Helen Epstein pleads with the international community to give Uganda's crackdown on democracy the same attention it gave to the "Kill The Gays" bill: What I’d like to know is this: where are those activists and diplomats now that the Ugandan government is inflicting even worse abuses against all Ugandans, gay and straight? Since national … Continue reading It Gets Worse For Uganda
It may get a vote as soon as tomorrow. Jim Burroway, who has been following the Ugandan legislation closely, has difficulty gauging the bill's chances of passing. Michelle Goldberg partially blames social conservatives in the US:
The point is not that American Christians urged their Ugandan counterparts to try to institute the death penalty for homosexuality—they didn’t. … Yet the ideology underlying the bill comes from American conservatives.
A fascinating bunch of US diplomatic cables have been published that reveal the full implications of the mounting and terrifying anti-gay pogrom in Uganda. It puts it in the context of broader politics, as a deliberate ploy to use gays as an excuse to discredit the opposition and buttress President Youweri Museveni’s 25-year rule as … Continue reading Wikileaks, Uganda And The “Evil” Of Homosexuality
Jim Burroway exposes some seriously depraved homophobic defamation.
by Patrick Appel Chris Blattman flags a new paper: Among young women, who experienced the greatest decline in HIV prevalence, the most important component was delaying sexual debut, accounting for 57 percent of the drop in HIV prevalence. Condom use by high risk males and to a lesser extent death (of older males) also played … Continue reading Why Did AIDS Go Down In Uganda?
Box Turtle Bulletin now says it was a hoax: Here is what we do know: a young man was brutally murdered, that he was mutilated and his head was cut off and dumped into a latrine. That much is true. But we have now confirmed that the young man had no connections with Integrity Uganda.
A reader in the country writes:
Today is National Martyr's Day, a national holiday that honors 40+ Ugandan Christians who were brutally murdered by a Ugandan king 100 years ago or so. While in a shop, I heard a news broadcast about a government official's speech (I think it was the president, but I'm not sure) which took an unfortunate interpretation of the holiday, calling on Ugandans to recognize the martyrs and to refrain from sin and homosexuality. He then claimed that there had been homosexuality in the King's court, suggesting that it was the instigating cause.
GayUganda elaborates:
Matt Steinglass finds an article by Philip Jenkins:
It sounds as though Mr Jenkins's focus has evolved a bit over the past few years; when he wrote this article in the New Republic, he wasn't exactly saying that Western evangelicals were irrelevant to Ugandan homophobia. It was more that such influence had been over-emphasised. He situated African homophobia in the rising tide of evangelical Christianity in Africa, and noted that first- and second-generation converts to any faith tend to be more literal in their interpretations of its holy texts.
Lexington sums up Philip Jenkins' argument: Gay-bashing in Uganda was common long before any American preachers showed up and gave unpleasant speeches. Rivalry between Islam and Christianity for adherents ensures that preachers of both faiths compete to offer the most anti-gay vision, because that is what a lot of Ugandans want. As in many parts of … Continue reading Was Ugandan Homophobia Imported?
Time reports: About a year ago, her partner's father assaulted [Pepe Julian Onziema] when he saw the couple walking down the street together. She ended up bruised and battered, her clothes torn and with a mild concussion. In comparison to the open hostility Onziema faces from the outside world, at her and her girlfriend's airy … Continue reading Life As A Gay Ugandan
The Dish 