Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, December 09, 2009 1:15:21 PM
Uganda may be the latest African country to demonstrate the true meaning of intolerance. Katherine Houreld and Godfrey Olukya, Associate Press writers, have the story.
"It's a question of visibility," said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay.
Happy Kwanzaa, everybody!
Seriously, this is a real example of a rights issue. People who are not posing a threat to others should not be beaten up.
The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual.
It also came after the election of Obama and the release of several Michael Moore films. Hmmm.
However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.
Well, duh. That someone promotes the fact that some people who have identified as homosexual have gone on to live happy heterosexual lives does not mean that the person also believes in depriving homosexual people of rights – despite what some activists groups say.
The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape.
I've heard people in the U.S. call for the death penalty for rapists. As for the HIV thing – why?!? By "active" do they mean spreading HIV?
Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.
How they prove such a thing, anyway? Medical records? Witnesses? Shouldn't the witnesses be imprisoned, too, for being voyeurs of such behavior?
I don't know the Ugandan court system, but my guess is that it isn't a lot like ours.
Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted.
See, this is intolerance. There's a difference between this stuff and asking to remove your kindergartner from a discussion of Heather Has Four Mommies and No Daddies Because Her First Two Mommies Divorced and Remarried New Mommies.
Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.
This is a clear violation of freedom of religion and property rights. But this is Uganda.
A protest against the bill is planned for Thursday in London; protests were held last month in New York and Washington.
Now that should be a big help. I know New Mexico, for example, decides whether or not to pass a law based on reaction in Cairo.
Uganda's ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said the death sentence clause would probably be reviewed but maintained the law was necessary to counter foreign influence.
If that is true, they are overreacting, like nuking an island to remove a fly.
"I feel that the bill is good and necessary, but I don't think gays should be killed. They should be imprisoned for about a year and warned never to do it again. The family is in danger in Uganda because the rate at which vice is spreading is appalling," said shopkeeper John Muwanguzi.
Yeah, sticking them in a prison cell together will be sure to cut down on homosexual behavior.
In South Africa, the only African nation to recognize [brideless or groomless] marriage, gangs carry out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians.
What a pathetic attempt at excusing rape. Does anyone really believe that would turn someone heterosexual? Probably not. They just want to rape.
Living in the U.S.A., it is easy for people to forget that the default state of the word is oppression, corruption, genocide, rape, and war. I certainly hope that none of the folks who insist we shouldn't "impose" our culture on other countries and should not otherwise interfere are content to shut up about what Uganda chooses to do in this matter. As for the rest of us, we know the best way for these other countries to stop impeding on the rights of people is for them to adopt the better aspects of American culture, including our Constitutional principles in governance and true Christianity in the people, which is not spread by the sword.