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.
Because Christian pastors had put his name onto a public blacklist, gay gospel singer Daniel Dyson fled the violently homophobic Uganda for the Bay Area. His story is worth reading. He didn’t leave right away or go underground–instead, he bravely took to the Ugandan radio waves defending the LGBTQ community. Soon he was kidnapped and beaten. He made his way to the US, found a job at an advocacy organization in the Castro district, and says “I can sleep peacefully.”
Scott Lively’s name is almost synonymous with “unbridled, unhinged hate” at this point. We all know that he’s got his paws on quite a few of the SPLC-designated anti-gay hate groups; that he’s a professional liar to a pathological degree, going so far as to write a completely discredited revisionist book called The Pink Swastika, which seeks to cast gays as the creators of the Nazi movement; and that he traveled to Uganda early last year to, among other things, inform his rapt audience that killer homosexuals were “probably” involved with the Rwandan genocide next door. That last lie is almost perversely funny here, in a society with access to education and knowledge, but in Uganda, it’s a deadly lie. In short, we know that Scott Lively is a sick man.
Jim Burroway has written an exhaustive profile of Lively that all should read and then bookmark for future reference. It describes things like I mentioned above, but it also goes into details I didn’t know, pieces of the mosaic that really give insight into how and why he ended up being the detestable character he is today. For instance, his family background:
He is the oldest of six children, and his father developed a mental illness when Lively was young. Lively himself became an alcoholic at the age of twelve. For the next sixteen years, he said, he couldn’t hold a job. He slept under bridges and begged for money on the streets. A brother and a sister, he said, “went into homosexuality,” and another sister “wasn’t able to enter into marriage until she was in her forties because of the pain of the family life that we had.” Finally, said Lively, “[I] got down on my knees and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I was healed in an instant. I never had another desire to drink or use drugs ever again. When I got up off my knees, I was clean and healed.”
Lively became involved in antigay activism because of two people who were, he said, “very close to me”—a four-year-old boy and a nineteen-year-old man, who, Lively said, molested the boy: “And I saw what happened to that little child. He was transformed [from] a sweet and innocent person into a tortured and tormented child, filled with anger and rage. And he never recovered from it.” The nineteen year old, Lively said, “is still living in a gay lifestyle in Los Angeles, California. He’s an active homosexual and he’s active in a church that endorses what’s called ‘gay theology.’”
So basically, Scott took all his past pain and rage and decided to use the LGBT community as a scapegoat, instead of actually trying to work through said pain and rage. Of course, the second paragraph, if it’s even true [again, Lively is a pathological liar], has absolutely nothing to do with LGBT people. If it’s a true story, it’s a tragedy, and the guy should have been punished to the fullest extent of the law, just as if it was a straight-identified man who molested a child. Child abuse is child abuse, period. This is what we’ve been trying to explain to the Vatican!
Another piece of the puzzle that caught my eye was an incident when Lively was still just a wee, new hater in Oregon, cutting his teeth with the “Oregon Citizens Alliance”:
Lively quickly gained a reputation for being a loose canon. In October 1991, the photographer Catherine Stauffer attended a church meeting where the OCA was previewing a videotape it had cobbled together in preparation for a campaign in support of a series of local antigay ballot measures across the state. Lively ejected Stauffer from the meeting forcefully, by throwing her against the wall and dragging her across the floor.[x] She sued Lively and OCA. The jury determined that Lively was guilty of using unreasonable force and awarded Stauffer $20,000.[xi]
Awful story, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. It’s just something in his eyes, I think.
It was apparently not long after that that Lively started losing battles at the ballot box, and perhaps sensing that the culture was beginning a long shift toward acceptance for LGBT peple, he created his greatest lie of all — that gays had created the Nazi party. Here was, perhaps, the first time he said it publicly, on television in Oregon:
Homosexuals created the Nazi Party, and everything that we think about when we think about Nazis actually comes from the minds and perverted ideas of homosexuals. When you think of the Nazi Party… you cannot help but understand that this organization was a machine constructed by militant, sadomasochistic, pedophilic homosexuals. … They built the Nazi machine. They were the people that ran it, and that put it together. Most people understand that there were some homosexuals involved in the Nazi Party—no, it wasn’t that. They were the foundation of the Nazi Party.
And thus his career was born, I suppose. There is so much more in the piece, and Jim is to be commended for taking the time to put it all together. It’s quite a disturbing mosaic, so read it all when you have time.
[Warning: This piece is completely freaking long. I have tried to make it enjoyable. If you don't like that, read something different.]
I have been arguing with myself over whether to post on this screed by someone called “Jim O’Neill,” because to do so could be very time consuming. First of all it is so long-winded that to address its points could take the entire day. Even simply mocking the piece, paragraph by paragraph, could take an hour. What we have here is a guy who seems to have gone quite far off his rocker, who believes that obscure, fringe sources and unhinged hatemongers like NARTH and Scott Lively, who are rejected by the entire scientific and mental health communities, are somehow the only ones telling him the truth, and who truly thinks he has found a nugget of an idea in stating that the “homosexual agenda” is actually the same as the “Islamist agenda,” because both [he says] are misogynistic! Uh, yeah. All you lesbians? You hate women. So much. And all you gay men who shout “divaaaaaa!” at the ceiling any time a woman does something “fierce,” are also he-man woman haters. Also, apparently liberals don’t care about female genital mutilation in the Islamic world. Actually, I learned all about that issue from liberal sources. Anyway, but first, before we enter the biggest vortex of stupid I’ve ever encountered [and this is in a world that contains Peter LaBarbera], let’s look at his bio, because it’s funny:
Born in June of 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jim O’Neill (constitutionalwrites.com) proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. A member of MENSA, he worked as a commercial diver in the waters off Scotland, India, and the United States. In 1998 while attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student, O’Neill won “First Place” in the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award.” The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with the money she won from successfully suing the National Enquirer for libel.
He is in MENSA, you guys! You know, I have had the opportunity to join MENSA, and have never done so, mostly because I don’t care, but even if I did, you would NEVER see my “MENSA membership” in my bio. I mean, my goodness. But also, he was a Navy SEAL! Now, as we all know, Navy SEALs are trained to be bad-ass and do things like shoot Osama bin Laden in the face, but this does not tell us anything about their perceptive capabilities when it comes to subjects like homosexuality, now does it? Indeed, there are gay Navy SEALs! This would freak Jim O’Neill out, a lot, as you will see.
Also, your fancy pants college journalism award is named after a campy gay icon, so there is that.
Anyway, let’s jump into the vortex of stupid, but we’ll try not to stay too long. The supposed thesis of this word salad is that gays should not be able to serve in the military:
Uganda’s parliament has adjourned without debating a controversial bill which includes the death penalty for some homosexual acts.
It had been reported that a vote could be held on Friday.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been condemned by Western leaders and human rights groups, some of whom are celebrating “victory”.
The bill, first introduced in 2009, could still be brought up when the new parliament meets later this year.
David Bahati said, though, that he wants to reintroduce the bill when the new parliament comes back in February. More chapters, sadly, will be written in this story.
It has been extremely difficult to follow the serpentine path of Uganda’s notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill (aka “Kill the Gays” legislation). It was first introduced in 2009 and has been on-again, off-again more than Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson.
However, by the time you read this column, it very well may have passed, turning the country’s LGBT population into hunted fugitives whose very lives are on the line. As early as last month, it appeared that the bill was stalled in parliament. But local political violence has the government looking for scapegoats to divert attention from its corruption.
There isn’t much we can do in America to influence Uganda’s political skirmishes any more than they can referee a fight between Barack Obama and Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). However, America and Europe have enormous leverage because they give Uganda large amounts of aid. In my view, we should be doing everything in our power to use the purse stings to end the persecution.
This fight is not just about anti-gay cruelty and oppression in Uganda. The key reason to become involved in this battle is because the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has its origins in the United States of America. Key evangelical preachers, politicians, “ex-gay activists,” and organizations such as Rick Warren, Rev. Lou Engle, Sen. James Inhofe, and The Family (aka The Fellowship Foundation) have exported their anti-gay fervor to Uganda and several other African nations. In essence, they are using Uganda to fight a proxy war against homosexuality. Their goals are:
1) Pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda
2) Use this law as a model for copycat legislation in other African nations
3) Have these laws serve as examples to the West – and eventually export them back to Europe and the United States when conditions are ripe
4) Make the case that governments have the right to arbitrarily punish and execute LGBT people with impunity because they have no right to protection from discrimination
If we do not defeat this measure in Kampala today, it will cost the LGBT movement enormously in terms of effort and financial resources tomorrow. Unfortunately, it may be too late, as our movement has delayed and dithered while this threat intensified. If Ugandans are eventually hunted down, rounded up, jailed and executed, our collective failure should bring us great shame, and yes, blame. Fingers deserve to be pointed or we will never learn from our mistakes.
Exactly who in our movement was running the show and trying to prevent this bill from passing? How did they create such a paltry campaign that it remained essentially off the radar? After all, one needs both a behind-the-scenes strategy and a public presence to create effective pressure campaigns. But, our efforts to draw attention to this monstrosity were episodic and half-hearted. It’s hard to believe, but for the daily status of the bill, our community depended on a part-time blogger, Jim Burroway, and a Christian therapist, Warren Throckmorton. Is this really the best we could do – two dedicated people who were forced to heroically gather information for free on lunch breaks?
What should we have done? We could have run a strategic campaign to let Uganda’s leaders know that there would be a heavy price to pay for passing this bill:
Isolate: A campaign should have articulated the view that if the bill passed, Uganda would become a pariah state and bill sponsors would be viewed as genocidal outlaws deserving of prosecution for crimes against humanity
Punish: A campaign should have stressed that Uganda would be subject to harsh international sanctions and lose foreign aid from Western governments
Shame: American evangelicals are behind much of the anti-gay hysteria in Africa. A bright spotlight should have been consistently shined on those involved, exposing their role
Continental Divide: As we shamed the Americans into publicly backing away from the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, this would have likely caused a rift with their Ugandan counterparts, reducing the chances of this bill passing
Reshape the Narrative: Ugandan sponsors of the bill falsely claim that homosexuality is un-African and that they are protecting the purity of African values from Western taint. We should have accurately pointed out that the bill’s sponsors are puppets of American religious special interest groups who are intent on stealing the country and possibly appropriating its oil.
The LGBT communities of North America and Europe were all that stood in the way of this human rights catastrophe becoming a grotesque reality that will negatively impact gay people worldwide. Yet, even though we had two years to avert this nightmare, we collectively failed to take action.
It’s good to see that the First World is taking notice of the brave, courageous gay activists of Uganda:
Ugandan gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been given the prestigious Martin Ennals rights award.
The 10 organisations which make up the award jury said she was courageous and faced harassment because of her work.
[...]
In January, her colleague David Kato was murdered not long after suing a paper that outed them both as gay. Police denied the killing was because of his sexuality.
Three months before the murder, Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper published the photographs of several people it said were gay, including activist Mr Kato, with the headline “Hang them.”
The name of Ms Nabagesera, the founder of gay rights organisation Freedom and Roam Uganda, also appeared on the list.
Still standing with the bigots in Uganda? Notable American conservative Evangelicals. “What’s new?,” says we.
The Ugandan parliamentarian behind an anti-gay bill that attracted worldwide condemnation said the most controversial part of the legislation — the death penalty provision — is likely to be dropped from the bill.
David Bahati said if the parliament committee the bill currently sits before recommends that the death penalty provision be removed, “I would concede.”
“The death penalty is something we have moved away from,” Bahati told The Associated Press in an interview.
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.”
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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.
In a disgusting new twist to the anti-gay fervor that has swept Uganda, 
