They're voting today in Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni seems a lock to extend his quarter-century rule by another five years. After they seat the new parliament next month, member David Bahati plans to bring his kill-the-gays bill up for consideration again.
Uganda is, of course, a famously scary place to be gay. Mr. Bahati has told us he's willing to drop the execution part of his bill because of international pressure. But law or no, last month saw the bludgeoning death of the country's leading gay activist, David Kato.
David Kato
You can get a sense of how brave Mr. Kato was, facing down his own fear and the prejudice of his country's leaders in a new Wikileaks cable in the U.K. Guardian. Dating back to 2009, the correspondence details U.S. attempts to persuade Mr. Bahati to drop or alter the bill, which makes homosexuality a crime punishable by death. It goes on to describe a "one-sided human rights debate" at which Mr. Bahati and his ally Pastor Martin Ssempa ridiculed Mr. Kato. A friend of Mr. Kato told us last month that the activist knew he was in danger -- had known it for many years. And yet that day, face-to-face with those who would call for the state to execute him, Mr. Kato spoke out anyway. From the cable:
6. (C) On December 18, the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) organized - with support from the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights - what turned out to be a one-sided debate on the anti-homosexuality bill. XXXXXXXXXXXX Prior to the debate PolOff received a text message from XXXXXXXXXXXX expressing concerns for the safety of XXXXXXXXXXXX representatives scheduled to attend the event. Bahati's late arrival delayed the event for more than an hour, and the UHRC failed to seat any representative of those opposed to the legislation at the head table, despite seating Bahati and - for unexplained reasons - Uganda's most outspoken anti-gay activist Martin Ssempa. A comment by an audience member later prompted the UHRC to correct this imbalance by inviting a clearly hesitant and nervous SMUG leader, David Kato, to sit beside Ssempa on the dais. Ssempa proceeded to shake Kato's hand while striking absurd poses for the assembled press corps.
7. (C) Bahati's remarks mirrored his private statements to PolOffs. Bahati also attacked the White House statement opposing the bill, saying that he admires President Obama, that President Obama ran on a platform of change, and that Uganda's message to him is that "homosexuality is not a change but rather an evil that we must fight." At this point the room erupted in loud applause, led by Ssempa pounding his hand on the head table, and Bahati observed that oil revenues will free Uganda of foreign entanglements. At other points in Bahati's tirade against homosexuality, Ssempa registered his support by issuing audible sounds of disgust.
8. (C) Kato delivered a well-written speech defending the rights of gay and lesbians in Uganda. However, his words were nearly indecipherable due to his evident nervousness. Throughout Kato's speech, XXXXXXXXXXXX UHRCXXXXXXXXXXXX openly joked and snickered with Bahati and Ssempa XXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXX representatives left shortly after Kato's speech, fearing that Bahati had instructed the Inspector General of Police to arrest Kato. After a break, Ssempa showed graphic x-rated photos of what he described as gay sex, and several audience members rose to ask why authorities did not arrest Ugandan homosexuals when they had the chance.
(Guardian: US embassy cables: Uganda defends anti-homosexuality bill)
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This is why WikiLeaks is necessary. I've geen a gay activist for years but I've never been so brave as David Kato was. The entire world lost a great champion of Human Rights.
YOU HAVE SOWN THE STORM AND SURELY
YOU WILL REAP THE WHIRLWIND!
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ARCHITECTS OF THE UGANDAN GAY GENOCIDE
A vicious immoral insanity has invaded Uganda like a biblical plague, and is now eating away at her soul and festering amongst her people like a virulent malignant disease. Moreover, this plague, if not stopped, excised and exorcised from Ugandan culture, will continue to incite more political oppression, more unjustified murders and more unwarranted and illegal imprisonments. This insanity that I refer to is extreme homophobia, which has been tragically and purposely imported into the country by Right wing Christian evangelical leaders, resulting in disastrous consequences for the people of Uganda. This intolerant mindset has been eagerly and cruelly embraced by Uganda government officials, who have now codified this extreme form of homophobic genocide into their very country's constitution.
Every disease, whether physical or spiritual is spread by a host or a carrier. Subsequently, after carefully researching the facts and events which led to this spiritual affliction and infection, we have determined the agents of this heartbreaking virus. Thusly, we name you Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, Don Schmierer, Richard Cohen, Rev. Rick Warren and your protégé Dr. Martin Ssempa, as the primary carriers of this blighted philosophy. Moreover, we also name Republican Senator James Inhofe as a secondary enabling agents of this vicious strain of poisonous hatred. But the major blame for being the main delivery system and introducing this toxic madness to the governmental system of Uganda, we lay at the feet of David Bahati (architect of the Bill and Member of the Ugandan Parliament and also African point man of the Washington Right Wing cabal, known as "The Family").
What is amazing about you right wing "Religious leaders" from America is your hypocrisy and misguided egos. Moreover it is for good reason that I make the distinction of referring to you as "Religious" and not spiritual leaders because the word "Religious" denotes a fanatical devotion to doctrine and dogma which often results in zealous mindlessness and misguided actions, whereas, "Spiritual" connotes possessing an intimate relationship with the Creator, e.g.: The Holy Spirit, God, or Christ. Moreover, when we examine your historical actions, we observe no real spiritual fruit from your ministries, but instead poisonous and toxic offerings with which you have deceitfully and fraudulently passed off to the body of Christ as teachings of Christ. Consequently, for this apostasy, for this act of spiritual perversion, you have purposely sown the storm of religious fear and confusion with seeds of hatred and homophobia, and for that you shall surely reap the whirlwind of Divine Judgment!
What is even more baffling and disappointing to me, is how you "Religious" leaders claim to be led by God, as a justifications for your actions. This is far from the truth! Because if you were truly anointed by God, then your five senses would be similarly anointed or Divinely sensitized as well, but they are not! For if they were, then the screams of the murdered and tortured would assault your ears so greatly, that you would not be able to sleep at night, as a result of the forces that you have set in motion. Your eyes could not help but observe the hurt, harm, and suffering that you have afflicted upon the innocent people of Uganda. Furthermore, the stench of fear and desperation would overpower your sense of smell, as would the taste of innocent blood gag you, as it filled your mouths, while you felt the innocent blood dripping from your very hands. You have unleashed a great evil in the name of Christ: The Prince of Divine Love and Peace! In the Bible, Christ proclaimed that He came to fulfill the promise of the Scriptures. Christ also proclaimed that there were two new commandments which supersede all the others and they were One: Love the Lord with all thy Heart! Two: Love thy neighbor as thyself! How can you possibly reconcile the evil that you have done against these precepts? I challenge you to show me where in the Scriptures does Christ call for the deaths of gay people? Where does Christ: The Divine Manifestation of God's love admonish the authorities to lock them up? There is a famous aphorism which states "Thoughts are things and words have power!" And Richard Cohen, the very inflammatory words in your published book "Coming Out Straight," have unleashed a destructive power in the land! "On Page 49, you list a damning litany of false facts that have been used by Ugandan homophobes to justify their ruthless oppression and criminalization of same gender loving people. These so-called facts, were so false, so fallacious and inflammatory that when exposed on national television, you stated that they would be deleted from future editions. However, the damage has been done, Richard Cohen, and your lies and false statements have been used as fodder for the horrific "Kill the Gays Bill" that has been enacted by the Ugandan Government! Consequently, no amount of back pedaling, no amount of protestations of innocence, and no amount of political evasion can absolve you from being an integral part in this bloody genocide! As a renown T.V. news host truthfully told you on the air, 'YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!' It is also truly regrettable, even damming, that you and other "Religious leaders" who profess to be former gay men, are so anxious and desperate to turn public scrutiny away from your selves. You are so deeply entrenched in self-hate that you would willingly sanction, overtly or covertly, Ugandan governmental policies which legally legislate genocide and gross human rights violations. But this we say to you and to your similarly conflicted colleagues: A wife and children does not a heterosexual make!
The same charge of hypocrisy can be laid at your feet, Rick Warren, the Global "Religious" leader and author of "The Purpose Driven Life." It is common knowledge that you are anti-gay from previously made statements. Most conservative ministers are. But, It is also common knowledge about the close mentoring relationship between you and Dr. Martin Ssempa, Uganda Chairman of the National Task Force Against Homosexuality, who was a frequent visitor to your Saddleback Church! Dr. Ssempa, by his own lips, professed how he wrote letters to you asking your advice on these issues of homosexual criminalization and how you said nothing! Edmund Burke prophetically said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing!" Consequently, your silence was damning! It was tacit approval of your inner views concerning the subject. Consequently, you too, have sown the storm of religious fanaticism and political oppression with your seeds of silence! You too, will reap the whirlwind of Divine Judgment, as you give an account of your lack of action, before God, as to why you allowed such a travesty to take place! No amount of videos pleading peace and tolerance, after the fact, can undo the hurt, the harm, and suffering that your silence evoked! No amount of feigning ignorance of these events will exonerate you or erase the stain from your soul! You too, shall stand before a loving God and will be weighed in the balances of justice and be found wanting, as will your protégé Dr. Ssempa! His was a crime of commission, but yours was a crime of omission. Sadly, many others are guilty of such damning political and moral apathy. People such as Republican senator: James Inhofe. You possessed close personal relationships with Ugandan political officials. You had the opportunity to rein in these horrific and homophobic political machinations. You possessed the power to temper, moderate and bring sanity and reason to this homophobic madness and hysteria, but you did nothing because deep down in your heart, you delighted in these human rights violations and thought that you could evade blame for the tragic consequences it generated. The "Kill the Gays Bill" served your own right wing agendas of hate and homophobic discrimination. You Right wing senators have sown that very storm of religious and political madness with the seeds of criminal neglect from which you shall surely reap the whirlwind of Divine Justice!
Lastly, we charge you David Bahati, member of Uganda Parliament, with the crimes of political and moral treason. You have betrayed your vow to protect the nation of Uganda and the weal of its people, and in its place you have substituted and inserted your own hatreds and personal demons into one of the most appalling pieces of legislation ever to be crafted in any country, appropriately nicknamed the "KILL THE GAYS BILL!" That you would stubbornly advocate and legislate such a human rights monstrosity is beyond belief! What is puzzling and even more frightening, is that you hold a position of power within the Ugandan Parliament. You foolishly assert that because the country of Uganda does not hold the genocide of same sex people as a human right violation, that it is not one. You foolishly advocate that any Ugandan gay person OUTSIDE of Uganda having consensual sex in any other part of the world should be extradited back to Uganda to be imprisoned. You foolishly rail against and denounce other compassionate nations who have taken an appropriate stand against your policies by refusing to fund your country or grant you monetary aid. Subsequently, you have made Uganda a Pariah in the world community. You, David Bahati, have sown the storm of moral cruelty, intolerance and oppression with your acts of ignorance and gross insensitivity and you are now deservingly reaping the whirlwind of world censure. Consequently, like all of your aforementioned fellow "Religious" and civil conspirators, who have plunged Uganda back into "The Dark Ages", although we recoil in horror from your actions, and weep real tears for the innocent lives that your misguided cabal are destroying, we do not hate you, nor wish you harm because we know that the mills of God grind slowly but justly! We also know that God will allow no government, no nation or no one to arbitrarily and inhumanely destroy His creations. Lastly, we know that you and your colleagues will surely face Divine Retribution because as the Scriptures so perfectly and prophetically promised that "whosoever sows the storm, will surely reap the whirlwind!"
By Terry Angel Mason, Global Author
Check out this dynamic audio message being heart worldwide:
UGANDA, UGANDA MY HEART WEEPS FOR YOU
Hear Hear!!
>> A vicious immoral insanity has invaded Uganda like a
>> biblical plague
It's not like a Biblical plague, it is one: it's a plague spread by
radical Christians, encouraged by radical interpretations of the
Bible.
So wait, Rachel Maddow now thinks that Wikileaks is a good thing?
There's nothing wrong in changing opinion but it'd be nice to make it official on the show after arguing against it to Michael Moore on the show and especially considering that there's a trial overseas going on for Assange at this moment.
All cables are not equal. Some probably shouldn't be released.
Some definitely shouldn't be released. Some it doesn't
matter. Some should be released.
This one should definitely been released.
For one, Rachel Maddow and Laura Conaway aren't the same person.
There are pros and cons to Wikileaks. And it's also possible to support Wikileaks without supporting Assange's actions and being dismissive about rape allegations. It would be neat if all issues were clear cut, but they're not.
To donate to the organization that Mr. Kato worked with so tirelessly to ensure the human rights of LGBT people in his country, you can go to this website and select "For LGBT Emergency Defense Fund":[link][/link]
I contacted SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) about a week and a half ago, and they receive a payment directly from the Fund for Global Human Rights each time the LGBT fund receives a total $2000 in donations. I hope more people will send a little money their way.
Rachel Maddow is a hero of mine, and not just because she has interviewed me on her show. What we need to understand is that the American far right and religious right is exporting to Uganda what they really would like to do in America to gay men and women and to all "sinners" who they disagree with.
The Reconstructionist agenda marches on even though most Americans have no idea what it is. Briefly it is an attempt to force a radical view of the Bible on America where it is to be "applied" in a literal way to the law. Yes, I'll plug my new book here due out in May:"Sex, Mom, and God: How the Bible's Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics--and How I Learned to Love Women (and Jesus) Anyway." Read that and you'll understand the why and how of the far right and religious right agenda in a way that the media just doesn't get, not to mention you'll have a context for the "Uganda story."
" Thusly, we name you Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, Don Schmierer, Richard Cohen, Rev. Rick Warren and your protégé Dr. Martin Ssempa, as the primary carriers of this blighted philosophy."
Scott Lively is now living in Springfield, MA and spreading his anti-gay agenda to our local high school students via a 'coffee shop' located near one of the city high schools. Ironically, the manager of his coffee shop is a convicted sex offender and was recently arrested for violating his sex-offender registry terms. We want to rid our city of this man before he does more harm. He continues to deny that his visit to Uganda caused any harm and also denies that the death of David Kato was a hate crime.
Please help us rid our city of this scum...