The “moral” nation of Uganda has time to persecute LGBT people by padlocking gay bars and promoting its barbaric Anti-Homosexuality Bill — yet it doesn’t have the will to stop child sacrifice?

The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda’s capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear. Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice.

A BBC investigation has discovered that many cases of child sacrifice in Uganda are not being followed up by the police and little is being done to protect potential victims. According to a major report released by the charity Jubilee Campaign, around 900 Ugandan children have fallen victim to the practice. The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until around three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country’s economy.

It has also coincided with the nation’s boom in fundamentalist Christianity exported from American hate groups. I’m not saying that these fundamentalist organizations support this practice. However, when a nation is infused with anachronistic myths and ancient superstitions this is the inevitable path. When people are taught to do spiritual warfare and believe in invisible demons — this can only contribute to a culture of mass delusion.

Have you ever noticed the more anti-gay a country is, the more superstitious, cruel, corrupt, and backward it is? As thugs like MP David Bahati and Rev. Martin Ssempa hunt down innocent homosexuals who are  harming no one, witch doctors are abducting and murdering kids. This shows you how misplaced the priorities are of the self-righteous Ugandan mob that runs this country. We can only hope that Uganda takes police off the gay bashing beat and moves them to a place where they are really needed — like the Child Sacrifice Vice Squad.

It is time that Ugandan society turns away from illogical and incoherent belief systems, expels hateful foreign evangelical thug-preachers, and returns to the reality based community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gay Man Claims Ssempa Paid Him To Say He Was ‘Ex-Gay’; Ssempa’s ‘Ex-Gay’ Also Testified in Favor of Anti-Homosexuality Bill Under What Appears to be Coercion and Duress

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Truth Wins Out today called on Ugandan authorities to investigate anti-gay activist Martin Ssempa (pictured) for potential extortion, perjury and fraud, following the New York Times’ discovery that Ssempa may have paid and pressured a witness to give false testimony in favor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

In a last ditch effort to bring the “Kill the Gays” bill up for a vote, Ssempa brought so-called “ex-gay” activist George Oundo to a meeting with the speaker of Parliament, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. In the meeting, Oundo said that he had gone from gay-to-straight and strongly urged the speaker to pass the notorious measure.

However, with Ssempa no longer present, Oundo (pictured left) reversed his testimony and told New York Times reporter Josh Kron that he was paid by Ssempa to say he had gone straight and actually opposed the anti-gay bill. Clearly, there appears to be coercion, if not extortion involved, given Oundo’s quick repudiation of his testimony and his allegation that he was paid for delivering a bogus sexual conversion tale.

“Something stinks in Martin Ssempa’s corrupt campaign to get a vote,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Ugandan authorities should immediately launch an investigation of Ssempa to find out if he has engaged in coercion or illegal activity in pursuit of passing the Anti-Homosexuality bill.”

The following is what was written in today’s New York Times:

Mr. George Oundo, 26, a transgender person who used to go by the name Georgina, went next. (testifying to Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi)

“I used to call myself the Queen Mother and Lady of the City,” Mr. Oundo said. “I was recruited into homosexuality many years back, when I was 12.”

“When I joined Mr. Ssempa, I told him all my problems,” he said. “I had to come out and join the struggle.

“Please help us; let the bill pass,” he said.

But an hour later, in a quiet hotel, Mr. Oundo recanted much of what had been said at the meeting.

“David Kato was murdered; it was a plot,” Mr. Oundo said. “I don’t support the bill.”

As for being a “former homosexual,” that, too, was not true.

I’ve always been gay,” Mr. Oundo said, in a timid but growing voice. “I didn’t choose it.

“David Kato was the first one who taught me to protect my human right,” Mr. Oundo added.

Mr. Oundo said that his presence alongside Mr. Ssempa at Parliament had been to “protect” himself and that he had been contacted only that morning by Mr. Kagaba about the meeting and offered about $42 to attend. He said Mr. Ssempa had offered him about $2,000 in 2009 to repent and switch sides in the debate, but later reneged. Either way, Mr. Oundo became a poster-child for Mr. Ssempa’s anti-homosexuality movement.

Mr. Ssempa declined to comment on the allegations.

Mr. Oundo admitted that he had picked up boyfriends at high schools and universities, what the antigay movement calls recruiting. But he said Uganda’s gay population was full of “natural-borns,” like himself.

“If I live or die, I am gay, and if I am buried, bury me gay,” he said.

“It is clear that George Oundo came under an inordinate amount of pressure to lie about his sexual orientation and suppress his actual position on the this bill,” said TWO’s Besen. “Ugandan officials should question Ssempa to see if blackmail, extortion or fraud led to Oundo’s false testimony. If it is determined that Ssempa lied or forced Oundo to lie at any time under oath, he should be charged with perjury. Martin Ssempa should not be above the law.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

In a disgusting new twist to the anti-gay fervor that has swept Uganda, The Daily Monitor reports that Makerere University student leaders said in a meeting with the chairman of the committee handling the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that recruitment of gays was rampant at the university campus. The students told Mr. Tashobya (in charge of the committee) that each of their colleagues who join homosexuals is paid a monthly salary of Shs800, 000.

I have no idea how much Ugandan money that is — but it sounds like some serious coin. We also know, due to reality and common sense, that this allegation is pure propaganda and utterly false. Exactly, who is paying these students? Until there is proof, such allegations should not be made and those putting forth such lies should be punished.

I’m still in shock. In one of the most anti-gay nations on earth — gays are getting salaries. Do they have to take out taxes for such services?

Seriously, what next, accusations that gay people roast children and eat them for snacks?

I’m not trying to be judgmental — but the anti-gay Ugandan legislators sound remarkably ignorant. How uniformed (particularly in the Internet age) does one have to be to believe such bile? Or maybe raw hatred makes some people blind to the complete incoherence and idiocy of the arguments put forth by supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

The legislators in Uganda must ask themselves a pertinent question: Do they really want to look like some of the shit stupidest people in the world by passing a murderous bill based on laughably ridiculous stereotypes and lies? Do they really want to be laughingstocks and punchlines for the rest of the planet? Because I guarantee them — based on the “evidence” put forth — that anyone who votes for this bill will be disrepected and mocked in normal societies throughout the world. They will be viewed as circus freaks with brains the size of lady bug spots.

Speaking of people snickered at on the world stage, the noticeably effete anti-gay and condom burning activist Pastor Martin Ssempa (pictured) has presented a petition in Uganda’s parliament, calling for the passing of the anti-gay bill. The petition, signed by two million people countrywide, was presented to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Ssekandi, yesterday.

Ssempa’s bizarre obsession with gay people having sex is jarring — particularly because he looks so damn gay.

Is he the next Larry Craig? I’m betting on it.

Guest post by Bruce Wilson, cross-posted at Talk To Action.

Government funded missionaries in public schools? The idea would flabbergast many of America’s founders, most certainly the architects of the United States Constitution. Here’s the background: As a February 23rd, 2011 story from the Florida Independent, by Andy Kopsa, describes, the American leader of the Florida-based abstinence-only education program Project SOS endorses Martin Ssempa, a leading Uganda backer of the so-called “Kill the gays” bill that may soon come up for a vote in Uganda’s parliament. Project SOS has received over six and a half million dollars in federal funding, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since 2002, to teach abstinence education in Florida public schools. The funding continues into the present – in September SOS received over $450,000 from HHS.

But the Uganda tie is far from the most controversial aspect–the founder and head of SOS says the program was inspired by God, and her church identifies the Project SOS program as one of the “ministries” it supports, with SOS head Pam Mullarkey as a “missionary”…federally funded, that is.

To begin with, should federal funding still be flowing to a sex ed approach proven to be largely or wholly ineffective, according to a 2007 federally commissioned large scale study by Mathematica Research?

And, what if the program founder says plans for Project SOS came directly from God, advocates child-beating, and suggests that Catholics aren’t truly saved? What if SOS is actually a stealth ministry backed by a right wing church that teaches both anti-labor union ideology and Young-Earth Creationism, and whose longtime pastor is promoting antigay doctrines in Florida prisons?

Well, that’s all true – and more.

(Read More)

In February, a brave gay Ugandan man living in exile appeared at the National Press Club in Washington with a paper bag over his head to denounce Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. He wore the mask to conceal his identity because he feared for his life.

Today, Kushaba Moses Mworeko took off his mask to urge the African Anglican Bishops at the All African Bishops Conference in Entebbe to speak out against Uganda’s “Kill the Gays Bill” and other forms of anti-gay discrimination on the continent.

“It is time for Christian leaders in Africa to start promoting peace and stop persecuting LGBT people,” said Kushaba Moses Mworeko, who recently escaped to the United States. “I call on the Anglican Church to speak out forcefully against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and to support decriminalizing gay relationships across the continent. As the church grows in Africa it must choose to be a force for good and not intolerance.”

Speakers claimed that the continent would have 673 million Christians by 2025 and lead Christendom in the 21st century. Egyptian Bishop Mouneer Anis spoke of the significance of this meeting when he told bishops from more than 400 dioceses, “There is no doubt that history is going to record what happens at this conference for future generations. This is no ordinary conference because it’s happening in an extraordinary context.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, (pictured) spoke at the event, but has yet to effectively use his bully pulpit to shape a more accepting environment towards LGBT people in Africa.

“The All African Bishops Conference offers Rowan Williams a unique opportunity to show leadership and moral clarity by denouncing Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” said Mworeko. “I urge the Archbishop of Canterbury to display a backbone and set a positive tone for the Anglican Church in Africa. His silence will be seen as a green light for the witch hunts against the LGBT community to continue.”

In a new Youtube video, Mworeko sent a message of perseverance and hope to his LGBT brothers and sisters still living in Uganda.

“We shall continue fighting for our rights and the time to fight is now,” said Mworeko. “This is about liberty, this is about equality, this is about justice. We are here to reclaim our freedom.”

“If Moses has the courage to put his life at risk by speaking out against intolerance and injustice, the least Rowan Williams can do is acknowledge the inhumanity of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill while he is at this conference,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “His noticeable indifference to the suffering of LGBT people in Africa and worldwide is a great stain on his shrinking legacy. Only by finding his voice on LGBT issues can Williams reverse the damage that has occurred on his watch.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights anti-gay religious extremism. TWO’s goal is to create a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people can live openly, honestly and true to themselves.

The Uganda Observer published an innocuous glossary of terms on July 22 to inform readers what words like “gay” and “lesbian” mean. The stated purpose was to enable readers to make their own decisions about homosexuality on the basis of facts rather than fear.

Pastor Martin Ssempa — U.S. aid recipient, former ally of megapreacher Rick Warren, leader of Uganda‘s political campaign to execute all homosexuals, and de facto leader of Uganda’s ex-gay movement — was outraged by the publication of such facts.

As Warren Throckmorton notes, Ssempa responded with a letter to the editor in which he asserted that the mere publication of a glossary causes children to become homosexual. He implies that such reporting is, or should be, illegal.

A youth group warned Canyon Ridge Christian Church on Sunday that its members will be held accountable for bloodshed resulting from its support of antigay genocide and U.S.-sponsored theocracy in Uganda.

According to Prof. Warren Throckmorton’s article at Salon.com, the group — led by organizer Chase Cates — said that ”if this bill was passed and people were executed or criminalized in any way, Canyon Ridge Christian Church in turn would be held responsible for financing Ssempa who so overtly pushed the bill.”

The populist megachurch has openly supported Uganda pastor Martin Ssempa, who is a leading advocate for the nation’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill drafts of which call for the execution of HIV-positive homosexuals; imprisonment of family members, doctors, and clergy who fail to report gay relatives and patients to the authorities for execution; and the suppression of educational or scientific materials which discuss homosexuality without stigma or stereotype.

From Newser:

A controversial condom burning Ugandan pastor, Martin Ssempa, who is a supporter of the homicidal Anti-Homosexuality Bill, is being financially supported by the 6,000-strong Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas. Today, Canyon Ridge pastor Kevin Odor says that Ssempa is being “misrepresented” . “His heart is not to kill people,” says Odor.

Odor tells NPR. “His heart is to redeem people. We want to help the AIDS problem in Africa, and we found somebody who is making a difference, so we support him.”

Warren Throckmorton, a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, has a different take. “The church wants to be viewed as moderate and outreach-minded and compassionate, and yet they’re supporting a set of values and principles elsewhere that are very harsh and deadly, frankly, to the very community you say you want to reach”.

Isn’t it odd how the brutal, draconian laws pushed by Ssempa are in complete contradiction to his supposedly redeeming heart? What a partnership – Canyon Ridge found a crackpot and Ssempa hit the jackpot. It’s a Las Vegas dream come true!

Much more from Dr. Throckmorton, who has done a terrific job staying on top of this issue.

For more than a year, we have been reporting on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill winding its way through Uganda’s legislature. The impetus for the bill is that Uganda is supposedly a fundamentalist Christian nation and its laws should reflect such radical beliefs. Today, a different sent of religious nuts, this time Muslims, have expressed their “holy” values in all its horror:

The deadly bombings in Uganda during the World Cup final have deepened worries among American authorities about another once localized Islamic group that is spreading its terrorism across borders, using a playbook written by Al Queda.

Note to everyone in that volatile region of the world: Religious extremism — Muslim, Christian or other — is harmful to your health and bad for society. Isn’t it time to rethink the “goodness” of such zealotry and fanaticism?

When religious extremists are in power, no one wins.