At an anti-gay conference that took place over several days in Uganda called Exposing the Truth Behind Homosexuality and the Homosexual Agenda, American representatives of the radical religious right have been advocating forced conversion therapy for GLBT people imprisoned in Uganda, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has details on the three Americans:
Scott Lively, co-founder of the hate group Watchmen on the Walls and author of The Pink Swastika, a pseudo-history book claiming that “militant male homosexuals” helped mastermind the holocaust.
Caleb Lee Brundidge, a “sexual reorientation coach” for the International Healing Foundation, whose signature technique, as demonstrated on CNN, involves patients “beating on chairs with tennis rackets and screaming, “Mom, Mom, why did you do this to me?” Brundidge also counsels men struggling with their sexuality to visit mortuaries with a fringe Charismatic ministry team to “practice raising the dead.”
Don Schmierer, a board member for Exodus International, an international umbrella group covering hundreds of “ex-gay” ministries. Schmierer warns parents in his guide to preventing homosexuality to watch out for boys who show “extreme macho behavior” are “frail, deformed, deaf” or “avoid fights/physical altercations.”
In addition to claiming that gay rights activists in Uganda are preying on and recruiting children to homosexuality, Lively also blamed the 1994 Rawandan Genocide on gay men.
Jim Burroway, at Box Turtle Bulletin, has closely followed Ugandan travesty with a series of detailed reports:
- Uganda Anti-Gay Conference: Day Three — Gays Blamed For Rwandan Genocide & Pedophilia; More Exodus Ties To Holocaust Revisionism
- Uganda Anti-Gay Conference: Day Two
- Anti-Gay Conference Kicks Off In Kampala
Jim has much, much more at Box Turtle Bulletin, including the involvement of the so-called ex-gay group Exodus International.
Andy at UK Gay News, is reporting that the European Parliament’s Intergroup for gay and lesbian rights has condemned the participation of several members of Uganda’s Parliament.
From UK Gay News:
Ugandan Parliamentarians Condemned for Meeting Anti-Gay Rights Militants
BRUSSELS, March 9, 2009 – The attendance of several Ugandan parliamentarians at an anti-gay conference in Kampala at the weekend has been condemned by the European Parliament’s all-party “intergroup” for gay and lesbian rights.
The conference featured keynote American speakers Scott Lively, Don Schmierer, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Stephen Langa. Also attending were Uganda-based groups working to diminish human rights of gay and transgender men and women.
“It is very sad that representatives of Ugandan parliament who should work for the rights of every Ugandan citizen, gravely discredit themselves by meeting people who work to spread hate and diminish rights of other human beings,” said Michael Cashman, president of the Intergroup.
“It would never be acceptable for any member of the European Parliament to meet, for example, representatives of Ku Klux Klan; thus I do not understand the rational of those Ugandan parliamentarians who agreed to the meeting with anti-gay militants.”
Raúl Romeva, vice-president of the Intergroup for the GREENS/EFA added: “If these Ugandan parliamentarians are serious about respecting the constitution of their country and in particular Chapter 4 on Protection and promotion of fundamental and other human rights and freedoms, they should instead be working towards abolishing those discriminatory laws of Uganda which still deny full human rights to gay and lesbian citizens.”
Certainly the abuses of the human rights of GLBT Ugandans is an issue that needs to be raised with our own Department of State and our congressional representatives. If the tax-dollars of American and European GLBT citizens are being used to deny fundamental freedoms and rights abroad, then the flow of dollars, euros and pounds to Uganda needs to end.
