Uganda's New Homophobic Bill Is Even Worse Than Last Year's Anti-Homosexuality Act

A government committee in Uganda has drafted a new anti-gay law, one that has the potential to be even more draconian than the country's (now-invalidated) Anti-Homosexuality Act.

The Guardian reports:

According to a leaked copy of the new draft law, MPs have instead focused on outlawing the “promotion” of homosexuality – a potentially far more repressive and wide-reaching measure. 

Frank Mugisha [pictured], a gay-rights activist, said: “People don’t realise that the ‘promotion’ part of it will affect everybody. If newspapers report about homosexuality it could be seen as promotion. My Twitter account could be seen as promotion. All human rights groups that include LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] rights defence in their activities could be accused of promotion.” 

According to the draft, anyone convicted of “promoting” homosexuality would be liable to seven years in prison. “We have confirmed that the draft comes from the cabinet. Their plan is to present it to parliament as soon as possible, before the end of the year,” Mugisha said. 

“They have just twisted the language but it is the same thing. It’s actually worse because the ‘promotion’ part is harsher and it will punish the funding of LGBT and human rights groups.”

In an editorial published earlier this month in Uganda's leading newspaper, president Yoweri Museveni warned that the country would be devastated by trade boycotts should lawmakers pursue additional anti-gay legislation.

UGANDA: President Backs Off Anti-Gay Laws, Fears Trade Boycott By West

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday said that his nation risks a trade boycott by western corporations if the anti-gays laws struck down earlier this year on a technicality were to be reinstated. 

In a commentary on Friday in the state-run New Vision daily, Museveni said he was not worried by the aid cuts that followed the initial law, but warned of a trade boycott by companies in the West. He said re-issuing the anti-gay law would likely antagonize consumers in the West, risking access to a rich export market. "To carelessly and needlessly open unnecessary wars with useful customers is irresponsible to say the least," he wrote. Homosexuality remains taboo in Uganda and many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups have branded it a corrupting Western import. The original passage of the anti-gay law was celebrated with a rally in the city center against homosexuals, which Museveni attended and where he was thanked for signing the bill by religious leaders from various denominations. Donors, who finance about 20 percent of Uganda's annual budget, lauded its annulment, and some have resumed lending. The U.S. described the court's decision as "an important step in the right direction for human rights" in Uganda.

Some insiders suspect that Museveni orchestrated the overturn of the anti-gay legislation as the court's ruling came just days before a Washington DC summit of African nations.

A UGANDAN PASTOR SSEMPA IS ACCUSED OF DEFILEMENT OF MINOR

A man by the name of Martin Ssempa has apparently been held by police in Iganga, Uganda, accused of allegedly “defiling” a 17 year old girl in Uganda.

The term defilement is used in Uganda to describe rape of a young under-age person.

There are two Martin Ssempa’s (urgh imagine that) and we hear that the accused is not the infamous pastor who is known for his Bible punching hate of gays. But this is a different Ssempa and now ‘Mr Eat Da Poo Poo’ Ssempa will get a taste, through name confusion, of what it feel like to be outed by Uganda’s Tabloid Red Pepper. A mechanism of persecution he has laughed at and condoned through social media bantering for years.

Sometimes Karma rushes in like a tidal wave….

The Red Pepper Report notes as follows:

Iganga police are holding a pastor accused of defiling a 17-year-old girl during a healing prayer session. 

Pastor Martin Ssempa (who happens to share the same name with the famous Martin Ssempa of the the anti sodomy campaign) , of The Church of God Healing Centre located in Iganga on Tiptop Hall reportedly took advantage of his 17-year-old victim a student at Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Iganga district when she approached him to pray for her to during night prayers. 

According to the minor whose identity has been withheld, the pastor took her inside his room where he repeatedly defiled her and asked not to reveal the matter to anybody.

She says Ssempa promised her school fees in order not to talk about the matter. A medical report shows that the minor was indeed defiled. 

Betty Nankwanga, the mother of the defilement victim says that she was nearly tricked into having sex with the same pastor. 

Nankwanga says Ssempa convinced her that she had been bewitched by her mother-in-law. Ssempa said Nankwanga’s mother-law wanted to break up her marriage. He then offered to pray for her. 

She says she became suspicious when during the prayer session, Ssempa started touching her breasts and private parts. 

Mathew Otuur, the Iganga police Investigations chief, says that they have subjected the pastor to a medical check up to establish his mental status before he can appear in court on charges of defilement. 

This is not the first case of a pastor being accused of sexual harassment. 

In April 2014, Pastor Martin Kahira, of Rwandan nationality reportedly defiled a 14-year old girl who had sought his help. The Sazinga Primary School pupil in Mitooma district had wanted Kahira to pray for her recovery from epilepsy.

In October 2012, the infamous anti-gay Martin Ssempa and five other individuals were convicted in Buganda Road Court of conspiring to tarnish a rival pastor’s reputation by falsely accusing him of engaging in homosexuality. The guilty verdict stemmed from a May 2009 incident in which Ssempa and the others engaged in a conspiracy to coerce a male church member at Robert Kayanja‘s Rubaga Miracle Center Cathedral to claim that he had sexual relations with Kayanja. The six individuals, including Ssempa, were sentenced to a fine of one million shillings each (about US$390) and one hundred hours of community service.

Scott Lively Says He's 'Not Unhappy' Uganda's Anti-gay Law Was Overturned

Scott Lively, the American evangelical hatemonger who helped Uganda pass its brutal anti-gay law, has written a column claiming he's "not unhappy" the law was struck down in its present form and says he's now waiting for calls of apology from media outlets who "for years have insinuated (or outright insisted) that the Ugandans were merely my puppets in a nefarious scheme to persecute homosexuals there"

Writes Lively:

The maliciously deceitful attempt by the global “gay” movement and its media allies to paint Uganda as a pariah state filled with hateful bigots (as in the propaganda film “God Loves Uganda”), is simply a disgusting modern example of the same “blood libel” used against the Jews by the Nazis. 

I am not unhappy that the Ugandan law as written has been nullified. I have always said it was too harsh and did not emphasize prevention and therapy for homosexual disorder. The law’s enactment and quick repeal conclusively demonstrate that Ugandans can think for themselves, are capable of self-governance, and do not need “enlightened” Marxists and homosexual militants from the West to shape their public policy and uphold the rule of law.

Lively, who is set to stand trial for "crimes against humanity" for his role in helping pass Uganda's bill, has been steadfast in his denial of having any role in drumming up anti-gay hysteria in Uganda...despite video showing Lively 'educating' Ugandan lawmakers on how gays are "evil," "serial killers" and "Nazis"

Religious Leaders in Liberia Claim Ebola Outbreak is God's Punishment for 'Penetrating Homosexualism'

More than 100 Christian religious leaders in the west Africa country of Liberia have signed on to a resolution blaming gays for the recent Ebola outbreak in the region.

The resolution, signed by prominent church leaders including Catholic Archbishop Lewis J. Zeigler, stated: 

That God is angry with Liberia, and that Ebola is a plague. Liberians have to pray and seek God's forgiveness over the corruption and immoral acts (such as homosexualism, etc.) that continue to penetrate our society. As Christians, we must repent and seek God's forgiveness. 

That a three-day indoor fast and prayer across the nation be observed, commencing next Wednesday, August 6th, and concluding Friday, August 8th.

Americablog adds that this isn't the first time Zeigler tried to blame Liberia's woes on the gays. Earlier this year, Zeigler asked: "“Where are we going as Liberians if we are advocating for homosexuality? Are we not calling for curses upon ourselves? How will a man marry his fellow man, this is an abomination. These are the same things that brought down Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Ugandan Court Tosses Out Country's Anti-Homosexuality Act

A Ugandan court has invalidated the country's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, declaring it illegal because it was passed by parliament without quorum.

The AP reports:

The panel of five judges on the East African country's Constitutional Court said the speaker of parliament acted illegally when she allowed a vote on the measure despite at least three objections — including from the country's prime minister — over a lack of a quorum when the bill was passed on Dec. 20.

"The speaker was obliged to ensure that there was a quorum," the court said in its ruling. "We come to the conclusion that she acted illegally."
The ruling was made before a courtroom packed with Ugandans opposing or supporting the measure. Activists erupted in loud cheers after the court ruled the law is now "null and void."

With the procedural nature of the ruling, activists and petitioners were not able to argue that the anti-gay measure discriminated against LGBT Ugandans in violation of the country's constitution.

The AP adds:

Nicholas Opiyo, a Ugandan lawyer who was among the petitioners, welcomed the ruling but said there is still a missed opportunity to debate the substance of the law. "The ideal situation would have been to deal with the other issues of the law, to sort out this thing once and for all," Opiyo said.
A colonial-era law that criminalizes sex acts "against the order of nature," still remains in effect in Uganda, allowing for the continued arrests of alleged homosexual offenders, Opiyo said.

Opiyo also said he expects lawmakers will likely try to reintroduce a new anti-gay measure sometime in the future.

'Underground Railroad' Ferries Gays Out Of Uganda

The plight of gay Ugandans is well-known here, but it hasn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. A group of Quakers calling themselves Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR) formed to take action and help gays and lesbians in Uganda escape persecution.

Modeling themselves after the Quakers from the Civil War the Olympia, WA-based group has "conductors" guide those trying to flee in small groups along back roads to safe houses. Everyone's identities are kept secret, and even other conductors don't know each other. Even the leader of the group goes by the pseudonym Levi Coffin II, named after one of the conductors from the Civil War.

So far an estimated 107 people have been helped to escape from Uganda, but the group is not without detractors. Scott Long of Human Rights Watch said:

This is not the kind of stuff that well-meaning amateurs can do, and the money’s basically going to be wasted. I fully appreciate the good intentions here, but the organizers [should] be persuaded to subordinate their efforts to a recognized refugee NGO or to the security committee.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni Says Foreign Aid Is 'Sinful'

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that receiving foreign aid in exchange for the fair treatment of his country’s LGBT community is “sinful," according to The Telegraph.

Several countries have cut aid to Uganda in response to the introduction of severe anti-gay laws that include a sentence of life imprisonment. 

Last month the U.S. cut aid to Uganda, imposed visa restrictions on Ugandans involved in human rights violations, and cancelled a planned military exercise with the Ugandan army.

Speaking at a religious conference in Kampala, Museveni welcomed cuts to foreign aid because they had "aroused" Ugandans and made them realise they needed to "undertake serious work" to build self-reliance.

Museveni continued that to accept aid in return for fair treatment of homosexuals “is a bad omen, you are committing a sin to offer that aid, or to receive it.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Tamale Mirundi, a spokesman for Museveni, said:

"In his speech [Museveni] made clear that Uganda can be self-reliant, and the aid cuts have woken us up and invigorated us. The president has always opposed aid, from the beginning."

US Takes Measures Against Uganda for Anti-gay Law

The United States on Thursday canceled a regional military exercise in Uganda, imposed visa restrictions, diverted funds for a health institute to another country and cut funding for a Ugandan police program in response to a law that imposes harsh penalties for homosexuality.

Senior U.S. administration officials, speaking before the announcement by the White House, said the stepped up measures were carefully targeted at those responsible for abuses related to implementation of the anti-gay law and involved in corruption.

The officials said the steps would not directly impact HIV/AIDS and food programs that benefit ordinary Ugandans.

“The idea is to send a signal to perpetrators and would-be perpetrators that we are indeed monitoring, that we are indeed prepared to take measures, and that there are consequences,” a senior administration official told Reuters.

President Barack Obama had warned Museveni at the time that the law would complicate relations between the two countries. Since then, the United States has been reviewing its funding to Uganda, while privately pressing Museveni's government to repeal the law.

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa was in Washington last week meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss American concerns about the law, which imposes life imprisonment for those engaging in homosexual sex.

Washington has been careful in its retaliation not to divert funding from projects that will directly affect HIV/AIDS or nutritional programs that benefit ordinary Ugandans.

Uganda is also a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in Somalia, where Ugandan troops form the backbone of the African Union force battling al-Qaida-aligned militants.

Western donors, including the United States, have already halted or re-directed about $118 million in aid to the East African nation's economy, although steps so far have had limited impact on the budget, in part because the aid dollars are still coming in even if they are not going to the state.

 

Although aid contributed around 20 percent of the budget this year, it has been falling as a proportion, sliding from 25 percent in 2012-2013 year as Uganda seeks to become less dependent on aid.

Canada Denies Visas for 10 Ugandan Gay Activists Invited to Toronto's World Pride Conference

Concerned that they would seek asylum upon arrival, Canada has denied visas for 10 Ugandan gay activists hoping to attend the World Pride human rights conference in June, the Star reports:

Gay rights advocates say the decisions by the Canadian visa posts in Nairobi and London speak to the hypocrisy of the Stephen Harper government, which, in February, joined other Western nations in condemning Uganda for passing one of the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality laws.
“We are shocked and appalled. These individuals from Uganda are some of the most courageous heroes,” said Andrea Houston of #ENDhatelaws, a coalition founded in response to homophobia/transphobia across the globe, amid the controversy over anti-gay laws passed in Russia prior to the Winter Olympics.
“They are here to share their stories and have every intention to go home after the conference, because they all have work to do in Uganda. The assumption is they are here to claim asylum. The question is: Why can’t they, coming from the most hostile place in the world to LGBTQ people?”

The visa denials began in April.

Well-known Ugandan activist Frank Mugisha is the only one who will come to the conference, and has a multi-entry visa according to the paper.

A review of the visa decisions showed the Ugandan’s applications were rejected for a combination of reasons: lack of travel history, family ties in Canada and in Uganda, and insufficient funds for the trip.
In eight of the applications, officials concluded they did not believe the applicants had a legitimate business purpose in Canada. In six, the officers said the applicants did not have the money to “carry out your stated purpose in going to Canada or to maintain yourself while in Canada and to effect your departure.”

Man Plants Gay Pride Flag Atop Uganda's Highest Peak, Challenges Museveni to Take It Down

Neal Gottlieb, the owner of Three Twins Ice Cream and an activist who lives in Sausalito, California, climbed to the top of Uganda's highest mountain, Margherita Peak, and planted a Gay Pride flag there "in protest of Uganda's recent criminalization of homosexuality," he wrote on Facebook.

Wrote Gottlieb in an open letter to President Museveni, in part:

On April 16, 2014, after a 6-day climb, I summited your country’s tallest peak, Mount Stanley’s 16,753 foot tall Margherita Peak, and mounted a gay pride flag at its summit in protest of your country’s criminalization of homosexuality. Your country’s highest point is no longer its soil, its snow or a summit marker, but rather a gay pride flag waving brilliantly, shining down from above as a sign of protest and hope behalf of the many thousands of Ugandans that you seek to repress and the many more that understand the hideous nature of your repressive legislation...

...As the president of a nation you have the opportunity to be a great man and lead your country forward. Instead, you choose to hold your people back like the imperialists, the dictators and the warlords that have held Africa back generation after generation. The people that you wish to imprison are the same people who can help Uganda grow into a great nation.

...If you don’t like said flag on your highest peak, I urge you to climb up and take it down. However, you are an old man and surely the 6-day climb through the steep muddy bogs and up the mountain’s glaciers is well beyond your physical ability. Your days are more limited than most. Do you want your remaining days to be yet another blight on the history of your nation or will you find the strength to reverse your actions and allow all Ugandans to be free?

U.S. blames Uganda for raid on gay-friendly AIDS clinic

The U.S. State Department has blamed the Ugandan government for the April 3 raid that led to the closing of a U.S.-funded health clinic serving HIV-positive LGBT patients in Kampala.

In a press statement, Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, said:

We are deeply concerned that a U.S.-funded health clinic and medical research facility, the Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP), was raided by Ugandan authorities on April 3, leading to the arrest of one of the facility’s employees, allegedly for conducting “unethical research” and “recruiting homosexuals.”

While that individual was subsequently released, this incident significantly heightens our concerns about respect for civil society and the rule of law in Uganda, and for the safety of LGBT individuals.

The MUWRP is engaged in efforts to improve public health and save lives.

The Ugandan government is responsible for protecting all of its people, and attacks and intimidation of health care workers are unacceptable.

The safety of health workers must be respected. We have temporarily suspended the operations of MUWRP to ensure the safety of staff and beneficiaries, and the integrity of the program.

The raid was the first prominent assault on an AIDS health center since the enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which provides a life sentence for homosexual activity and seven years in prison for anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage in acts of homosexuality.”

The project was targeted for “training youths in homosexuality,” Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said.

SCOTT LIVELY DENIES ANTI-GAY ROLE IN UGANDA, SAYS OBAMA MIGHT 'BE A HOMOSEXUAL

On Sunday, Britain’s Channel 4 profiled American evangelical hatemonger Scott Lively and his role in helping Uganda pass its brutal anti-gay law last month. 

Lively, who is currently running for governor of Massachusetts, is shown in the video linking gays to pedophilia, the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide and calling President Obama a "homosexualist" who "may well be a homosexual himself."

But Lively maintains throughout the interview that his views and activism haven't contributed to any anti-gay hysteria in Uganda...

Anti-Gay American Evangelicals Depicted as the Hateful Cartoon Characters They Are

Political cartoonist Mark Fiore calls out anti-gay hatemongers Bryan Fischer, Scott Lively, Tony Perkins and Rick Warren for playing ignorant after encouraging Uganda to pass its horrendous law which penalizes LGBT people with life imprisonment. 

Fiore writes:

"Since Uganda's anti-gay law was signed recently, it's been amusing (and maddening) to watch various religious right characters scurry for cover. When nobody was watching, the holier-than-thou set have been visiting Uganda preaching their extreme anti-gay views. Now that people are appalled at Uganda's life-in-prison-for-homosexuals law, the "evangelical" right-wing preachers are laying low or rewriting history."

And if you enjoy this video, you'll love Fiore's takes on Arizona’s discrimination license, Republicans love gay marriage and straights who have been injured by gay marriage.

United States Outlines Near-Term Steps It Will Take in Response to Uganda's Anti-Gay Law

Buzzfeed reports on the steps that the Obama administration plans to take "immediately" in response to Uganda's anti-gay law:

Money will be shifted away from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, a group that has publicly come out in support of the anti-gay law and has received millions of dollars in grants from the United States to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some $2.3 million will continue to go to the IRCU to continue treatment for some 50,000 current patients, but an additional $6.4 million intended for the IRCU will go to other organizations.

Second, because the law makes “promoting homosexuality” illegal, a U.S. funded study to help identify populations at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS has been suspended. The study, which was going to be conducted by a Ugandan university and the Center for Disease Control, has been suspended out of fear that both staff and survey respondents could be put in danger.

Third, because any LGBT person or LGBT ally who now enters Uganda is at risk, money intended for tourism programs will be redirected...

And finally, the Department of Defense had several events scheduled in the country later this spring and those will be moved to other locations. “Certain near-term invitational travel” for Ugandan military and police personnel has also been suspended or canceled.

In a recent interview, Ugandan activist Richard Lusimbo discussed the impact the cutting of foreign aid would have on the LGBT population of Uganda:

“If aid is just cut in general terms, the local person is going to suffer. This includes LGBTI people. It will promote the isolation of the LGBTI community and we will continue to be marginalized. People like David Bahati that have been promoting homophobia are going to go on the radio and say, ‘Look, people are dying because of the homosexuals. We can’t have medicine in hospitals because of homosexuals. We can’t have good water because of homosexuals.’ These are government responsibilities but because our economy hasn’t reached a point where President Museveni can support this, we are still depending on foreign aid.”

Lusimbo added: “We need to look at sectors where the government will feel a direct pinch. If that funding that the US gives to the army, if that were stopped, then that would have a direct effect. Donor countries should rethink and go back to the drawing table and look at how they could actually fund.”

The concern is if aid is cut due to the anti-homosexuality bill, the pinch could have a trickle down effect on Ugandan taxpayers, Lusimbo said. “We have seen billions disappear in scandals. The money sent through the prime ministers office to support the development of Northern Uganda, didn’t go to any work, it was just swindled away. Ugandan taxpayers money was used to pay it back.”

What do you think of the near-term U.S. steps in reaction to the Ugandan law?

John Kerry Sending Scientists To Help Ugandan President Reconsider Homosexuality

John Kerry is taking a strong and intelligent approach in response to Uganda‘s Anti-Homosexuality Law (AHB). The U.S. Secretary of State announced he is sending scientists to discuss homosexuality with the President Yoweri Museveni, in the hope that they can change his mind.

“Maybe we can reach a point of reconsideration” on Uganda’s anti-gay law that mandates life in prison or years in jail for engaging in acts of homosexual sex, or for just being gay.

The news came today during a forum at the State Department that was moderated by BuzzFeed, Buzzfeed’s J. Lester Feder reports.

Last month, President Museveni signed the infamous legislation into law, after claiming that Ugandan scientist had convinced him homosexuality is a choice and that no one is born gay.

“I talked personally to President Museveni just a few weeks ago, and he committed to meet with some of our experts so that we could engage him in a dialogue as to why what he did could not be based on any kind of science or fact, which is what he was alleging,” Secretary Kerry said, according to Buzzfeed. “He welcomed that and said that he was happy to receive them and we can engage in that kind of conversation… maybe we can reach a point of reconsideration.”

Buzzfeed also reports that Secretary Kerry will be addressing anti-gay laws in about 80 countries that outlaw/restrict homosexuality and LGBT people:

“There’s been already a review taking place,” Kerry said, to examine policy towards all countries where homosexuality is criminalized, “to figure out what the options are as to how we can begin to change minds, move leaders, reach the public, the same kind of education that took place frankly here in our country.”
…
“We talked about how everybody in everyone of those consulates and embassies is going to have responsibility now to become an advocates with facts,” Kerry said. “It’s going to have to be strategic country by country. I don’t think you’re going to find different countries will have different needs, different sensitivities. So we’re going to try to put together the overall umbrella program tailorable, obviously, region by region and country by country.”

Secretary Kerry last month denounced the signing of the anti-gay legislation into law, comparing it to anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, and apartheid in South Africa.

Having a representative of the U.S. government advocate for changes in attitudes on homosexuality is a monumental step. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton started the process, repeatedly announcing that “gay rights are human rights,” but this is, hopefully, real action, and impressive.

Fighting Back Against Anti-Gay Laws in Africa

Anti-gay laws are sweeping across Africa, from Nigeria to Uganda. On Friday, as part of a Global Day of Action, hundreds of LGBT Africans and their allies protested in New York, encouraging Americans to get involved.

I was there to report, along with filmmaker Harriet Hirshorn.

U.S. evangelicals on the defense over Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act

American evangelicals are denouncing a new Uganda law that criminalizes homosexuality, reiterating a position that many have held for years but which has nonetheless drawn scrutiny and skepticism from critics.

Since 2009, several American pastors and leaders have condemned legislation in Uganda that in its initial version imposed the death penalty for some offenders. Under the revised law signed recently by President Yoweri Museveni, the death penalty was removed and replaced with life in prison in some cases.

Now, American evangelicals who insist they never supported either version of the law nonetheless find themselves playing defense, saying their statements against homosexuality at home are being twisted as an endorsement of harsh penalties against gays and lesbians abroad.

Decrying laws in countries such as Uganda and Russia, Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said he knows no evangelicals who would support legislation like Uganda’s.

“We always must balance a fear of Western cultural imperialism with a responsibility to speak to global human rights around the world,” said Moore, who has also denounced Russia’s anti-gay laws because he has adopted sons from Russia.

“Those of us who hold to a Christian sexual ethic don’t want to see those who disagree with us jailed; we want to see them reconciled to God through the gospel.”

The timing of Uganda’s legislation coincided with heated debates in the U.S. over the proposed legislation in Arizona that would have allowed businesses in the state to deny services to people who are gay if they felt that serving them would violate their religious rights.

“The situations in Uganda and Arizona are galaxies apart,” Moore said. “I think that in Arizona and several other states, in an attempt to preserve our religious liberties, regardless of how we agree with how it’s being done, can hardly compare with persecution around the world.”

California megachurch pastor Rick Warren, too, posted on his Facebook page on Sunday (March 2) denying allegations that he ever supported the Uganda bill. In 2009, Warren posted an “encyclical video” on YouTube saying he opposes the criminalization of homosexuality.

“Last week, the nation of Uganda passed a bad law, which I have publicly opposed for nearly 5 years,” Warren wrote. “I still oppose it, but rumors persist because lies and errors are never removed from the internet.”

Evangelical humanitarian organization World Vision has opposed the bill since 2009, arguing that it could hamper efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS. “More people would be reluctant to seek, receive or even provide care and compassion out of fear of being reported,” the organization said in a statement. “This would also make their families and children even more vulnerable.”

Uganda is not the only country to criminalize same-sex relations. The United Nations estimates that 78 countries ban homosexuality.

Since the law passed, Uganda has been hit with substantial aid cuts from Western nations; the World Bank has postponed a $90 million loan for the country’s health systems. Secretary of State John Kerry has likened Uganda’s law to South Africa’s apartheid-era ban on interracial unions. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said Tuesday that “homosexuals are not criminals” and should not receive a sentence of life in prison.

Media reports have connected the bill to a 2009 conference in Uganda, at which three Americans condemned homosexual behavior and promoted therapy for same-sex attraction. One of the men, Scott Lively, a Massachusetts pastor and head of Abiding Truth Ministries, said that he is not responsible for the bill.

“It’s a very insulting argument, that somehow an American evangelical pastor is so powerful that I’ve overwhelmed the intelligence of an entire government and turned them out to do my will,” Lively said. “The Ugandans knew what they wanted to hear.”

He said he does not support the bill in its final form.

“I have mixed feelings about the final law,” Lively said. “I support the portions that increase penalties for homosexual abuse among children, intentionally spreading AIDS through sodomy. The penalties in the law for simple homosexuality are still too harsh.”

He said that if he had power to implement legislation in the U.S., he would make laws related to sexuality similar to new marijuana laws, where the government would be prohibited from advocating and promoting it but advocates who practice it would left alone. He said he also would have recommended reparative therapy, the disputed belief that sexual orientation can be changed.

“There are many who are compelled to same-sex behavior, like alcoholism or any other behavioral disorder,” Lively said. “The government should be concerned with helping them overcome their problems and not just punish them for it.”

Initial opposition to the bill was strong among evangelicals, but it gradually faded due to “Uganda fatigue,” said Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology at Grove City College.

“Early on, Rick Warren went out on a big way against the bill, and he still got blamed for it at times. Some of the vigor early on was worn down over time,” Throckmorton said. “The bill came up and then died several times. Just when you thought it was gone and over with, the Ugandan parliament passed it in the middle of the night, so to speak.”

He said he would have expected a more vigorous response from evangelicals who have a stake in Uganda.

“Evangelicals have missionaries there, televangelists have shows on TV there. There is a substantial American Christian presence there,” Throckmorton said. “From the Ugandans’ point of view, the bill was passed as a way to make Uganda a more Christian nation; evangelicals could’ve been more vocal by saying, ‘This is not how it’s done.’”

Zimbabwe President Mugabe Just Learned There are Homosexuals in His Country, Backs Uganda's Anti-Gay Law

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe spoke out in support of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Law on Monday and condemned Western nations for threatening to cut aid, AFP reports. 

 

Said Mugabe:

"They (the West) want to tell us... that it's a violation of human rights, that is what they are doing to Museveni right now...The human right you have as a man is to marry another woman not to get another man to marry, we refuse that. It's a terrible world we are in, a terrible world where people want to do things that they feel will enhance their own interests."

Mugabe also said that he has become aware of a group of gays in Zimbabwe and plans to investigate:

"I understand we have a group of homosexuals in this country. I didn't know until I was told the day before yesterday. So we want to check on who is in that group."

AFP notes: "The Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) has long operated in the country despite Mugabe's ranting against homosexuality. Police have on several occasions raided the GALZ offices and prosecutors had laid charges against the association accusing it of operating an unregistered organisation."

Mugabe spoke out against gays last July no less than seven times, threatening to chop off their heads:

 “If you take men and lock them in a house for five years and tell them to come up with two children and they fail to do that, then we will chop off their heads. This thing (homosexuality) seeks to destroy our lineage by saying John and John should wed, Maria and Maria should wed. Imagine this son born out of an African father...Obama says if you want aid, you should accept the homosexuality practice. Aah, we will never do that.”

Mugabe has previously claimed that gay men pose a threat to women's rights, condemned the "gay filth" of European culture, as well as threatened the U.K.'s prime minister over their support of same-sex couples.

Whoopi Goldberg To Presidents Of Nigeria, Uganda: You're On The Wrong Side Of History

Actress, comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg on Friday posted a video message to the presidents of Nigeria and Uganda about anti-gay legislation each signed in their respective nations.

“You're on the wrong side of history,” Goldberg said in the two-minute video. “You let people come over to your country and make you believe an untruth.”

“Gay people, black people, people people, we're all human. We all face these issues. And it doesn't roll in any country. We don't put up with it anymore here in the United States because it was wrong. It was wrong for us, it's wrong for you.”

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan quietly signed legislation increasing the penalties for homosexuality last month, while Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a similar bill last week.

“It isn't right to imprison someone for who they are, for who they love,” Goldberg said.