Uganda’s Anti-Homosexual Bill
Deadly Paranoia with an Evangelical Twist

by Allen Wright

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, being considered before Parliament, has been rightly called the most draconian measure against LGBT people in the world. Despite global condemnation, that includes the White House, Ugandan officials remain defiant. Member of Parliament David Bahati, who introduced the Bill, declared: “Homosexuality it is not a human right. It is a behavior that is learned and can be unlearned. It is foreign influence that is at work.”

Among other things, the proposed law calls for lifetime imprisonment for homosexuality; execution for HIV positive people or “serial offenders”; seven years imprisonment for free speech or counseling on behalf of gay people; and, three years imprisonment for failing to report gays to the police. The United Nations and other world governments supposedly forced removal of the death penalty clause. However, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights, ” states Uganda’s Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo. Two hundred church leaders, representing Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventist churches as well as Muslim kadhis, pledged to actively campaign for the Bill in their houses of worship.

Not surprisingly, a number of United States Evangelicals have been linked to the measure and its key proponents. At a March 2009 conference in Kampala on The Gay Agenda, Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, “experts on homosexuality, ” stressed conversion therapy, characterized gays as trying to destroy children and families, and blamed gays for the holocaust and Rwandan genocide, before thousands, including police officers, teachers and national politicians. Lively, speaks of the war between “Christians and homosexuals” as the Devil’s design to destroy civilizations. Conference organizers helped draft this hateful Bill.

Conservative Christian groups and notable Evangelicals like Rick Warren, who compared homosexuality to pedophilia, wield considerable influence in Uganda. Indeed, it appears that Uganda is the new front line in the culture wars.

Allen Wright’s work has appeared in numerous publications and he co-wrote Kevin’s Room Part 2: Trust and Kevin’s Room Part 3: Together, the provocative and educational television productions of the Chicago’s Department of Public Health also featured at numerous film festivals. Allen now lives in the Catskills town of Liberty, New York.