Here's the deal--if they are celebrating this kind of persecution of gays there--is that not a really good sign they want that here in the US? It's imprisonment now--but what about camps? What about state-sanctioned murder of gay people?
Look, I want to be tolerant of "religious people" of various stripes--but these monsters are advocating exterminating people who just don't have "opposite sex attraction" or whatever their bigoted reference for straightness is. Am I supposed to tolerate that? Am I supposed to benignly ignore that there is a species of Bible thumper that wants to stone actual human beings because their imaginary friend said so? But will maybe, intermittently, suffice with seeing them disappeared from their family and community. All because of their orientation--who these people love and choose to associate with?
They start with Africa because of colonialism and racism. They will try it here. If it is what they believe in they will. I can not tolerate this. I do not want to see my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters' lives actually ruined because we sucked up to a church based in hate. If that comment is invective--so be it. How in the hell is it right for anyone to lose years off their life because of who they love, or even want to spend time with?
This is where, I fear, anti-gay rhetoric actually leads. This is why I don't find this particular kind of speech tolerable. Lives genuinely do hang in balance.
3 comments:
I find the whole phenomenon of "American right-wing Christian activists pushing harsh anti-gay legislation in Africa because the political winds are blowing the opposite direction here" to be completely fascinating. When I visited both Uganda and Kenya (back in 1995, probably before the wingnut activists hit those countries so hard), the locals seemed to largely believe that homosexuality was something foreign to Africa. Almost universally they told me that before the British colonized East Africa no such thing existed there. Homosexuality among Africans was viewed as a foreign idea and a vestige of colonialism.
So it's really pretty strange for Americans, who are another group of Western foreigners, coming to East Africa and trying to get Africans to adopt their position on gay issues. The whole effort is straight-up neo-colonialism. The effort won't fly at home, so lets manipulate those unfortunate Africans to fill up our wish list, all in the name of anti-colonialism.
They lost the war at home, so now they are trying to carve out a niche in poor parts of the world using the same "divide and conquer" strategy that was used by colonizers since time immemorial.
They are the most despicable people on Earth.
@Upyernoz--I think the American evangelists who preach an anti-gay message reinforce the idea that it is not native to Africa because it is a part of the bigger message that it is "unnatural" .
@BBBB--it is "divide and conquer"--basically using hate and fear of LGBT people as a wedge to drive the culture. I mentioned the
seemingly earnest "white saviour" types behind last year's Kony 2012 video in a glancingly humorous way, but Invisible Child is tied to The Family, an organization with serious connections in US government. What fascinates me is that a thing that just looks hokey to us deflects from Musaveni's use of child soldiers' etc, so Ugandan gov officials support things like this antigay legislation (and probably Crosroads Leadership Academy, where I figure the actual fundraising bank is made because it looks like a clean front--my conjecture, I just tend to assume where you find these folks, there is also grift). What is the long-term goal (besides fundraising)? Beats me. American evangelical orgs having major pull with the gov't there is a start, though.
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