08/21/2007
Christian Groups Protest Against Gays in Uganda
In reponse to the press conference held late last week by Victor Juliet Mukasa, Christian groups in Uganda held a protest rally on a rugby field outside the nation's capital Kampala, Reuters reports:
"Tuesday's protesters carried dozens of placards ranging from 'Arrest all homos' to 'God loves homos, he hates homosexuality'. Other placards called for the sacking of Katherine Roubos, a U.S. intern at local independent newspaper Daily Monitor, for reporting on the experiences of gays in Uganda. 'Aga Khan, fire Katherine Roubos, homo propagandist,' one said, while another read: 'Government deport Roubos.' Daily Monitor is part of the regional Nation Media Group partly owned by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of more than 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims worldwide. He is visiting Uganda -- a mainly Christian country with a Muslim minority. Roubos denied campaigning for gays, saying she was simply doing her work. 'I was assigned a story by the editor and I did it objectively. My job is to report on events, not my personal opinions,' she said."
Marchers reportedly called for Roubos to be deported.
Last week, Mukasa stepped forward with approximately 30 other members of Uganda's LGBT community, some of whom wore masks to conceal their identity, to ask for an end to persecution of gays, lesbians and transgender people in the country.
Pastor Martin Sempa, an organizer of yesterday's Christian protest, said: "We are fighting against the fresh campaign for homosexuality and lesbianism in this country. Homosexuality and lesbianism break three laws; the laws in the Bible and the Koran, the laws of nature and the laws of the land, the Ugandan Constitution."
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I'm SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you!
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 21, 2007 10:07:17 AM
What a horrible, horrible continent to live on.
Posted by: Rad | Aug 21, 2007 10:45:51 AM
If there is one force that could unite Christians, Muslims and Jews, it is their faith-based hatred for gays. I am so sick and tired of the Abrahamic religions, I wish people would one day wake up and realize how pathetic they all are.
Posted by: ReasonBased | Aug 21, 2007 10:59:24 AM
With as many problems as Uganda has, one would think that homosexuality would fall to the bottom of the list. Yet there, as here in the USA, it is always easier to play to the base hatred and prejudice of people rather than to their higher virtues. It is easy to motivate people by exploiting their hate than it is to appeal to their better natures.
Instead of demonstrating against the basic rights of gays and lesbians to actually exist without being harassed, why not focus on the thousands of people in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa who die every day from disease and malnutrition. Why not focus on the AIDS crisis, which in Africa is an almost exclusively heterosexual disease. Why not focus on the horrendous state of the Ugandan economy? Or its lack of democracy?
All of the important issues that affect the lives of Ugandans and other Africans are ignored while the campaign against homosexuals is promoted.
Why are people so stupid as to allow themselves to be manipulated so easily?
Posted by: Jonathon | Aug 21, 2007 11:18:45 AM
BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO FEEL SUPERIOR TO OTHERS AND WHAT BETTER TARGET THAN MINORITIES. ESPECIALLY IF IT'S RELIGIOUSLY ACCEPTABLE TO DO SO. "REASONBASED" I AGREE ALL 3 ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS ARE LAME AND DESTRUCTIVE.
Posted by: TRUTHINESS | Aug 21, 2007 11:51:35 AM
I am so in awe of the courage of Mukasa and others who stand up (even masked) in the face of such horror.
Posted by: Daniel | Aug 21, 2007 1:58:59 PM
Someone should tell this bigot, Pastor Sempa, that the primary law of The Bible was to love one another.
Posted by: peterparker | Aug 21, 2007 2:53:24 PM
The primary law of the Bible is only that it is a made-up fairy tale.
If there were a god, credulous fucktards like these people would not exist.
Posted by: JLS | Aug 21, 2007 3:01:59 PM
@ BRAD,
It's understandable you feel like Africa is a horrible continent to live on. I should know, since I grew up there, but you know what's interesting, there are so many other great things being accomplished on that continent that are being overshadowed by famine,wars here and there. Sad, just sad. As for these religious bigots, most of them are being brainwashed by their church leaders into thinking that their lives are being ruined by homosexuality, abortion and any thing un-christian like. When in fact, their attention is being diverted from real issues that the same leaders are avoiding, such as corruption, health care, poverty and so on. Kinda like what republicans are doing here, only in a subtler way.
Posted by: Shabaka | Aug 21, 2007 3:30:05 PM
DANIEL: SHUT UP!
I cannot be civil anymore. Everytime I read assinine comments by ignorant fucks who have obviously never read the damn book makes me mad. The bible is a compilation of barbarism, incest, divinely sanctioned murder, infanticide and sexual perversion. It is precisely because of "holy" books like the Bible and the Koran that gays are being oppressed, women are mariginalized and millions are dying.
Posted by: ReasonBased | Aug 21, 2007 5:08:19 PM