European parliament building

“What about ‘propaganda of heterosexuality?’ ” asks a commission of European legal experts in their newly adopted opinion about legislation to ban so-called “propaganda of homosexuality,” which has been variously passed or is under consideration in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova.

Nigel Warner, adviser from ILGA-Europe to the Council of Europe, reports here about  how the European commission of legal experts, called the Venice Commission, has shredded the idea of prohibiting so-called “propaganda of homosexuality.”

In those experts’ opinion, the proposals are ambiguous, discriminatory, incompatible with international human rights standards.  Warner reports:

The Venice Commission – full name, the European Commission for Democracy through Law, is the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters. Its role is to provide legal advice to its member states and, in particular, to help states wishing to bring their legal and institutional structures into line with European standards and international experience in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is regarded as highly authoritative. The Commission has 59 member states: the 47 Council of Europe member states, plus 12 other countries (Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Mexico, Peru, Tunisia and the USA). Its individual members, constitutional law experts, are appointed by the member states.

The Opinion concludes that:

· The provisions under consideration are not formulated with sufficient precision to satisfy the requirement “prescribed by law”. The terms used are too ambiguous.

· The justifications used for prohibition such as public morality, values and traditions, protection of minors, fail to pass essential necessity and proportionality tests required by the European Convention on Human Rights.

· The prohibition concerns solely “propaganda of homosexuality”, as opposed to “propaganda of heterosexuality”. The lack of any reasonable and objective criteria to justify this difference in treatment amounts to discrimination on the basis of content of speech about sexual orientation.

The Venice Commission adds that “homosexuality as a variation of sexual orientation, is protected under the ECHR and as such, cannot be deemed contrary to morals by public authorities…. On the other hand, there is no evidence that expressions of sexual orientation adversely affect minors, whose interest is to receive relevant, appropriate and objective information about sexuality, including sexual orientations.”

Finally, in an important closing paragraph, it challenges the whole rationale for these “propaganda for homosexuality” laws:

“80. On the whole, it seems that the aim of these measures is not so much to advance and promote traditional values and attitudes towards family and sexuality but rather to curtail non-traditional ones by punishing their expression and promotion. As such, the measures in question appear to be incompatible with “the underlying values of the ECHR”, in addition to their failure to meet the requirements for restrictions prescribed by Articles 10, 11 and 14 of the Convention.”

So its final conclusion comes as no surprise:

“81. In the light of the above, the Venice Commission considers that the statutory provisions prohibiting “propaganda of homosexuality”, are incompatible with ECHR and international human rights standards. The Venice Commission therefore recommends that these provisions be repealed.”

Of course, the Russian authorities were fully aware of these conclusions when their “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relationships” law was pushed through the Lower House of the federal parliament last week. And no doubt the timing of the debate, before publication of the Opinion, is not a coincidence.

Still, the Opinion will be a valuable tool in the continuing battles against “propaganda for homosexuality” laws.

 

Related articles

• Russian Parliament Passes Bill 436-0 – Banning Homosexual Propaganda From Younger Citizens. (politicalvelcraft.org)
• Russia passes strict ‘gay propaganda’ law (76crimes.com)

East Africa map shows Tanzania, with semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar off shore.

From Human Rights Watch:

(Dar es Salaam) – Tanzanians who are most at risk of HIV face widespread police abuse and often can’t get help when they are victims of crime, Human Rights Watch and the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition (WASO) said in a report released today.

The 98-page report, “‘Treat Us Like Human Beings:’ Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania,” documents abuses including torture, rape, assault, arbitrary arrest, and extortion. The organizations found that the fear of abuse is driving sex workers, people who use drugs, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people away from prevention and treatment services. The groups conducted their research from May 2012 to April 2013, and interviewed 121 members of high risk groups, along with Tanzanian government officials, service providers, and academics.

“The Tanzanian government has committed on paper to reduce the stigma for at-risk groups, but that commitment is meaningless if the police regularly rape, assault, and arrest them,” said Neela Ghoshal, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s HIV policy can’t succeed if police are driving away the very people the public health programs most need to reach.”

Cover of the report “Treat Us Like Human Beings.” (Click the image for links to the report.)

Denial of health services

The two organizations also documented a wide range of abuses against at-risk groups in the health sector, including denial of services, verbal harassment and abuse, and violations of confidentiality. Tanzanian HIV/AIDS policy calls for efforts to reduce stigma against marginalized groups, and authorities have taken some measures to do so. But Human Rights Watch and WASO identified dozens of cases in which health workers turned away sex workers, LGBTI people, and drug users from health facilities without offering services, or publicly humiliated them.

Exploitation of children

The groups also documented the commercial sexual exploitation of children. It is prohibited for children to engage in sex work, but instead of protecting these children and offering them assistance, the groups found that police rape, sexually assault, and beat them with impunity. In one case, a 12-year-old girl engaged in sex work in Mbeya was gang-raped by police officers. Police who abuse these children should be investigated and prosecuted.

The groups found that semiofficial security forces, most notably the Sungu Sungu, a vigilante group, are also implicated in violence against at-risk populations, “policing” their behavior, often through force.

These human rights violations contribute to an environment in which men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, and people who inject drugs have become increasingly distrustful of the state. Their fears undermine public health initiatives that depend on cooperation and partnership between the government and key populations that are most at risk of HIV infection.

HIV policy: ‘half-hearted’ implementation

Tanzania’s HIV policy commits, among other strategies, to increase access to HIV prevention and services for key populations; to build partnerships with nongovernmental organizations representing these marginalized groups; and to work toward decriminalization of sex work and same-sex conduct. However, these strategies have been carried out halfheartedly at best, Human Rights Watch and WASO found.

Members of most at-risk populations are also denied access to information about HIV. Public awareness campaigns on HIV almost exclusively target heterosexual couples. Many community-based organizations believe they cannot offer services to criminalized groups, fearing that working with these groups is, in itself, illegal. LGBTI people and sex workers say that they cannot form legally recognized membership groups and register with the government. In 2011, police arrested and beat one gay man in Dar es Salaam simply because he tried to organize a workshop for other men who have sex with men.

Among the harshest laws

Tanzanian law punishes consensual sexual conduct between adult males with 30 years to life in prison, one of the harshest sentences for same-sex intimacy in the world. In semiautonomous Zanzibar, the law prohibits consensual same-sex sexual relations between men, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison, and between women, with up to 5 years in prison. No one has been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in recent years, but the law contributes to the isolation and marginalization of LGBTI people. Sex work is criminalized in both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, as is the personal possession and consumption of even small amounts of narcotic drugs.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) says that criminalization of key populations drives them underground and away from HIV services, resulting in further marginalization, discrimination, and violence. The Global Commission on HIV and the Law, a commission of experts established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also calls for decriminalizing sex work and same-sex conduct involving consenting adults.

The criminalization of consensual sexual relations among adults is incompatible with a number of internationally recognized human rights, including the rights to privacy and non-discrimination. Criminalization of the voluntary, commercial exchange of sexual services among adults, as in the case of consensual sex work by adults, is also incompatible with the right to privacy, including personal autonomy.

What Tanzania and Zanzibar should do

President Jakaya Kikwete should publicly condemn police abuse, discrimination in health care, and all other forms of discrimination against sex workers, people who use drugs, and LGBTI people, Human Rights Watch and WASO said. The police and the Health and Social Welfare Ministry should provide services for all who require them.

The parliaments of Tanzania and Zanzibar should decriminalize same-sex conduct and sex work involving consenting adults, and review drug laws to ensure that they are consistent with human rights.

What donors should do

Donors should ensure that funding directed to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Tanzania includes funds specifically aimed at these key populations’ health needs, and should support the development of civil society organizations representing them.

“If Tanzania is truly committed to addressing HIV/AIDS among key populations, it needs a coordinated, rights-based approach,” Ghoshal said. “The police and health care workers should provide protection and treatment to at-risk groups, rather than setting an example of hatred and bigotry.”

via Tanzania: Police Abuse, Torture, Impede HIV Services | Human Rights Watch.

Related articles

• U.K. admits Tanzania is dangerous for gay men (76crimes.com)
• Will Obama call out African nations on anti-gay laws? (76crimes.com)
• Malawi sex workers get toll free line to curb Police abuse (nyasatimes.com)

See also more Human Rights Watch reporting on:

• Tanzania and Zanzibar issues.
• Criminalization of homosexuality.
• LGBT rights issues.
• Health issues.
• Women’s rights issues.
• People who use drugs.
• Sex workers.

This is the photo of worshipers that accompanies the announcement of the Prayer 2000 march on the Encounter Gospel News blog.

Anti-gay church leaders in Jamaica claim they will be the victims if Jamaican courts overturn the law that provides for up to 10 years in prison for male-male sexual relations.

In promoting an anti-gay march on June 23, they imagine a domino effect of victimization of Christians and Christian principles if the Jamaican buggery law is overturned. As quoted in the Jamaica Observer.com, the Rev. Dr. Naila L Ricketts said:

“Our constitutional rights to preach the truth of God’s word is also threatened and, should the law be repealed, what you and I preached may be termed hate speech and will make us criminally liable before the courts in Jamaica.

The removal of the buggery law may result in the legalisation of same-sex relationships and marriages, which would have far-reaching effects for us as a nation. …

For you as pastors and leaders, you may lose your freedom to preach the undiluted Word of God, you may no longer be able to stand with scripture on this moral issue of same-sex relationships – which the Lord clearly outlines, is an abomination to Him. …

This will open the way for homosexual curriculum to be taught to our children from an early age in our school system; that same sex relationships is normal and that it is a viable alternative for everyone.

Following that line of reasoning, Ricketts said the upcoming court challenge of the law, which allows imprisonment of gay men, is a “direct attack on our freedom.”

The consortium of conservative Christian leaders known as Prayer 2000 has invited all Jamaican churches to take part in a “peaceful prayer march” next Sunday, ahead of the hearing of an application challenging the constitutionality of the buggery law by the Supreme Court on June 25.

“This is our final chance, our final opportunity to make our voice be heard,” Ricketts said.

The legal challenge to the buggery law comes from Javed Jaghai, a young gay Jamaican who was evicted from his home after his landlady discovered his sexual orientation. The claim on his behalf was filed by United States-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World, which is asking the court to determine if the anti-sodomy law breaches rights guaranteed under the Jamaican Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which was passed into law in 2011.

Jaghai’s approach to the dispute is more modest than that of Ricketts. He recently tweeted:

We’re asking you to be tolerant. You’re asking us to not exist. Who is really forcing who?

For more information, see the full Jamaica Observer article, “Church group plans big anti-gay march next Sunday.”

Related articles

• Jamaica: Evicted, gay man aims to overturn sodomy law (76crimes.com)
• Jamaica: Vote coming soon on repeal of anti-gay law (76crimes.com)
• Jamaica: Church Group Plans Islandwide Anti-Gay March (atlantablackstar.com)
• Jamaica press thinks LGBT activists control all gays? (76crimes.com)
• Catholic Church now supports sodomy laws? (76crimes.com)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has resume his verbal attacks on LGBT people, promising that he will make the country a “hell” for gays and lesbians if his Zanu PF party wins the July 31 election.

He proposed life sentences for homosexual activity, saying that the current law, which provides for up to a year in jail, is too lenient.

He also advocated tougher laws for child rapists and pedophiles — categories that he wrong-headedly lumps in with LGBT people.

NewsDay Zimbabwe reported on Mugabe’s speech yesterday at the Roman Catholic Church-run Bondolfi Teachers’ College’s graduation ceremony, in which Mugabe said he regretted that homosexuality still exists in Zimbabwe:

We do not have a culture of men marrying men or women marrying women. We cannot accept it, no, no, no. These things are taboo in our society.

After the polls, we will strengthen the law and make it really punitive and bitterly punishable for such people. At the moment, they get something like three months’ imprisonment.

They should rot in jail.

In the Herald‘s account of the speech, Mugabe called for prison sentences for anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage. That article quoted him as saying:

In countries like Britain you have some cases where churches like the Anglican solemnise gay marriages, a culture where a man marries another man. … That will never, ever happen here. We will not allow homosexuality. Never.

Mugabe, who has often called LGBT people “worse than pigs and dogs,” praised the Roman Catholic Church for its opposition to homosexuality.

Gay Star News reported the response to Mugabe’s speeches from Chesterfield Samba, head of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ):

Related articles

• Hell for gays if Zanu PF wins (NewsDay Zimbabwe)
• President slams child rapists, gays (The Herald of Zimbabwe)
• ZANU-PF agree to election date extension (zimbabweelection.com)
• Mixed feelings among LGBTs as Zimbabwe turns 33  (76crimes.com)
• LGBT rights group cheers new Zimbabwe constitution   (76crimes.com)

The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle

While the LGBT community globally struggles to find funds for basic human services and HIV prevention, we are discovering disturbing trends in the allocation of  United States funds to Christian fundamentalist organizations that are often in the front lines of encouraging the further criminalization of homosexuality.

My recent visit to Uganda uncovered a disturbing trend among religious NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that have agreed to serve the populations that are vulnerable to HIV infection, including LGBT and men who have sex with men (MSM).

These NGOs signed contracts with the U.S. government to serve them, but then  they use different definitions for vulnerable populations, excluding LGBT and MSM. There is no recourse when these contracts are not fulfilled.

A recent report from amfAR shows how much the same problem is affecting eight southern African countries (Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).  The problem may be systemic in many of the countries we are supporting with PEPFAR and USAID funds, including Uganda.

LGBT Ugandans are currently excluded from receiving PEPFAR and USAID funding at any significant level to meet their needs.

* * *

Southern African countries included in May 2013 amfAR report.

The amfAR report found that, although LGBT people are at high risk of HIV infection, most PEPFAR program budgets “contained few dedicated funds” for them and “only 0.07 percent of all Global Fund resources for HIV were targeted to them.”

The amfAR press release about its report states:

“This report shines a much-needed spotlight on the neglect of a population that is particularly vulnerable to HIV,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost.  “If we want to effectively combat the HIV epidemic in this region, we must implement programs that address stigma and discrimination.”

“For years it was asserted that gay men and transgender people didn’t exist in Southern Africa, but that’s simply not true,” said Owen Ryan, amfAR’s deputy director of public policy and a lead author of the report.  “International donors have taken far too long to recognize and respond to HIV among these men and women.”

The recommendations of the amfAR report include:

• National governments should decriminalize same-sex sexual practices and support programs that reduce stigma and discrimination against marginalized groups.
• PEPFAR should institute clearer budgeting and reporting practices that make the implementation of national strategic plans and the allocation of resources more transparent.
• The Global Fund should help countries reprogram existing grants to address the needs of GMT [gays, men who have sex with men, and transgender people] in the region and institute stronger accountability mechanisms to ensure that approved programs are actually implemented.
• UNAIDS should improve the quality and scope of technical assistance it provides countries by increasing the number of staff with expert knowledge of issues related to key populations, particularly GMT.
• All countries receiving international assistance for HIV should conduct biennial epidemiological surveillance that includes key populations, especially GMT.

Related articles

• 4 missteps that let AIDS continue to spread (76crimes.com)
• PEPFAR budget cuts cause anxiety (IRINnews.org)
• Kerry: Africans’ Access to U.S.-Funded AIDS Drugs Is ‘Breathtaking Accomplishment’ (cnsnews.com)
• 10 Things You Need to Know About PEPFAR on its 10th Anniversary (one.org)
• The challenges of addressing HIV for gay Africans (one.org)
• An analysis of the implementation of PEPFAR’s anti-prostitution pledge and its implications for successful HIV prevention among organizations working with sex workers (sexworkresearch.wordpress.com)
• John Kerry Visit and the misuse of PEPFAR funding for Hatred against LGBTI Community in Ethiopia (rainbowethiopia1.wordpress.com)

Javed Jagahi

Last year, Javed Jaghai, a young gay Jamaican, was evicted from his home by his landlady when she discovered his sexual orientation.  The landlady alleged that Javed’s homosexuality meant that he would be engaging in an illegal activity on the premises.  While homosexuality is not illegal in Jamaica, the country’s1864 British colonially imposed anti-buggery law criminalizes all acts of intimacy between men, even if they take place behind closed doors.

Javed has therefore filed the first-ever legal challenge to Jamaica’s anti-sodomy law, which will have the initial hearing on June 25.  Javed is seeking a court order that the law violates his rights to privacy and equality, which were significantly enhanced under the country’s 2011 Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

The hearing on June 25 was expected to be purely procedural: to settle such matters as the trial date and what forms of evidence would be admitted.  However, the religious group Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) has since applied to be joined as interested parties in the claim, on the ground that, inter alia, decriminalization of sodomy would adversely affect the freedom of religion of Jamaican Christians who would no longer be able condemn homosexuality as a sin.  This argument is, of course, patently silly.  Christians can and do preach that many acts, such as adultery and pre-marital sex, are immoral, even though those activities have been legal for decades.  Another expressed concern of the JCHS is that churches will be forced to perform same-sex marriages.  Not only is this highly speculative and irrelevant to this claim, but the fact is that Anglican and Catholic churches do not perform marriages for divorced persons as that runs counter to their faith traditions.  Similarly, in jurisdictions that have recognized marriage equality, churches are allowed to decide if/when they wish to celebrate same-sex unions.

The full reasons the JCHS provides for opposing the decriminalization of sodomy are listed below:

1)    Homosexual activities would be facilitated and encouraged;
2)    It will not be long before marriages between two persons of the same sex will be facilitated, encouraged and adopted;
3)    The public promotion of the homosexual lifestyle will be permitted;
4)    The right to freedom of expression, to freedom of thought, conscience, and belief will be adversely affected;
5)    The right to seek, receive distribute or disseminate information, opinions, and ideas through any media will be adversely affected;
6)    The right to equality before the law will be adversely affected;
7)    The right to enjoy a healthy environment will be adversely affected;
8)    The right to respect for and protection of private and family life, and privacy of the home, will be adversely affected;
9)    The protection of privacy of communication will be adversely affected;
10)    The right to manifest and propagate religion in worship, teaching, practice, and observance will be adversely affected;
11)    The right to freedom from discrimination on the ground of religion will be adversely affected.

We fully intend to resist the application of the JCHS to be joined to this suit, as we find their arguments spurious and a waste of the court’s time.  We also feel that the Attorney General’s Chambers can and should be able to adequately represent their interest.  After all, the Solicitor General, who heads the AG’s Chambers, is a high-ranking member of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship, one of the groups that founded the JCHS.

It is also clear that the JCHS does not represent the views of many Christians when it comes to the issue of decriminalization of sodomy.  They certainly don’t represent the views of the island’s most established churches: the Anglican and Roman Catholic.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Howard Gregory, Anglican bishop of Jamaica. (Photo courtesy of the Jamaica Gleaner)

Appearing on the popular Jamaican radio programme “Beyond the Headlines” on April 26, 2013, the Anglican Lord Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, the. Rt. Rev. Dr. Howard Gregory, stated that the country’s 1864 British colonially imposed anti-buggery law should be repealed.

This statement is in line with one made by the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby during the June 3 same-sex marriage debate in the UK House of Lords.  While maintaining the church’s opposition to marriage equality, Archbishop Welby said:

“…[I]t is also absolutely true that the church has often not served the LGBT communities in the way it should. I express my sadness and sorrow for that considerable failure. There have been notable exceptions, such as my predecessor, the late Archbishop Ramsey, who vigorously supported decriminalisation in the 1960s. It is also necessary to express, as has been done already, total rejection of homophobic language, which is wrong and, more than that, sickening.”

The recently concluded national census indicated that only about 2.7 percent of Jamaica’s population identify as Anglicans.  However, on March 28, 2012, the Jamaica Observer reported that the Anglican Church is one of the island’s most powerful entities. The church founded several educational institutions, which have developed into some of Jamaica’s foremost centres of learning.  The Anglican Church also has major community outreach programmes, which have, over the years, benefited thousands of Jamaicans.  Several members of the country’s elite also belong to the church.  The church’s influence on shaping national policy therefore far outstrips the size of its population.

The support for decriminalization of private consensual same-gender intimacy is repeated by the Roman Catholic Church:

Since at least 2008, the Vatican has gone on record as calling for the elimination of anti-buggery laws.  At the 63rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the Declaration of Human Rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, the Holy See stated its intention “to condemn all forms of violence against homosexual persons, as well as to urge all States to take necessary measures to put an end to all criminal penalties against them.”

In March of 2012, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaican-born Bishop Kenneth Richards, also supported decriminalization of buggery.  Bishop Richards said in an interview to the Antigua Observer that decriminalizing buggery would also help to reduce the discrimination against individuals perceived to be homosexual.

Most recently, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Dominica,
Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, has called for the elimination of criminal penalties for homosexuality and an end to “all forms of violence” against LGBT people.
Bishop Malzaire’s position, which he stated in Dominica News Online, is consistent with the Catholic Church’s overall position.  He said:

Bishop Gabriel Malzaire

I wish to make it clear that the Catholic Church in Dominica adheres to the call of the Holy See in its statement to the 63rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the Declaration of Human Rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, “to condemn all forms of violence against homosexual persons as well as to urge all States to take necessary measures to put an end to all criminal penalties against them. …”

The Catholic Church maintains that free sexual acts between adult persons must not be treated as crimes to be punished by civil authorities.

In light of the foregoing, and mindful of the strict vow of obedience that Catholic churches around the world have to the Holy See, I would expect that the Catholic Church in Jamaica similarly supports a repeal of Jamaica’s anti-buggery law.  Two weeks ago we wrote to the Archbishop of Kingston who heads the most powerful Roman Catholic diocese in Jamaica, to get clarification on the Jamaican Roman Catholic church’s views on decriminalization.  The Archbishop advised that he will provide a response.

One reason for maintaining a law that infringes on the rights of others is to protect public morality. This is certainly not the case with the anti-buggery law.  It is certainly clear that getting rid of the provisions in the law that criminalize private acts of intimacy between consenting adults, would do no violence to the sense of morality of well-thinking Jamaican Christians.  Therefore, a few fanatical fundamentalists as represented by the JCHS should not be allowed to hold the country to ransom in their desperate desire to discriminate.  We fully expect the court will agree with us on this point.

Related articles

• Catholic bishop in Dominica: End anti-homosexuality laws (76crimes.com)
• Catholic Church now supports sodomy laws? (76crimes.com)
• Signs of Caribbean progress for Catholics, LGBT rights (76crimes.com)
• Jamaica Churches Mobilize Against Gay Activists to Protect Sodomy Law (atlantablackstar.com)
• Move to Improve Gay Rights in the Caribbean (repeatingislands.com)
• Jamaica: Vote coming soon on repeal of anti-gay law (76crimes.com)
• Buggery laws will not be repealed – PM (dominicanewsonline.com)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (2007 photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

In a hard-hitting open letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle challenges Kerry to end U.S. support for anti-gay former Anglican Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, whom Ogle describes as one of the most influential instigators of Africa’s ongoing campaign of attacks on LGBT people.

“It may be time for the U.S. State Department and USAID/PEPFAR to inform the American public of how much money we have given over the past 10 years to the Anglican Church of Uganda under the leadership of Luke Orombi,” Ogle states.

These are some of the questions Ogle asks Kerry:

1. Why is the U.S. government making a very public stand on LGBT human rights (epitomized in Secretary Hillary Clinton’s speech in Geneva in December 2011 and your own Gay Pride correspondence) while it sends millions of dollars to organizations who work daily to undermine this policy?

2. Why are we giving a visa to someone like Henry Luke Orombi, who has been described as the architect of homophobic hate in Africa, which allows his access to fund a leading anti-gay organization subsidized by the American taxpayer?

A timeline of Orombi’s anti-LGBT work from 2004 to 2012 is contained in the article “Archbishop Orombi, architect of African homophobic hate.”

Church House project under construction in Kampala, Uganda. (Photo courtesy of New Vision)

In the open letter, Ogle states that, in connection with his impassioned anti-homosexuality campaign, Orombi is also behind the construction of a 16-story tower block in the Center of Kampala estimated to cost between $16 million and $20 million.

Ogle states:

Financing and fundraising for the Church House Project remain a mystery, though investors were encouraged to buy “shares” in the property.

Many of the investors came from the USA and the UK and as principal donors would also have links to Orombi’s personal foundation, which has a $15 million annual goal. We are not talking about raising a few thousand dollars here and there to help Ugandan AIDS orphans; we are describing a multimillion-dollar investment project that appears to have gone awry. [Subscription required to see the full story at that link.]

A report that the project may lose $400,000 in September 2012 coincided with Orombi’s early retirement announced eight months earlier. Half the funds had been paid to the contractor in 2011 and we would like to make sure no PEPFAR or USAID funds were used to support this project or fund Orombi’s extensive travel schedule that was needed to secure this ambitious financing in a country where the average member of his church lives on $2 per day.

Because of the complexity of the Church of Uganda, PEPFAR and USAID funding during Orombi’s tenure, it may be necessary for the General Accounting Office (GAO) to pen a full investigation of the Church House Project and its relationship to American funding.

U.S. churches and NGOs are required to report any funding to overseas projects on the IRS 990 form, so it would be east to connect the audits and major donors to this project and American support. I assume USAID and PEPFAR have access to these audits as part of the extensive review process to be awarded these kinds of grants.

Archbishop Henry Orombi and member of parliament David Bahati (Photo courtesy of NewVision)

Although Orombi’s personal Foundation is registered in Uganda, U.S. donors would also likely be using IRS 501(c)3 tax-exempt privileges through sympathetic churches and non government organizations. A link to the Church House Project is HERE. A link to the Foundation is HERE.

On the Foundation website page for donors, administrative costs are cited as some of the items covered under donations, but the donations will also pay for the promotion of Orombi’s theology and ideas that have contributed to the demise of LGBT people throughout Africa:

“Purchase of equipment for the publication and mass production of the sermons CDs and DVDs of the messages of Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi.”

It is clear from this brief history of Orombi’s association with the anti-LGBT movement in Africa and ties to American and British fundamentalist organizations using tax-exempt funding (and often supported by the Museveni government ) that his negative impact continues to be with us. LGBT Ugandans are currently excluded from receiving PEPFAR and USAID funding at any significant level to meet their needs.

Meanwhile, freed from the administrative and pastoral responsibilities of an Archbishop, Orombi is using his new Foundation as a new beachhead for American-based donors to continue his war against the LGBT movement and current American foreign policy. What is the State Department’s position on this strange dichotomy and how much are we actually giving him and his networks?

It is important for the American taxpayer and American Christians to know to what extent the U.S. government has supported or is supporting the various organizations mentioned in this document. It is also important the American people are forewarned of Orombi’s imminent arrival in this country to further his rather successful campaigns subsidized by our taxes.

While it is good to hear and see the symbolic gestures of support of the LGBT movement from the US State Department during Pride celebrations, these tokens of convivial solidarity fail to impress anyone [concerned about] complicity by the U.S. government in supporting one of Africa’s most accomplished agents of deception and misinformation. With the recent public release of two documentaries on the effects of American evangelicals on the LGBT community in Uganda, Orombi’s connection to this suffering can no longer be hidden from the American people.

It will become increasingly difficult for the former Archbishop to quietly pass through our cities and communities collecting money from well-intentioned Americans (clerical collared or not), given his history. The more difficult question to ask is simply this: [Is] our government supporting his work?

Yours sincerely,

The Rev. Canon Albert J. Ogle
President
St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation
San Diego CA

Cc:
Hon. Nancy Pelosi
Hon. Barbara Boxer
Hon. Dianne Feinstein
Hon. Ed Royce
Hon. Susan Davis
Hon. Scott Peters
Hon. Juan Vargas
Hon. Christopher Smith
Hon. Karen Bass
Hon. Tammy Baldwin
Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori
Very Rev. Gary Hall
Administrator Rajiv Shah
Dep. Admin. Donald Steinberg
Ambassador Eric Goseby

Read the full open letter in the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News here: “RGOD2: African architect of homophobia supported by PEPFAR?”

Related articles

• 4 missteps that let AIDS continue to spread (76crimes.com)
• Uganda: As AIDS worsens, archbishop is an obstacle (76crimes.com)
• John Kerry Visit and the misuse of PEPFAR funding for Hatred against LGBTI Community in Ethiopia (rainbowethiopia1.wordpress.com)
• LGBT rights video: U.S. fundamentalist vs. African mom (76crimes.com)
• Kerry: Africans’ Access to U.S.-Funded AIDS Drugs Is ‘Breathtaking Accomplishment’ (cnsnews.com)
• John Kerry ‘Joins With’ LGBT State Department Employees (lezgetreal.com)

Who is this man?

Former Ugandan archbishop Henry Luke Orombi is a strong supporter of the “Kill the Gays” bill there. (Photo courtesy of SDGLN.com)

Most Americans, including potential donors, have no idea what Luke Orombi’s theology and political ambition has done to undermine American foreign policy and cause a rise in misinformation and persecution of the LGBT community, not only in Uganda, but throughout Africa.

His work has also caused significant rifts between faith communities in the USA and cost millions of dollars in legal and litigation costs that could have been applied to more needy issues here and in his own country. Allow me to list some of his activities during his tenure as Archbishop from 2004 to last year.

2004: Orombi refuses to lift the inhibition imposed upon Bishop Christopher Senyonjo (who served the Diocese of West Buganda for 24 years) causing him and his family increasing financial hardship and social stigma. The bishop was not allowed to baptize or marry any of his grandchildren and was threatened with burial in unconsecrated ground if he did not recant his statements in favor of LGBT inclusion in the church. His sanctions against Senyonjo would become worse.

2007: Orombi leads the assault on the Episcopalian church property war where many disaffected congregations invite him to give Episcopal oversight to their congregations and try to seize their church properties. This legal battle has cost millions of dollars of American funds and in almost every case, the Episcopal diocese has won the case. The disaffected congregations who tried to claim these properties were acting illegally and American courts ruled against them including the California Supreme Court. Orombi gave them spiritual sanction to begin this campaign and until 2009 he oversaw these fractured congregations from Newport Beach, Calif., to Truro church in Virginia.

This was not merely an inter-church rift. The political ramifications were clear from the beginning when Orombi consecrated an American priest to become a bishop in North America to oversee this schism. The fact that this ceremony was attended by the Ugandan Prime Minister, who gave a personal message from President Museveni supporting the consecration and a gift of $1,000 to the new bishop’s fund (documented in the following news clip from 2007), illustrates Orombi’s political agenda:

“The Anglican Church of Uganda has consecrated an American priest as bishop to oversee Christian congregations that have split from the main Episcopal Church in the US over the issue of homosexuality.

John Guernsey was consecrated at St. James Cathedral in Mbarara town yesterday in a ceremony, presided over by the Church of Uganda Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi. He was assisted by bishops from Canada, Argentina, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria, and priests from the US.

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda

2007: Orombi deposes Bishop Christopher Senyonjo for creating an LGBT supportive ministry in Uganda (Integrity) and accuses him of starting his own church. The bishop is compared to someone with gangrene and was never given due process or church procedures were never followed as outlined in the Church of Uganda’s constitutions and canons:

“The archbishop blasted the Integrity organization saying it had no place in Africa. “Integrity has a beach head in Uganda but we have cut off Bishop Christopher Senyonjo for organizing the group here. He has been banned from preaching and “we will not let him function with us. What he is doing is totally unacceptable. Would you tell a man who has a leg with gangrene that you approve? No you would say it is unacceptable. You would cut it off to spare his life.”

Please click HERE for more information about Orombi’s campaign against Bishop Senyonjo.

2008: Allegations of death threats are made in public while he is travelling in America is used by Orombi to further demonize the Ugandan LGBT community.

“I don’t wear my collar when I am in countries which have supporters of homosexuals” he said while addressing Christians at Kitunga archdeaconry, West Ankole diocese in Ntungamo district. “I am forced to dress like a civilian because those people are dangerous. They can harm anybody who is against them. Some of them are killers. They want to close the mouth of anybody who is against them.”

Please click HERE for more information about Orombi’s claim, from the article “Gays want to kill me, says Orombi.”

Were these threats ever reported to the State Department or United Kingdom government? If so, what security costs continue to be supported by the taxpayer every time Orombi embarks on a fundraising mission to the west?

2010: Allegations of bribery by President Museveni to Ugandan Church officials and bishop are ignored during Orombi’s term in office. Here is an excerpt from the Integrity blog about the bribes:

President Yoweri Museveni donates at vehicle to a new Anglican bishop. (Photo courtesy of Integrity)

Yesterday’s paper had a photo of President Museveni [above] giving a $40,000 Pajero vehicle to a newly consecrated Church of Ugandan bishop (the equivalent of receiving four times ones annual salary) – a public bribe that would be inconceivable in any other democracy except here. The President, who is seeking reelection for his fourth term in early 2011, gives a new vehicle to every newly consecrated bishop in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches (estimated to be over $2m worth of gifts to the church leadership in recent years).

The church calls for an end to government corruption. For more information, please click HERE and HERE.

February 2010” Orombi leads the Church of Uganda’s support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in a statement supporting its spirit and intentions but suggests amendments to existing penal codes. For more information, please click HERE.

David Bahati, the bill’s author, is an Anglican and his stepfather is the retired Anglican bishop of Kigezi.

August 2010: Orombi hosts the meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (representing 60 million Anglicans) in a lavish hotel in Entebbe as guests of the Ugandan President. He tries to convince the 400 African bishops that the American Episcopal Church should be ousted from the Anglican Communion and replaced by the disaffected Episcopalian breakaways known as the Anglican Churches of North America with deposed Bishop Duncan as its newly proclaimed Archbishop. The move was defeated by the majority of bishops. The overt political nature of Orombi’s work continues to be disguised under religious teaching and polity.

For more information, please click HERE.

October 2010: Orombi is one of the main leaders in an historic gathering of 4,000 evangelical leaders in Capetown, South Africa, where Exodus International [notorious for its claims that it can "pray the gay away"] is invited to present its theology and psychological framework about homosexuality in Africa. The information presented about homosexuals to Christian leaders at this conference was deeply flawed and can be compared to the “weapons of mass destruction” misinformation campaign used by the Bush administration to invade Iraq.

(This conference was described as the equivalent of the evangelical movement’s Second Vatican Council and had a huge impact on the modern church in Africa).

Although Exodus International and Alan Chambers are reshaping their North American profile to look more benign, Exodus International continues to preach misinformation to the Global South market. For more information, please click HERE.

Orombi was invited to be the honored preacher at the closing ceremonies of this historic event. afterwards, religious leaders went home to places like Nigeria, Zimbabwe , Malawi and Zambia to begin a concerted campaign of anti-LGBT legislation and persecution, exclusion from services, and denial of LGBT people having a voice in the public square.

June 2011: Orombi leads the Ugandan Joint Christian Council (a PEPFAR-funded organization) to call for the reading of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill as his last official act as Archbishop. For more information, please click HERE.

It is clear from this brief history of Orombi’s association with the anti-LGBT movement in Africa and ties to American and British fundamentalist organizations using tax-exempt funding (and often supported by the Museveni government ) that his negative impact continues to be with us.

LGBT Ugandans are currently excluded from receiving PEPFAR and USAID funding at any significant level to meet their needs. Meanwhile, freed from the administrative and pastoral responsibilities of an Archbishop, Orombi is using his new Foundation as a new beachhead for American-based donors to continue his war against the LGBT movement and current American foreign policy. What is the State Department’s position on this strange dichotomy and how much are we actually giving him and his networks?

It is important for the American taxpayer and American Christians to know to what extent the U S Government has supported or is supporting the various organizations mentioned in this document. It is also important the American people are forewarned of Orombi’s imminent arrival in this country to further his rather successful campaigns subsidized by our taxes.

This timeline was originally published as part of a column by the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle in the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News.

Related articles

• Uganda: As AIDS worsens, archbishop is an obstacle (76crimes.com)
• 4 missteps that let AIDS continue to spread (76crimes.com)
• Archive of this blog’s articles related to Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi

Countries where homosexual activity is a crime. (Click the image for list of countries.)

Is it possible that we can move toward a world where no adult couples are thrown in jail for being in love?

That prospect, which would require repeal of 76-plus countries’ laws against homosexual activity, seems more daunting than ever in the light of a recent Pew Research Center survey of attitudes about homosexuality in 39 countries.

In almost all of those countries, the nation’s laws about homosexuality are well aligned with their citizens’ attitudes about homosexuality:

• In all 12 surveyed countries WITH laws against homosexual activity, an overwhelming majority of citizens say that homosexuality IS NOT acceptable.
• In 17 surveyed countries WITHOUT laws against homosexual activity, a majority of citizens say that homosexuality IS acceptable.  In another six surveyed countries WITHOUT laws against homosexual activity,  a substantial minority (32 percent to 43 percent) say that homosexuality IS acceptable.

Click image for list of people in prison or awaiting trial for homosexual activity.

In a few countries, discord between the nation’s laws and citizens’ attitudes suggests that change might be possible — but the change might be undesirable, by making the laws more repressive to match citizens’ anti-gay sentiments.

In four surveyed countries, citizens’ acceptance of homosexuality is so low that re-criminalization might conceivably win popular support. Those countries are China (only 21 percent saying homosexuality is acceptable), Russia (16 percent), Turkey (9 percent) and Jordan (3 percent). It’s not by chance that the lower of house of the Russian parliament has unanimously passed a ban on “gay propaganda” that already is force in 10 of the nation’s regions.

Among countries with laws against homosexual activity, the survey found only three countries where more than 4 percent of citizens found homosexuality to be acceptable. Those three are Lebanon (18 percent), Malaysia (9 percent) and Kenya (8 percent).

The survey had a margin of error that varied from country to country, but mostly about +/-4 percent.

The Pew Research Center presented its survey results in a variety of formats:

• By continent, with the Americas and Europe generally favorable, Africa and Middle East generally opposed.
• Change in attitude from 2007 to 2013, with the greatest change toward accepting homosexuality in South Korea (up 21 percentage points), the United States (up 11 percentage points) and Canada (up 10 percentage points). The greatest changes in the opposite direction were in France (down 6 percentage points) and in Turkey and Palestinian Territories (down 5 percentage points), but those were close to the survey’s margin of error.
• By age, with young adults generally more accepting of homosexuality (for example, 70 percent in the U.S.) than those age 50 and up (52 percent in the U.S.). The greatest gaps by age were in South Korea (55 percentage points), Japan (44 percentage points), Brazil (28 percentage points), and Greece and Bolivia (26 percentage points each). Unfortunately, in most countries with anti-gay laws, there’s little or no age gap. The largest gap is in Lebanon, where  27 percent of young adults find homosexuality acceptable vs. only 10 percent of older adults. In Uganda, young adults (3 percent) are less accepting than older adults (7 percent).
• By gender, with women more accepting than men by 10 percentage points or more in eight nations (Israel, Venezuela, Britain, Japan, Chile, Greece, U.S. and France).
• By “religiosity,” with more religious nations generally less tolerant of homosexuality than less religious nations. But several exceptions stand out, including non-religious Russia and China, which have low levels of acceptance of homosexuality, and much more religious Brazil and Philippines, which rate high in tolerance.

Here are the estimated percentages of citizens in each surveyed country who consider homosexuality to be acceptable,  divided between nations that do and those that do not penalize homosexuality:

Homosexual activity legal:

88% Spain
87% Germany
80% Czech Republic
80% Canada
79% Australia
77% France
76% Britain
74% Italy
74% Argentina
73% Philippines
68% Chile
61% Mexico
60% Brazil
60% United States
54% Japan
53% Greece
51% Venezuela
43% Bolivia
42% Poland
40% Israel
39% South Korea
34% El Salvador
32% South Africa
21% China
16% Russia
9% Turkey
3% Jordan

Homosexual activity illegal:

18% Lebanon
9% Malaysia
8% Kenya
4% Uganda
4% Palestinian Territories
3% Indonesia (Aceh Province and South Sumatra)
3% Egypt
3% Ghana
3% Senegal
2% Tunisia
2% Pakistan
1% Nigeria

Related articles

• The Global Divide on Homosexuality (Pew Research Global Attitudes Project)
• 21 in prison for being gay, 16 more awaiting trial (76crimes.com)
• 76+ countries where homosexuality is illegal (76crimes.com)
• Morocco tally: 81 trials for homosexuality in 1 year (76crimes.com)
• Russia passes strict ‘gay propaganda’ law (76crimes.com)

Kapiri Mposhi police station, where James Mwape and Philip Mubiana are held while awaiting court proceedings.

Witnesses against two men on trial in Zambia for homosexuality testified this week about the circumstances of their arrest and their interview by police, but gave no direct testimony about the sexual relations they are charged with.

James Mwape, 21, and Philip Mubiana, also 21, of rural Kapiri Mposhi are charged with “carnal knowledge of a person against the order of nature,” a crime that under Zambian law can lead to a 14-year prison sentence.

The latest Times of Zambia article reported on the testimony of police and a family member, but did not mention that the magistrate had closed the trial to the public, as other articles did.

The trial is to continue June 18 and 19, the Times said.

The article said:

Henry Shazala, the police officer who received the complaint against the two, testified that while on duty on April 25, this year, he received a report from Sharon Mubiana who said she had heard reports that her younger brother, Philip was staying with another man and acting as a ‘wife’. …

He said the complainant further said she ended up developing hypertension together with her mother who later died following reports that Philip was behaving like a woman. …

Mr Shazala said as Sharon with other people apprehended the two suspects, a Mr Wakumelo attempted to speak to them inside the house and upon hearing his voice, Philip accused him of “admiring” his alleged husband James.

The witness said Philip told Mr Wakumelo that if he was interested, he could open the door for him so that he could also have his turn.”

In an interview with police, Shazala said:

He asked Philip if he was married to James but he did not respond.

When he asked James, Philip interjected and asked his co-accused to respond and tell the truth that they were married and that their relationship spanned a long time.

Related articles

• ‘Kapiri gays have been cohabiting’ (times.co.zm)
• Gays’ case moved from open court (times.co.zm)
• Zambia judge closes courtroom in anti-gay case (76crimes.com)
• Zambian pair’s sentence could be 14 years for gay sex (76crimes.com)
• Gay in Zambia: 6th week in jail for 2 awaiting trial (76crimes.com)
• Gay in Zambia: mob justice, jail until May 22 trial (76crimes.com)
• Homosexuality at issue in 2 trials in Zambia this week (76crimes.com)