Barclays banksters back bigotry

This video is called LIBOR Fraud of The Century (Barclays).

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

No right to whip up bigotry

Friday 02 November 2012

Barclays and Coutts banks should think twice about blackmailing gay rights charity Stonewall into dropping its Bigot of the Year annual award.

Stonewall was set up to defend lesbian and gay people against being bullied into submission and anonymity by narrow-minded bigots.

Bankers’ public image is not so good that these wealthy companies can ill afford being seen as the bullies they show themselves to be.

Barclays is currently in the frame for trying to manipulate energy prices in the US. It has already been fined £290 million for rigging the Libor benchmark interest rate.

And the bank has also set aside £2bn to meet the cost of what is politely termed “mis-selling” payment protection insurance – fraud, as it should be called.

So any bid by Barclays to assume the moral high ground by warning Stonewall that persistence with the “bigot” award will cause the bank not to support the annual awards ceremony should be treated with the contempt it merits.

Businesses give financial support to campaigning charities such as Stonewall to polish their corporate image. Some need more buffing up than others.

It does not give them the right to tell them what level of outrage against discrimination is acceptable.

Barclays executives may be unaware of the degree of hurt suffered by many lesbians and gay men by dint of the campaign headed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien to prevent civil marriage in Scotland.

The fierceness of the cardinal’s rhetoric on this issue is in stark contrast to the mealy-mouthed platitudes uttered in response to the widespread abuse of children carried out by Catholic clergy and, worse still, the systematic cover-up at all levels of his church.

Cardinal O’Brien has sought to mobilise Catholics in Scotland to press the Scottish government to deny homosexuals the right to marry in a registry office.

Draft legislation imposes no compulsion on any religion. Religious denominations will continue to be able to set their own rules on who marries in their places of worship.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who received a Stonewall award as the first openly gay leader of a major political party, distanced herself from the “bigot” description, insisting that she “will also respect those who hold a different view.”

Respect must go two ways and Cardinal O’Brien’s disagreement with the principle of universal equality before the law has been less than respectful.

Calling this a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” goes beyond the normal bounds of decency, as does his equation of gay marriage with slavery.

Advocacy of discrimination is not a victimless crime.

Lesbians and gays are aware that hostility to their legitimate wishes can be fuelled by the cardinal’s words to an extent that puts their personal safety at risk.

They have every right to defend themselves through mockery, which is what the Bigot of the Year award is about.

A church spokesman’s categorisation of this award as revealing the depth of Stonewall “intolerance and willingness to attack and demean those who don’t share their views” speaks volumes, as does his suggestion that government funding of the charity should be reconsidered.

Public organisations and individuals must understand that, if they can dish it out, they should be able to take it.

No-one has the right to whip up bigotry against a minority if they can’t take being described as a bigot.

This video is called Losing Faith: Abuse, Cover-Up and the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien to give up frontline role in Catholic Church of Scotland: here.

Barclays top dogs grab £40m bonus: here.

Related articles

• Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien Named “Bigot Of The Year” At Stonewall Awards (queerty.com)
• ‘Bigot’ award for UK’s most senior Cardinal – Europe, World News – Independent.ie (misebogland.wordpress.com)
• Cardinal Keith O’Brien: My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Cardinal Keith O’Brien Confesses: Yes, I Was Totally Nailing All Those Priests (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Keith O’Brien faces new allegation that he assaulted a priest on the night he was made a cardinal (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Sex conduct admission by cardinal Keith O’Brien (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Implicated In Gay Scandal, Admits Sex With Priests (towleroad.com)
• Cardinal Keith O’Brien ‘accused of inappropriate acts’ – BBC News (bbc.co.uk)
• Cardinal Keith O’Brien steps down (bbc.co.uk)

Hungarian state homophobia

This video about Hungary says about itself:

Fascism in Hungary- Hungarian Guard- Magyar Garda

Magyar Gárda Hagyományőrző és Kulturális Egyesület (English: Hungarian Guard Association for Protection of Traditions and Culture) nationalist, paramilitary movement in Hungary. It was founded through an “oath of loyalty to Hungary” by its members in Buda Castle, Budapest, in August 2007.. They are backed by and developed out of the right-wing party, Jobbik.

By Jake Blumgart, Truthout in the USA:

Homophobia on the Rise in Eastern Europe as Rightist Extremism Intensifies

Friday, 29 June 2012 00:00

On July 2008, Michael Simmons marched in the tenth annual Budapest gay pride parade, just as he had in previous years. Established in 1998, Hungary’s pride parade is one of the longest established in Central and Eastern Europe, and for the first nine years of its existence it was marked by the festivities – transvestites dancing in flatbed trucks, loud music, colorful floats – familiar to inhabitants of most Western European and American cities. Back then, the conservative and skinhead counter protesters were a joke.

That changed in 2007 when large groups of right-wing thugs attacked the marchers with vegetables, rotten eggs, rocks and bottles. Some people who left the parade were beaten. The police response was inadequate, as they were unprepared for the sudden violence. In 2008, Simmons experienced the same thing, “well-organized and well-orchestrated attacks” by crowds of counter protesters.

“It was four hours of sustained attack and it never let up; there was never a breathing period,” said Simmons, a lifelong human rights activist, who took part in the civil rights movement in the American South and has worked extensively in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s. “Their [faces were so full of] hate. And their children were there. It reminded me of those pictures you see of lynchings, where young men are holding their girlfriends’ hands.”

Although police protection for the marchers improved after the first couple of years, the general situation of Hungary’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has worsened. The extreme right-wing party Jobbik, which is often associated with such hateful attacks, has grown rapidly. (They even have a paramilitary wing.) In 2007, Jobbik could be dismissed as a fringe group with no parliamentary representation. Today, Jobbik is the nation’s third-largest political party, with 47 of 386 seats in the Hungarian Parliament.

The nationalist conservative Fidesz Party, which controls two-thirds of the parliamentary seats and has been widely condemned for authoritarian tendencies, is less overtly discriminatory. But before Fidesz’s 2010 electoral sweep, LGBT rights in Hungary were rapidly progressing. Today, the new Constitution that Fidesz wrote and implemented unilaterally stipulates that marriage must be between a man and a woman. For the last two years, the Fidesz-controlled city government of Budapest has tried to ban the Pride March, citing traffic concerns and the presence of small children on the city streets. In both cases, the ban was challenged by LGBT groups and overturned by the courts.

“We are working in a context of rising extremism, which not only targets the LGBTQ community, but also the Roma and Jewish community,” said Dorottya Karsay, one of the organizers of Budapest Pride. “We’ve seen a number of hate crimes, hate attacks in recent weeks, both in Budapest and in the countryside…. Extremism has been on the rise in the region for the last few years; it definitely has something to do with the crisis.”

More than 60 per cent of Scottish people agree that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face prejudice – and it’s time MSPs tackled it, campaigners said today: here.

Britain: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people often hide their sexuality or gender identity in sports, research by the Equality Network found today: here.

This weekend sees London play host to the third ever WorldPride event – a global celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture: here.

Related articles

• Europe and the Resurgent Politics of Ethnic Scapegoating (theatlantic.com)
• The “true” Hungarian (ailsackay.com)
• On the Queen’s Lack of Pro-Gay Speech (towleroad.com)
• Clubs asked to tackle homophobia (bbc.co.uk)
• Hungary to Amend Constitution as EU Monitors Backsliding – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Hungarians in massive rally to keep freedoms (wnd.com)

US Baptist preacher wants gays in concentration camps

This video from the USA is called Pastor Says Kill Gays & Lesbians in Electrified Pen.

By Justin “Filthy Liberal Scum” Rosario in the USA:

Homosexual Final Solution: Pastor Wants Homosexuals Put Into Concentration Camps (VIDEO)

May 21, 2012

If hate had a voice and a face, it might just look and sound like Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church. Located in Maiden, North Carolina, Worley, who I will not refer to as “Pastor” because he is unworthy of that title, gave a sermon in which he railed against President Obama’s “coming out” in favor of same-sex marriage. The anger and loathing was palpable:

“I ain’t gonna vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover! You said “did you mean to say that?” You better believe I did! God have mercy! It makes me pukin’ sick to think about…I don’t even whether to say this in the pulpit or not…can you imagine kissing some man?”

But the worst part was a minute earlier when Worley unveiled his master plan to rid the world of The Gay:

“Build a great, big, large fence…150 or 100 mile long…put all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals (Is there some difference I’m unaware of? – FLS) and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out… feed’em and you know what? In a few years, they’ll die out… do you know why? They can’t reproduce!”

Sound familiar? It should. The Nazis had the same idea for the Jews. They called it The Final Solution. Round up all the “undesirables” which were predominantly Jews but also included homosexuals, Negroes and Gypsies (among others) and put them into camps with fences. Then starve them, then just kill them. Does that sound like I’m exaggerating Worley’s hate? May I remind you that the Nazis did not start off with genocide? It was a gradual escalation of atrocity. First it was deportation, then isolation in ghettos, then concentration camps and then mass murder.

North Carolina’s GOP Wants to Protect You From Discrimination–Except if You’re Gay: here.

Homophobic attack on Japanese women band

This is a music video of Japanese all-women group AKB48.

AFP news agency reports on it:

‘Lesbian’ Japan pop group ad slammed

A commercial showing members of wildly popular all-girl band AKB48 passing bite-sized candies seductively from mouth-to-mouth is under fire in Japan for encouraging homosexuality. The advertisement, which aired in March, shows the school uniform-clad young women – all in their late teens or early 20s – intimately exchanging the sweet, with the close-up footage slowing as their lips near.

A broadcasting standards watchdog said on Thursday the majority of the 116 complaints it had received in March about commercials concerning young people related to this advert.

“The commercial may encourage homosexuality,” one of the complaints said, adding “oral flora” was also a concern, according to the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organisation.

Sadly, homophobia is alive. Not limited to just one religion. Not just sixty years ago, but still today. Not just in the Netherlands, or the USA, or England, or ‘liberated’ Croatia, or ‘liberated’ Iraq.

Britain: Religious groups were under pressure on Sunday over allegations that the Catholic Education Service urged schools to back an anti same-sex marriage campaign; here.

USA: North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris: Parents Should ‘Punch’ Their Gay-Acting Children (AUDIO): here.

Kentucky Catholic high school bans lesbian couple from prom: here.

Mary Jamis, North Carolina Lesbian Seeking Marriage License, Arrested: here.

Republican congressman says it should be legal to fire someone for being gay: here.

Obama and marriage equality: here.

Related articles

• Minister stands by homophobic Bill (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• Southern Baptist leader: Liberals ‘ostracized’ the KKK and homophobes will be next (rawstory.com)
• Gay Man Confronts Homophobic Preacher On Subway And Passengers Applaud (thoughtcatalog.com)
• Gay-straight club at Wembley school changes attitudes in the classroom (standard.co.uk)
• Why Is the Homophobic Catholic Church Filled With Closeted Gay Priests? (dailyqueernews.wordpress.com)
• FIFA queries Nigeria over reports of lesbian soccer ban (cnn.com)
• Mexican Supreme Court: Homophobic Language Is Offensive & Discriminatory (joemygod.blogspot.com)

US fundamentalist Christians persecute gay Ugandans

This video is called UGANDA MP URGES DEATH FOR GAY SEX.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Gay activists begin Lively legal action in Uganda

Thursday 15 March 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

An African gay rights group filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts on Wednesday against a US evangelist over allegations that he has waged a decade-long campaign to persecute homosexuals in Uganda.

The suit was filed in federal court in Springfield against minister Scott Lively under a statute that Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMU) says allows non-citizens to file US court actions for violations of international law.

The complaint claims Mr Lively issued a call in Uganda to fight against a “genocidal” and “paedophilic” gay movement, which he reportedly likened to “the nazis and Rwandan murderers.”

The suit asks for a judgement that his alleged incitement is illegal and violates international law and human rights.

Senior SMU activist Frank Mugisha said the group was targeting Mr Lively for “helping spread propaganda and violence” against Uganda’s gay community, which endures widespread discrimination and legal restrictions. “We hope that he will be held accountable for what he did in Uganda,” said Mr Mugisha. “We want to send out a clear message to him and to others.”

Mr Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries is one of a handful of US pastors whom Ugandan gay activists accuse of having helped draft the original version of the African country’s draconian anti-homosexuality Bill.

The Bill called for the death penalty for Aids sufferers convicted of having had sex with a member of the same sex. It has since been revamped to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment as a maximum sentence.

About 70 protesters marched about half a mile from the US District Court in Springfield to Mr Lively’s business, the Holy Grounds Coffee House.

They dressed in black and beat drums, carrying signs with the names of persecuted Ugandans and coffins to symbolise the scores of gay people who have been killed by bigots in the developing country.

See also here.

This video is called Frank Mugisha of Sexual Minorities Uganda Sends Message to EQUAL Youth and Supporters.

Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a “Christmas gift” to its advocates, the speaker of parliament has said: here.

No Contraceptives Means More Illegal Abortions in Uganda: here.

Liberia Swears It Is Not Homophobic despite some evidence: here.

USA: Gay Marriage Effort Attracts a Novel Group of Donors. Adam Nagourney and Brooks Barnes, The New York Times News Service: “[There is a] dramatic evolution of a behind-the-scenes fund-raising network whose goal is to legalize same-sex marriage from coast to coast…. They come from Hollywood, yes, but also from Wall Street and Washington and the corporate world; there are Republicans as well as Democrats; and perhaps most strikingly, longtime gay organizers said, there has been an influx of contributions from straight donors unlike anything they have seen before”: here.

Kony 2012 group on the defensive amid WikiLeaks spy rumors: here.

Is homophobia an expression of repressing same sex desire? New studies say yes. Here.

Two men were charged with a federal hate crime on Thursday for assaulting a gay man, marking the first time that the law has been applied in a US case alleging homophobia: here.

Related articles

• For Christmas This Year, Ugandans Will Finally Get Their “Kill The Gays” Bill (queerty.com)
• Uganda’s Disgusting ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill To Become Law Next Month (perezhilton.com)
• A letter to Rebecca Kadaga – from a supportive gay Ugandan (sebaspace.wordpress.com)
• Ugandan Parliament Speaker: ‘Kill The Gays’ Law Will Be A ‘Christmas Gift’ (thegloss.com)
• Uganda officially passes ‘Kill The Gays’ law (deathandtaxesmag.com)
• Uganda Poised To Pass “Kill The Gays” Bill As “Christmas Gift” To Christians (joemygod.blogspot.com)

Dutch gays angry about being blamed for pedophile priests

From Dutch news agency Novum:

Dutch gay organization COC angry about cardinal’s statements

April 13 2010, 16:15

AMSTERDAM – COC Netherlands

the main Dutch LGBT organization

is outraged by the comments of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The second man in the Vatican has said that the abuse in the Catholic Church is not because of celibacy, but because of homosexual priests.

Vera Bergkamp, vice chair of COC Netherlands, has called the remarks “scandalous and contrary to statements by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.” Then, he said in the United States that there is a difference between homosexual priests and the propensity to abuse children sexually.

COC Netherlands also relies on scientific research that would indicate that there is no reason to believe that homosexual priests pose a greater risk of sexual abuse than heterosexual priests.

See also here.

Catholic Church in England and Wales criticises Vatican over homosexuality comments: here.

Vatican Enters ‘Full-Fledged Damage Control Mode’ Over Abuse: here.

Multiple cases of sexual abuse within the ranks of the Catholic Church have been covered up and suppressed by those in the very highest offices, including the Pope himself: here.

US Senate Passes Feingold Resolution Condemning Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill and Similar Efforts Worldwide: here.

Protests against Ugandan homophobic bill

This video from the USA says about itself:

The Rainbow Sash Movement is calling on President Obama not to attend this prayer breakfast with David Bahati sponsored by the Fellowship Foundation in February. Murdering people based on homophobia is wrong for individuals as it is for Nations such as Uganda.

From IRIN:

Uganda: Online Protest Keeps Spotlight On Anti-Gay Bill

2 March 2010

Kampala — More than 450,000 people have signed an online petition urging Uganda’s parliament to drop a bill that would impose the death sentence for the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” – when an HIV-positive person has sex with anyone who is disabled or under the age of 18.

Presenting the petition to the speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, on 1 March, AIDS activists – including founder of national NGO, The AIDS Support Organization, Noerine Kaleeba and Canon Gideon Byamugisha, the first religious leader to publicly declare that he was living with HIV – said if the bill was passed, it would roll back the gains made in fighting HIV in Uganda.

Responding to the petition, Ssekandi said it could not be withdrawn at this stage, not even by the MP who tabled it; but he assured the activists that their concerns would be passed on to the legislature.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 – a private member’s bill first tabled by ruling party MP David Bahati in October 2009 – is due for discussion this month. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, but the new law would impose more stringent punishments for homosexual activity, while compelling people in authority with knowledge of such activity to report it or face criminal charges.

“The bill creates a situation where [homosexual] people living with HIV will be denied treatment,” said Major Rubaramira Ruranga, a retired army officer who has lived publicly with HIV for more than two decades. “We do not need a new law that picks one section of society and says this should be punished,” he added.

However, Ruranga said there was one positive aspect to the controversy. “[The bill] is an opportunity – whether it is passed or not – because people will begin to talk about sexuality,” he said.

Stigma

“It is not easy to access medical services; we have private people who treat us but they charge us [a great deal] because they are very few,” said Julian Pepe Onziema, programmes coordinator of the rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda. “When you go to the doctor you have to give them a medical history; the bill will make this even harder.”

AIDS activists also argue that the continued stigmatization of homosexuality will drive homosexuals and bisexuals further underground, reducing their access to HIV prevention and care services and increasing their vulnerability to HIV. Men who have sex with men are considered a most at-risk population, but there are no national HIV strategies addressing their needs.

“If the government does not come out to help minorities, HIV is coming back; I know many married people who are bi-sexual,” said Dennis Wamala, programmes coordinator for Ice Breakers, a local gay rights organization.

“Family values”

Debate on the bill will go ahead despite Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni distancing himself from it amid calls from international leaders for its withdrawal. President Barack Obama in February referred to the bill as “odious”, noting that it was “unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are”.

…

The bill’s agenda is to strengthen the nation’s capacity to deal with “emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family” and to protect Uganda’s “cherished culture”.

Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders have rejected the bill, but have said they will back it if the death penalty clause is removed.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

Uganda: Campaign against death penalty for gays: here.

Scotland: A third of LGBT people in Edinburgh have been physically assaulted but only 15 per cent reported incidents to police, a small survey has suggested: here.

USA: US Army Lt Dan Choi chained himself to the White House fence on Thursday afternoon to protest over the ban on out gay soldiers: here.

Uganda Allows Drilling and Gas Flaring in the African Queen Papyrus Swamp: here.

US fundamentalists helped by Dutch queen

Translated from Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad:

“Wilhelmina helped evangelicals from the U.S.A”

Published: February 6, 2010 10:50 | Updated: February 6, 2010 10:50

By our correspondent Tom-Jan Meeus

Washington, Feb. 6. Queen Wilhelmina [of the Netherlands] in the fifties actively contributed to the establishment of a society of US American evangelicals in Europe.

The secretly operating organization, The Family, according to the American religious researcher Jeff Sharlet, has by now become “by far the most powerful fundamentalist society of the USA”.

The Family, organizers of the the annual National Prayer Breakfast in the USA, is discredited because they have recently advocated the death penalty in Uganda to punish some expressions of homosexuality. The Family last year also played a role in sexual affairs of well-known conservatives in the U.S. The Family aims at “totalitarianism for Christ”, Sharlet says, and in order to get this secretly recruited hundreds of politicians in the U.S. and abroad.

The society was founded in the nineteen thirties by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant in the U.S. After the war he sent an American pastor, Wallace E. Haines, to Europe to propagate the message of the group. Wilhelmina in the fifties, after she had given up the throne to her daughter Juliana, was Honorary President of the European branch of The Family.

From the archives of the deceased Haines, to which his son Stephen in part has given access to NRC Handelsblad, it becomes appartent that Wilhelmina had a close relationship with the pastor. She “was the principal mentor of my father in Europe”, says son Stephen Haines. She “treated [my father] like a brother,” said David Haines, another son of the preacher.

Today in NRC Handelsblad a profile of The Family, the most powerful fundamentalists of the United States.

The Family is also known as The Fellowship.

Ugandan gay killer to meet Obama

This video from the USA says about itself:

Doug Coe of The Fellowhip or The Family leads Hillary‘s prayer circle has conservative members that include dictators from around the world. They lead the Senate prayer breakfast.

From Pink News in Britain:

Author of Uganda’s gay execution bill to attend prayer breakfast with Obama

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk

January 18, 2010 – 10:22

David Bahati, the MP who authored Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill, is expected to attend a prayer breakfast with US president Barack Obama.

Bahati told the Ugandan newspaper Sunday Monitor he would be attending the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4th.

The event [is] usually attended by the president, who the newspaper described as a “gays-tolerant liberal president”.

The breakfast is organised by The Fellowship – a secretive conservative Christian organisation which is also known as The Family. Its members include politicians, religious leaders and corporate executives.

Bahati may be asked to speak at the event, which will also be attended by Congress members and Cabinet secretaries. Previous speakers have included Tony Blair, Bono and Mother Theresa.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni signalled last week that he was stepping back from the bill, which would execute gays in some circumstances.

He said his country must consider its “foreign interests” and cited world leaders such as British prime minister Gordon Brown, who had expressed his concern about the proposed legislation.

Bahati, the MP for Ndorwa West, has refused to back down, saying his bill will “protect the traditional family”.

The country’s minister for ethics James Nsaba Buturo said recently he believed Museveni did not support the death penalty for gays and said the provision was likely to be removed from the bill.

Aston Kajara, minister of state for investments, has also said the bill is “unnecessary”.

The bill would impose the death penalty on gays who [have] sex with minors, disabled people or while living with HIV, along with repeat offenders. Other homosexuality offences, such as failing to report incidents to police, would result in imprisonment.

It is expected to come before parliament in late February or early March.

Update here.

David Bahati, the Ugandan MP who authored an anti-gay bill currently passing through the country, has reportedly been disinvited from a prayer breakfast with US president Barack Obama: here.

US President Barack Obama described a proposed Ugandan law against homosexuality as “odious” at the National Prayer Breakfast today: here.

Malawi defends prosecution of gay couple: here.

Dozens of MPs have signed a Commons motion condemning Malawi’s prosecution of two men accused of a homosexual relationship, campaigners have revealed: here.

The pope and homophobia: here. And here.

The American Civil Liberties Union has called on Congress to swiftly ditch legislation barring gay and lesbians from serving openly in the military after top brass said that it was time to ditch the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy: here.

US Christian Radio Host: Deal With Homsexuality Like We Deal With Drug Abuse: here.

British Christian Rightist supports killing Ugandan gays

This video from the USA is called Rachel Maddow on Rick Warren, ‘The Family’, and Anti-gay Uganda.

From Pink News in Britain:

Christian leader supports death penalty for gays

December 21, 2009 – 11:06

A far right Christian group has urged fellow Christians to support Uganda’s proposed law that would make homosexuality punishable by death.

Stephen Green,

a former Chairman of the Conservative Family Campaign

leader of the Christian extremist group ‘Christian Voice‘, remarked:

“The Bible calls for the ultimate penalty for sodomy (Lev 20:13) and for rape (Deut 22:25), and our Lord upheld the death penalty when He called for the accusers of the woman caught in adultery to cast the first stone (John 8:7) – if, that is, they were not implicated in adultery themselves.

“The contrast between our politicians and those of Uganda could not be more stark. A Parliamentarian in Uganda is trying to protect his nation’s children. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is trying to corrupt ours. Which country is the more civilised, I wonder, in the eyes of Almighty God?”

The law would impose the death penalty on those convicted of having gay sex with a minor or disabled person or someone infected with HIV.

Friends and family members of gay Ugandans who do not report them to authorities could also face up to three years in prison.

People who “promote” or assist homosexuality could be jailed for seven years. The bill would also punish Ugandan citizens who have gay sex abroad.

The bill’s sponsor, David Bahati MP, has argued that it will curb HIV infections and protect the “traditional family”.

It has been subject to worldwide condemnation and since the first reports emerged in mid-October and has received widespread media attention. …

Christian Voice opposes abortion, homosexuality, no-fault divorce and safer sex education. Additionally it supports the death penalty and does not recognise the concept of marital rape.

On 2 September 2006, Green was arrested while handing out what were considered by the police to be homophobic leaflets at the Cardiff Mardi Gras.

He was arrested for an alleged “homophobic incident”, detained for four hours, and charged with public order offences. The Crown Prosecution Service decided to withdraw their prosecution of Green on the grounds of insufficient evidence, though the police stated that this did not “challenge the legality” of his arrest.

Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill: Inspired by the U.S.: here.

Uganda’s oil production sharing agreements point towards a resource extraction programme designed for company profit, not country development, writes Taimour Lay: here.