Four nations have taken preliminary action against the brewing human-rights disaster in Uganda.

As previously reported, passage is expected in January of a law requiring execution of Ugandan HIV-positive homosexuals and long prison sentences for pastors and family members who refuse to turn in someone they know to be gay. The law would also ban all speech that discusses homosexuality in a neutral or tolerant fashion, thus inhibiting health care and sound science, and it would effectively prohibit human-rights advocacy and legal defense of LGBT persons.

The penalty for homosexual orientation in Uganda is life imprisonment.

In Britain, according to PinkNews.co.uk, a spokeswoman from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said:

We are concerned by the introduction of a private member’s bill on anti-homosexuality in Uganda.

Adoption of the bill could do serious damage to efforts to tackle HIV and its criminalisation of organisations that support homosexuality could, in theory, encompass most donor agencies and international NGOs.

The UK, alongside our EU partners, has raised our concerns about the draft bill and LGBT rights more broadly with the government of Uganda, including with the prime minister and several other ministers, the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, and senior officials from the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We will continue to track the passage of the bill and to lobby against its introduction.

France’s foreign ministry released a statement:

France expresses deep concern regarding the bill currently before the Ugandan parliament.

France reiterates its commitment to the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the United States, four members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning that the legislation had severe implications for the freedom and safety of gay people and for freedom of speech and public health in Uganda.

However, In Australia, the national senate declined to condemn the death-penalty and family-imprisonment legislation. According to the Sydney Star Observer, Joe Ludwig of the Labor Party told senators it was inappropriate for the Senate to hear such a resolution.

The Government’s view is that complex matters of international relations should not be considered in the Senate by means of formal motions. It is counterproductive for motions of this kind to single out one country,” he said, before restating the Government’s opposition to laws criminalising GLBT people.

As recently as last month … the Australian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva noted the importance of eliminating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Star Observer notes that the death-penalty legislation “is supported by the Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council, as well as the Orthodox, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist and Anglican churches in Uganda.”

Now would be an appropriate time for the Episcopal Church USA to appeal to the Anglican Communion for an emphatic condemnation of antigay violence, execution, and censorship in Uganda.

Exodus International board member Don Schmierer will be pleased to learn that his role in a Uganda campaign to imprison and kill homosexuals is bearing fruit.

Legislative efforts launched at Schmierer’s March 2009 ex-gay conference in Kampala have resulted in a pending bill that goes beyond Uganda’s current punishment of life imprisonment for LGBT Ugandans.

According to an official Uganda media organ New Vision, the new bill requires the death penalty if either partner is HIV-positive, regardless of any safer-sex precautions. The bill also requires imprisonment of five to seven years for anyone who funds or sponsors efforts to protect free speech about sexual orientation or to oppose antigay bullying.

Schmierer and Exodus continue to offer no public opposition to events transpiring in Uganda as a result of their participation in the March conference. In fact, Exodus spokesman Randy Thomas yesterday defended Schmierer and affirmed Exodus’ silent complicity in a comment at the blog of Warren Throckmorton. His only objection to the legislation: Minors shouldn’t necessarily be executed for same-sex activity.

Congratulations, Exodus. Mission (almost) accomplished.

Unfortunately for Exodus, Human Rights Watch is loudly protesting both the new legislation and an ongoing campaign of vigilantism and murder that was launched by the same conference.

“This draft bill is clearly an attempt to divide and weaken civil society by striking at one of its most marginalized groups” said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “The government may be starting here, but who will be next?”

The bill would criminalize the legitimate work of national and international activists and organizations working for the defense and promotion of human rights in Uganda. It would also put major barriers in the path of effective HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, the groups said.

Human Rights Watch also points out that the new draft bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone, including heterosexual people, who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are.

Exodus International continues to affirm its participation in a Uganda conference 10 days ago which advocated life imprisonment and ex-gay detention camps for Uganda’s gay and transgender population.

At the conference, Exodus board member Don Schmierer yielded the Exodus soapbox to Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, who yesterday defended his ongoing proposal to force Ugandans into ex-gay therapy. Conference organizer Stephen Langa added that Uganda’s life-imprisonment sentence for same-sex-attracted persons is not harsh enough.

Exodus refused to disavow Langa’s or Lively’s views in Uganda, leading the conference attendees, Ugandan media, and Ugandan legislators to believe that Lively enjoyed Exodus’ full support. Exodu also refused to disavow the promotion of ex-gay witchcraft by Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is an associate of longtime P-FOX president and disbarred counselor Richard Cohen.

Since then, Exodus has done nothing to inform Ugandans of Exodus president Alan Chambers’ belated and unofficial statement that Exodus does not support imprisonment or forced therapy.

Exodus officials clearly wish for Ugandans to support imprisonment and forced therapy.

Furthermore, Exodus remains eager for Lively to capitalize upon Exodus’ support — even if these Exodus leaders lack the courage to state such politically unpalatable convictions themselves.

Hat tip: Box Turtle Bulletin

According to the conservative Christian Post, Exodus International President Alan Chambers applauds board member Don Schmierer for collaborating with Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively and with Stephen Langa, Ugandan leader of a campaign to imprison gay people, force gays into ex-gay re-education centers, and foster vigilante violence against gay people whom Langa falsely deems to be pedophiles because they oppose violence against gay youths.

One pro-exgay pundit is quoted protesting Exodus’ support for the conference.

According to the Christian Post:
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