Uganda Watch: President Says There is No Discrimination Against Gays in Uganda

Speaking to a delegation from the Robert F. Kennedy Center, Uganda’s President Yowari Museveni sounded moderate tones in discussing homosexuality yesterday.
Contrary to numerous reports of discrimination and violence, Museveni said that in Uganda, “there is no discrimination, no killings, no marginalization, no luring of young people using money into homosexual acts”. Perhaps he means there shouldn’t be such actions, but the country’s Parliament needs to put away the Anto-Homosexuality Bill before his words can have any credibility.
Currently, Parliament is on recess to get constituent feedback on the contentious Marriage and Divorce Bill. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill remains at #3 on the list of items to be considered.

32 thoughts on “Uganda Watch: President Says There is No Discrimination Against Gays in Uganda”

  1. Dr. Throckmorton –
    Your wording is very charitable: “Perhaps he means there shouldn’t be such actions…”
    I’m reminded of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia University. When asked about the execution of people who are gay, he replied:
    “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”

  2. (BTW, I am not suggesting that homophobic persons are in any way per se ‘in favour’ of child abuse – but that some are unwittingly making the combatting of child sexual abuse more difficult by confusing separate issues. The situation I referred to above does IMO show how ‘muddled thinking’ on human sexuality can lead to justice not being done.)

  5. Re. the Bill: I was told today that there is indeed another version of the Bill floating around somewhere, although, OFFICIALLY, it is still the ‘original’ October 2009 draft that is ‘in play’ as far as parliamentary procedure is concerned … so talk of an amended bill is, at the very least, premature – if not downright disingenuous.
    I wonder if Scott Lively has seen this new draft; he seems to be endorsing something he claims to be the ‘revised’ Bill (though he doesn’t give details of the alleged ‘revisions’): http://www.scottlively.net/2012/12/11/why-i-endorse-the-revised-anti-homosexuality-bill-in-uganda/
    (Some very tenuous arguments here … and how odd for a ‘bible-believing christian’ to rely on rabbinical oral tradition for one of his arguments. How odd also for a lawyer to say in effect, “this is pretty frightful law, but, don’t worry, folks: it might not be applied as written, so I’ll support this law.” Very odd indeed.)
    Back to the notion of an amended Bill: it won’t mollify us, of course. The only good Bahati Bill is a dead Bahati Bill.

  6. It seems that an alleged victim of abuse in the Catholic Church in UG has ‘broken cover’: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Archbishop-Lwanga-sacks-Fr-Musaala-over-sex-claims/-/688334/1725360/-/t6uojp/-/index.html
    Obviously, the response to the allegations by Fr Anthony Musaala is a matter for the gravest concern; it is a very different response to what happened here in the UK over allegations (which did NOT involve the abuse of minors, and have since been admitted) against Keith Cardinal O’Brien. These Ugandan allegations should be taken seriously (like all allegations of this kind), and I very much hope that the new Pope will take Lwanga firmly to task over his handling of this situation.
    Was Musaala’s decision to ‘go public’ wrong? I don’t think so: I have for some time been aware of a situation (involving a ‘pastor’ from another ‘brand’ of ‘christianity’), where the alleged victim’s family was afraid to go the police because they worried about the child concerned being discriminated against for being ‘gay’. Consequently, the law enforcement agencies were never involved with this alleged case of sexual abuse. The alleged victim has since – tragically – died. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: homophobia is an ally of child sexual abuse. Both must be opposed tooth and nail.

  7. The President of Uganda could easily step into the role of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts said virtually the same thing
    yesterday.
    They’re both doing their best to pretend two millennia of Christian anti-gay apartheid don’t exist because gays have ALWAYS been treated as less than human.
    Small wonder most gays hate Christianity with all their hearts.

  8. @ Frank
    I’m far from convinced that ‘most gays hate Christianity with all their hearts’. I know many gays who are very ‘good Christians’ (precisely because they are not in the business of ‘hating’). Certainly, many Ugandan gays are also Christians. I know this for a fact.
    And there are Christians who are deeply concerned about the activities of those who say they Christians and would seek to perpetuate the running sore of homophobia … precisely because such activities are seen by those who are concerned to be in direct and flagrant contravention of the core values of Christianity.
    Judging by his early statements on the issue, it would appear that the new Archbishop of Canterbury is clearly no illusions that homophobia remains a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and not only for the good of those who are victims of homophobia, but also for the good of the Church as a whole.

  9. @ Frank
    I’m far from convinced that ‘most gays hate Christianity with all their hearts’. I know many gays who are very ‘good Christians’ (precisely because they are not in the business of ‘hating’). Certainly, many Ugandan gays are also Christians. I know this for a fact.
    And there are Christians who are deeply concerned about the activities of those who say they Christians and would seek to perpetuate the running sore of homophobia … precisely because such activities are seen by those who are concerned to be in direct and flagrant contravention of the core values of Christianity.
    Judging by his early statements on the issue, it would appear that the new Archbishop of Canterbury is clearly no illusions that homophobia remains a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and not only for the good of those who are victims of homophobia, but also for the good of the Church as a whole.

  10. The President of Uganda could easily step into the role of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts said virtually the same thing
    yesterday.
    They’re both doing their best to pretend two millennia of Christian anti-gay apartheid don’t exist because gays have ALWAYS been treated as less than human.
    Small wonder most gays hate Christianity with all their hearts.

  11. Re. the Bill: I was told today that there is indeed another version of the Bill floating around somewhere, although, OFFICIALLY, it is still the ‘original’ October 2009 draft that is ‘in play’ as far as parliamentary procedure is concerned … so talk of an amended bill is, at the very least, premature – if not downright disingenuous.
    I wonder if Scott Lively has seen this new draft; he seems to be endorsing something he claims to be the ‘revised’ Bill (though he doesn’t give details of the alleged ‘revisions’): http://www.scottlively.net/2012/12/11/why-i-endorse-the-revised-anti-homosexuality-bill-in-uganda/
    (Some very tenuous arguments here … and how odd for a ‘bible-believing christian’ to rely on rabbinical oral tradition for one of his arguments. How odd also for a lawyer to say in effect, “this is pretty frightful law, but, don’t worry, folks: it might not be applied as written, so I’ll support this law.” Very odd indeed.)
    Back to the notion of an amended Bill: it won’t mollify us, of course. The only good Bahati Bill is a dead Bahati Bill.

  14. Rereading this, one might be forgiven that Yoweri Museveni has been taking lessons in obfuscation from Scott Lively: http://www.scottlively.net/2012/12/11/why-i-endorse-the-revised-anti-homosexuality-bill-in-uganda/
    Of course, Lively’s confused and illogical diatribe rests on one big lie: that there is a ‘revised’ Bahati Bill currently in the offing. THERE IS NO ‘REVISED’ BAHATI BILL (at least as yet). Those Ugandan MPs on the LPA Committee who published that dissenting report in January know this, and their report is based on the original draft (which is what is currently before the UG Parliament) – complete with hanging, snooping and suppression of freedom of speech and conscience.

  15. Rereading this, one might be forgiven that Yoweri Museveni has been taking lessons in obfuscation from Scott Lively: http://www.scottlively.net/2012/12/11/why-i-endorse-the-revised-anti-homosexuality-bill-in-uganda/
    Of course, Lively’s confused and illogical diatribe rests on one big lie: that there is a ‘revised’ Bahati Bill currently in the offing. THERE IS NO ‘REVISED’ BAHATI BILL (at least as yet). Those Ugandan MPs on the LPA Committee who published that dissenting report in January know this, and their report is based on the original draft (which is what is currently before the UG Parliament) – complete with hanging, snooping and suppression of freedom of speech and conscience.

  18. Dr. Throckmorton –
    Your wording is very charitable: “Perhaps he means there shouldn’t be such actions…”
    I’m reminded of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia University. When asked about the execution of people who are gay, he replied:
    “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”

  21. On the Fr Anthony Musaala front: this piece by Melanie Nathan traces the ‘thread of persecution’ back to the Lively-Ssempa cabal, via one Paul Kagaba (remember him?): http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/01/21/ugandan-catholic-priest-persecuted-by-scott-livelys-anti-gay-campaign-speaks-of-bribes/
    Looks like quite a saga. Fr AM was on UG radio this morning, apparently acquitting himself rather well. I do hope the Vatican does something about all this. We really cannot afford more disingenuous muddle and covering up on the truth.

  22. Back to M7’s comments: the GOOD thing here is that he seems to be knocking the ‘recruitment’ lie on the head. This is perhaps an important development.

  23. On the Fr Anthony Musaala front: this piece by Melanie Nathan traces the ‘thread of persecution’ back to the Lively-Ssempa cabal, via one Paul Kagaba (remember him?): http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/01/21/ugandan-catholic-priest-persecuted-by-scott-livelys-anti-gay-campaign-speaks-of-bribes/
    Looks like quite a saga. Fr AM was on UG radio this morning, apparently acquitting himself rather well. I do hope the Vatican does something about all this. We really cannot afford more disingenuous muddle and covering up on the truth.

  24. Back to M7’s comments: the GOOD thing here is that he seems to be knocking the ‘recruitment’ lie on the head. This is perhaps an important development.

  25. (BTW, I am not suggesting that homophobic persons are in any way per se ‘in favour’ of child abuse – but that some are unwittingly making the combatting of child sexual abuse more difficult by confusing separate issues. The situation I referred to above does IMO show how ‘muddled thinking’ on human sexuality can lead to justice not being done.)

  26. It seems that an alleged victim of abuse in the Catholic Church in UG has ‘broken cover’: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Archbishop-Lwanga-sacks-Fr-Musaala-over-sex-claims/-/688334/1725360/-/t6uojp/-/index.html
    Obviously, the response to the allegations by Fr Anthony Musaala is a matter for the gravest concern; it is a very different response to what happened here in the UK over allegations (which did NOT involve the abuse of minors, and have since been admitted) against Keith Cardinal O’Brien. These Ugandan allegations should be taken seriously (like all allegations of this kind), and I very much hope that the new Pope will take Lwanga firmly to task over his handling of this situation.
    Was Musaala’s decision to ‘go public’ wrong? I don’t think so: I have for some time been aware of a situation (involving a ‘pastor’ from another ‘brand’ of ‘christianity’), where the alleged victim’s family was afraid to go the police because they worried about the child concerned being discriminated against for being ‘gay’. Consequently, the law enforcement agencies were never involved with this alleged case of sexual abuse. The alleged victim has since – tragically – died. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: homophobia is an ally of child sexual abuse. Both must be opposed tooth and nail.

  27. One really wonders what M7’s game might be. Whatever it might be, can he be trusted? Of course not.
    (It may be that he’s in a spot of confusion himself. The alleged attempt to use the Bill to ‘blackmail’ western governments into ignoring things like government corruption seems to have failed: London and Berlin have, I gather, now cut all direct budget support – and are IMO very unlikely to reconsider their position unless the Bill is scrapped – and others have reduced it. The Bill has no material useful purpose any more and M7 is not so stupid as to have failed to understand this.)

  29. One really wonders what M7’s game might be. Whatever it might be, can he be trusted? Of course not.
    (It may be that he’s in a spot of confusion himself. The alleged attempt to use the Bill to ‘blackmail’ western governments into ignoring things like government corruption seems to have failed: London and Berlin have, I gather, now cut all direct budget support – and are IMO very unlikely to reconsider their position unless the Bill is scrapped – and others have reduced it. The Bill has no material useful purpose any more and M7 is not so stupid as to have failed to understand this.)

  30. I’m afraid that the current (of British origin) anti-gay laws also show the hollowness of M7’s words. These must be scrapped before any credibility whatsoever can be ascribed to his honeyed words.

  32. I’m afraid that the current (of British origin) anti-gay laws also show the hollowness of M7’s words. These must be scrapped before any credibility whatsoever can be ascribed to his honeyed words.

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