¨A Call to Action¨ ¨A Call to Archbishop Orombi of Uganda¨ ¨A Call to ALL PRIMATES at The Anglican Communion¨

DENOUNCE THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL IN THE PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA. PROTEST AT THE UGANDA DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN YOUR COUNTRY

As you already know, the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009." was recently tabled before the Parliament of Uganda. The Bill's provisions are draconian and among them are;

• Any person alleged to be homosexual would be at risk of life imprisonment or in some circumstances the death penalty;

• Any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities would face fines of $ 2,650.00 or three years in prison;

• Any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within 24 hours would face the same penalties;

• And any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual would risk 7 years of imprisonment.

• Similarly, the Bill threatens to punish or ruin the reputation of anyone who works with the gay or lesbian population, such as medical doctors working on HIV/AIDS, civil society leaders active in the fields of sexual
and reproductive health, hence further undermining public health efforts
to combat the spread of HIV;

• All of the offences covered by the Bill as drafted can be applied to a Ugandan citizen who allegedly commits them - even outside Uganda!

¨Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) calls upon you our partner, ally and/or friend to action. Denounce this bill through a protest at a Ugandan Diplomatic Mission in your country on November 9th 2009, where applicable.
Urge the Government of Uganda to reject this Bill in its entirety.¨ Smug

"You would have expected the Anglican Church in Uganda, those responsible for implementing Anglican Communion policy and those with supportive links to Uganda to have issued strong statements condemning the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill."

Not likely. The same thing happened in Nigeria, and the Church in Nigeria supported it. Their fundamentalist fans in the West were conspicuous by their silence: http://davidlrattigan.blogspot.com/2009/03/jaccuse-church-of-nigeria.html

The Church of England will repudiate the Porvoo Agreement with the Lutheran Church of Sweden, because the Swedes have approved a same-sex marriage ceremony. They will break communion with the Episcopal Church (USA) because TEC left open the possibility that some day they might consecrate another openly gay bishop. Yet not a word on Uganda's vicious new laws.

The Great Sin of Anglicanism is taking shape.

My guess is that we will hear as little, and as mild when and if anybody conservative speaks up, from all the Usual Anglican Suspects. The human rights of queer folks are rather like the communion bits about violating another diocese; quickly to be set aside for good conservative Anglican cause, accompanied by lots of wagging preachers going on and on about danger and damage impending, all from those same queer folks and allies who must be violently put away from decent Anglican folks.

Expect, soon, the preening, self-congratulating sort of gospel, saying violence against African queer folks will save, not just Africans, but all Anglicans, globally? Anglicans who preach violence are dangerous to kids and families; their Sabbaths are upheld by violence.

Rowan Williams' silence will of course, be - deafening.

I pray you're wrong, Charlotte, or those supporting "Great Sin of Anglicanism" will have a lot to answer for, come Judgment Day. Lord have mercy!

I have written the Presiding Bishop and asked her to speak out against this evil. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Her e-mail address is: pboffice@episcopalchurch.org

I have to say, however, that I am disappointed she hasn't already spoken out. Words matter. Our beleaguered brothers and sisters need to know that we have not forgotten them. And those of us in the pews need to know that we are members of a faith community that will speak up against those who would perpetrate evil in the name of God.

"You would have expected the Anglican Church in Uganda, those responsible for implementing Anglican Communion policy and those with supportive links to Uganda to have issued strong statements condemning the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.' - Colin Coward -

Colin! Are you serious when you make this statement? Obviously some of the bishops who are fostering the culture of homophobia in the Church of England, who might have links with Uganda and/or Ruanda and Nigeria, are secretly unmoved by the homophobic actions of their Global South co-partners - especially when they have already shown their approval of the GAFCON fraternity and its expressed opposition to women and gays.

As for those UK dioceses which have cultural and ecclesial links with the likes of Uganda, and are not supporters of homophobia, it may be difficult for them to express their dismay at what is going on there in an open way, However, it behooves them to express their disquiet in other more covert ways, that might at least help to quieten their consciences.

Would be interesting to have that letter to the Primate in Uganda published in Uganda.

Possible to send it to me? Or to one of the contacts in SMUG?

gug

"I have written the Presiding Bishop and asked her to speak out against this evil. I encourage everyone to do the same"

I'll second that. I have done so, but expect not much.

I didn't bother waking up His Wooliness. The last time I wrote, I eventually got a dismissive email from one of his keepers.

I've added my two cents' worth at the Fulcrum website asking that Fulcrum support this. Personally, if the open letter is generally as Colin describes it, I would want to be associated with it for sure. However, 'the devil is in the details', and it might be helpful if the authors of this open letter published the text they have in mind, so that people know exactly what they're signing onto before committing to it.

Ron
Read your comment back to yourself, replacing all references to homophobia and Africa with references to Jews in Nazi Germany.
Or with Apartheid in South Africa.
Or with Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
Do you still believe the world should speak out?
Even if you really believe that all our silent bishops are quietly working behind the scenes, do you genuinely believe that is enough?

I have posted the text of the proposed Open Letter on Changing Attitude's web site http://www.changingattitude.org.uk/news/newsitem.asp?ID=451

I've also added a second post on the blog, (with more to follow when I return home from church, responding to Fulcrum) http://changingattitude-england.blogspot.com/2009/11/ugandan-anti-homosexuality-bill.html

Charlotte,
I have explained elsewhere my idea of the problems encountered by bishops of the Church of England being seen to interfere with the internal politics of the Ugandan Government. Charges of what could be seen to be Western Imperialism have already been levelled against Provinces of the Anglican Communion by some African Primates who see them as cultural imperialists, This has been one of the charges of Nigeria's Archbishop Akinola in his defence of his own stand against the LGBT community in Nigeria. This is a problem, where certain Western Church leaders are willing to collude with out-dated prejudice.

Sadly, this is not just about the perceived inequities in the Church, but a matter that affects national governments - of countries that see Western 'liberalism' as an offence against their entrenched 'morality'. Sadly, again, this standard of so-called 'morality' was inherited from the prejudice of early Victorian colonial missionaries. The Church has a need to update its teaching on matters of gender and sexuality.

It is much more difficult to persuade Christians in Africa that sexual orientation is God-given, when the majority Muslims have the same problem - of not recognising modern scientific evidence as proof of the veracity of sexual differentiation.

Until all Anglican Church Leaders thoughout the Communion are willing to listen to the LGBT Community on the justice of their claims, the Global South Churches will continue in their prejudicial treatment of the gay community.

"Charges of what could be seen to be Western Imperialism have already been levelled against Provinces of the Anglican Communion by some African Primates who see them as cultural imperialists"

There's links on another thread this morning that show that this is EXACTLY what's happening. How could we expect anything else?