Going global

They're taking the concept of missionary work to a new level of hatred and civil rights atrocities.

Change.org is reporting on the influence that a group of Christian evangelicals and ex-gay ministry proponents has had on proposed, draconian anti-gay legislation in Uganda.

Uganda is an interesting example of how the radical religious right in the United States has sought to take their battle against all things related to homosexuality to a global level. Earlier this year, a prominent group of evangelicals -- among them representatives from Exodus International and Defend the Family International -- attended a conference in Uganda aimed at discussing ways to fight homosexuality. The goal of the conference was to brainstorm ways that the government, schools and churches in Uganda could "wipe out" homosexuality from the country.

For American religious leaders to participate in something like this shows some pretty gross disrespect for human rights. What's worse, their support has lent credence to a bill introduced in Uganda's parliament this week that will imprison people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and will imprison straight people who support gay rights. Oh, and let's not forget that the bill also calls for HIV-positive gay people to be put to death.

A leading LGBT rights activist, Wayne Besen, says that these Americans clearly left their stamp on the proposed legislation by giving them a way to justify it based on the ex-gays' much touted claims that homosexuality is a choice and can be changed. And, in fact, almost identical wording wound up in the legislation.

Conservative evangelicals have been feeding this kind of misinformation to Ugandan officials for years. In fact, according to Besen, they have embraced the current Ugandan president as the key man in Africa to help spread conservative Christianity.

This is sickening.

It's bad enough that gays are subject to being executed in Muslim countries. But for this to be a cornerstone of a Christian movement in the 21st century in unthinkable -- but it is apparently happening.

It's also terribly disheartening regarding progress in Africa. Just a few years ago, Uganda was being held up as an example of an effective program that actually reduced the spread of AIDS. I try very hard not to resent Christianity itself, and evangelicals in particular, and to remember that these are imperfect humans who are misguided in their interpretation of the message of Jesus, and that it does not represent what Jesus would have done. But it's hard to keep that perspective and not be enraged at the whole lot of them.

Ralph