true, it's not even a trend; I, as a gay man, officially testify to that). If they would make a different provision, separately from the anti-homosexuality bill, which would punish pedophiles for molesting children, that would be understandable, though, death penalty for that still seems like a way too harsh measure. Children must be protected, though not from gays but from pedophiles. Is that so hard to use the right words, TRUE words?
As for homosexual relationships between consenting adults, I have something to say to those bigots: who the fuck are you to tell us how to live our lives? If you believe in God, you must believe that He will decide our fate when we die and "present ourselves before the Lord", not you! If you believe that we're sinners and that we will be punished for that in our afterlife, then leave God's job to Him, don't interfere and don't play God!
kirilex, I agree with you on everything you say. Its clear these Ugandan people dont understand homosexuality at all, and if they did, they wouldnt even draft such bill. Check out an article about it now on Queerty.com (I cant post a link here, cant copy/paste), and you are probably right, different politicians saying different things. And the guy mentioned in Rachel Maddow and in your article, is mentioned here again. Summer x
ReplyDeleteAs always an excellent posting.The
ReplyDeleteway you write is awesome.Thanks. Adding more information will be more useful.
Bathmate
Rachel Maddow show on msnbc.com
ReplyDeleteList of new Uganda be kidding me series videos:
• Ugandan anti-gay bill faces new powerful opposition (December 22)
• Ensign cornered (again) (January 4)
• 'The Family' member talks about secretive religious group (January 5)
• 'The Family's' role in Ugandan anti-gay hate (January 5)
• American role in anti-gay attitudes abroad (January 5)
• Blurring the line between church and state (January 7)
Last news: Ugandan President is not happy with death sentence for gays (he wants it to be dropped from the bill). What about the lifetime sentence? No comment. What about the bill in general with persecuting Ugandan gays all over the world and extraditing them? No comment. What aboug making Ugandans report gays under the threat of imprisonment? You guessed it: No comment.