[A] Ugandan bill that would execute gays and jail citizens who do not inform on them was likely inspired by American religionists.
In Uganda last March three American Christian fundamentalists, posing as experts, addressed thousands of police, teachers and politicians in a two-day conference. They spouted the misinformation that anti-equality types do in this country: gays prey upon children, want to destroy family values, can and must be “cured” because being gay is only a choice, etc. A special motion to introduce the bill was passed a month later.
Other American fundamentalists have also brought their anti-gay message to Uganda. These include “The Family,” sponsor of the annual National Prayer Breakfast; and Obama Inauguration invoker the Rev. Rick Warren, who has compared homosexuality with pedophilia.
Now that Uganda’s gay-killing bill has been condemned worldwide, these American fundamentalists have slowly distanced themselves from at least the execution of gay Ugandans. But what had they expected as they instigated bias in a nation that already criminalized homosexuality?
That’s Uganda, this is America, but there’s a take-away lesson. Bigotry cloaked in religious rhetoric is still bigotry -- and God help that nation and its minorities whenever it gains the ascendancy.
MILTON, DEL. —
