The World Wakes Up to Evangelical Support for Uganda's Draconian Law Against Homosexuals

Anne of Carversville maintains a tight focus on international women’s rights, and not the broader human rights agenda — which gets major coverage in the press.

While we embrace most human rights initiatives, I no longer personally endorse a top-down focus that says rights for men will bring equal rights for women in a society.

Based on 50 years of getting nowhere for women in impoverished countries — because I did subordinate my focus to the top-line discussion of human rights and the affects of colonialism — we primarily report on women’s rights at Anne of Carversville.

In addition, while I fully support gay rights and gay marriage, I believe that third-wave feminism and parts of second-wave feminism in America have made gay rights the primary focus of feminism and sexual politics.

Women’s rights in America have been sandwiched between the primacy of gay rights and anti-rights for any of us — female or gay — being pressed by the conservative right, whose primary concern is the future of the traditional family.

Women and homosexuals are ‘fodder’ in this larger global objective. Retract that. Women are fodder and gays need fixing.

This editorial policy has caused me to neglect calling out the positively draconian legislation in Uganda, concerning the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. I apologize for my negligence of this proposed legislation, now that I’ve read up on the details.

America’s Hillary Clinton and President Obama have both called for the retraction of this proposed legislation, with Secy Clinton speaking about it last night, outlining America’s stance on human rights at Georgetown University.

Apparently the US evangelical movement has been prominent in pushing for the Ugandan law. According to ABC News, a key Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa who is pushing the law has been a featured speaker at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church. Warren did release a video last week condemning the bill.

Rick Warren’s Letter to the Pastors of Uganda

Evangelicals are apparently now speaking out against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 but gay rights activists say the damage has been done. If you are not familiar with the Ugandan bill, it would sentence HIV positive homosexuals to death for having sex, and severely punish any homosexual with up to life imprisonment. Any Ugandan, gay or straight, who knows a homosexual and fails to report him or her to the authorities could face up to seven years in prison. via ABC News

I am stunned that societies propose these new punishments in the 21st century. Indeed, much of the world is going backwards, not forward.

From their perspective, Western values are corrupting African societies, their children and their women — just as America has been corrupted.

Large contingents of the ‘developed’ world and especially religious leaders, not only embrace these trends, but are working to help legislate them.

It’s time we all understand that large numbers of people wish to return to the ‘olden days’ when women had few or no rights, when women didn’t have birth control or access to abortion, when women are property of men and have no status.

There’s a definite intersection of gay rights and women’s rights on the control of sexuality and the ‘ownership of children’ and ‘head of family’ status among men.

As this draconian Uganda law against gays faces passage, we have morality squads roaming the streets of Uganda, stripping women bare naked. It’s all part of the same patriarchal power structure that’s understandably fearful about losing control of their societies.

I personally apologize for not writing about Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 until today. We will visit the entire landscape of sexual rights in Uganda and the role of America’s evangelicals in supporting this proposed law in Uganda and emerging legislation elsewhere in Africa and the world against women and homosexuals.

Without subordinating women’s rights, which are our first priority at Anne of Carversville, we will be more mindful in the future of the intersection of these two important topics. 

More reading: Death penalty for gays? Uganda debates proposal Miami Herald

Secy of State Clinton Outlines America’s Human Rights Policy

Fears Grow That US Evangelists Ignite Anti-Gay Hatred in Africa