On Tuesday, Feb. 7, hours before the Ninth Circuit ruled "Prop 8" unconstitutional in the state of California, raucous cheers rang out in the Ugandan Parliament as legislators reintroduced a controversial bill that would in effect legislate hate against the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.
The proposed bill, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), would compel families, doctors, and counselors to report on all those suspected of being members of the LGBTI community, and would impose criminal sanctions, possibly even the death penalty, for those who fail to turn in their fellow citizens. Combined with other proposed legislation before the Parliament, like portions of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Control Bill, the AHB would also hinder Uganda's HIV-prevention efforts, contributing to the alarming rise in HIV infection rates.
This poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of all Ugandans and is a clear violation of international law. It denies LGBTI citizens their rights to health care, education, and work. It creates an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, and fear. It criminalizes the actions of civil society organizations and individual citizens who work to defend the legal rights of their fellow Ugandans. And it puts the imprimatur of the law behind discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a blatant suppression of the rights of all Ugandans and an attempt to curtail the freedoms of speech and assembly of a vibrant civil society in Uganda.
The bill's supporters claim to be acting in the name of protecting Ugandan children -- playing on the common prejudice that equates homosexuality with pedophilia. In fact, the bill places children squarely in harm's way. The bill calls on Ugandan families to betray trust and turn in their siblings and children. The bill would have doctors break confidentiality and deny care to Ugandans. In fact, this bill would disrupt Ugandan families, increase the HIV prevalence in the country, and set a frightening precedent for the silencing of rights advocacy of any group deemed undesirable by politicians.
Moreover, the bill's possible passage into law is not the only threat to Ugandans. The reintroduction of the bill imminently threatens the safety of the LGBTI community and the safety of anyone assumed to be LGBTI. Vigilante violence and hate speech amplified by sensationalist media and homophobic rhetoric by religious leaders is all too real today in Uganda. Across the country, LGBTI people already face physical attacks and rape, extortion by neighbors, and arbitrary arrest by police.
If we support the human and civil rights of our LGBTI citizens in the United States, we must also vigorously advocate against the passage of this bill and act to stop state-sanctioned homophobia from taking root in any country. If we support human rights, we cannot ignore legalized brutality against any group of our global community.
No one is suggesting that we send troops in and start shooting. Why is violence the first thing that comes to mind.
"Perhaps they need actual Mormon missionaries in addition to Broadway ones."
Religion is the root of the problem in Uganda. It was American Evangelical missionaries who got the ball rolling on this hateful law.
Afraid to criticize the fact that most black Africans have little use for liberal fashion?
Oh - that's right. He pretty much orchestrated this whole thing.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/21/anti_gay_fervor_in_uganda_tied
Bye bye. Facts are so diffiucult for prejudiced liberals who are trapped in their self created universe.
society seems to have a very childish, mocking cruel undertone --like the entire country is made up of second graders. Add to that the curse of the evil purveyors of toxic, money-driven "religion", and you've got a seriously poisoned society.
a) A superficial assurance (as politicians do) that there shall be more 'acceptance' and on paper, you may actually achieve that.
b) Opposition, in which case the quality of life in an already suffering section of the world shall become worse.
And American preachers did not 'go to Uganda and stir up all the hate', they simply made an issue out of something that for most Ugandans is so unacceptable that they did not even speak of it before. The evangelists are elitist and they appeal mainly to the elite (therefore educated) section of society to which legislators belong. The larger illiterate population in the countryside would dismiss such talk of homosexuality because their immediate concerns are daily subsistence. To them, talk of homosexuality and its social acceptability is a white man's luxury.
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/blog/92763828_ugandas-missionaries-of-hate-influence-media-campaign.htm
We're had an incredible success in Iraq, we're almost done in Afghanistan, and Iran shouldn't take that long.
It's convenient, English is the official language.
And after the 'regime changes' in Iraq, can you say (with real authority) that the people there are better off? Can you say that the Afghanis are better off? Or the Libyans? America needs to accept that as a sovereign nation, it needs to respect other countries' sovereignty. If you want to defend 'rights', speak, act and advocate as an individual, but do not suggest that your country should use its military might and financial resources to destroy another country.
Try your English/Luganda dictionary for the word 'sarcasm'. You will find I was agreeing with what you said.