LGBT POV

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The Nazis Didn’t Even Dare This, But Mainstream And Even Progressive Media Voices Are Silent

Cross-Posted By Guest Blogger Bruce Wilson

After a burst of media coverage towards the close of 2009, the growing persecution of gays in Uganda seems to have dropped off radar screens not only of mainstream US media but also most of alternative and progressive media, on and off the Internet.

Meanwhile, if things go as planned, next Sunday May 2nd American evangelist Lou Engle, who played a major role in the push for California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition Eight, will stage one of his anti-gay, sexual purity-obsessed prayer rallies in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.

The The Bishops and Elders Council, convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, held a noontime vigil Tuesday at Washington DC’s National City Christian Church, in protest of legislation before Uganda’s Parliament, the Anti Homosexuality Bill, that would allow execution of homosexual Ugandans.

The bill would also create an Orwellian anti-gay police state by requiring citizens to report suspected homosexual activity to authorities or face three years in prison. Homosexuality in Uganda can already be punished by up to life in prison…..

Please click inside to read Bruce’s important and well-researched analysis.

Warren Throckmorton posted this press release from TheCall’s Lou Engle, who says the controversial TheCall Uganda will go forward in Kampala on Sunday May 2. About Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Engle says, TheCall will not promote the bill and “…we do not see the character of Christ reflected in some key aspects of the language of the current bill.” Engle also talks about the Prop 8 campaign, where he lead a huge Yes on 8 rally at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego (pictured). (H/t Bruce Wilson)

Please click inside to read Lou Engle’s press release.

Hawaii is a popular state with many LGBTs – but if the Religious Right has their way – and it looks like they might, that beautiful paradise may start turning antigay. Sound unbelievable? Well, please read Bruce Wilson’s important report providing evidence that the same Religious Right underground movement that has staked out Uganda has also staked out Hawaii. Wilson has been writing about this shadowy Christian Right movement call the International Transformation Network and its leader Ed Silvoso (pictured) for quite some time now on the Talk to Action website and while ITN sounds too out there to be taken serious, be advised that Wilson was one of the first to warn about the significance of TheCall’s ranting Lou Engles who threw that huge antigay pro-Prop 8 rally in San Diego. In a recent post, Wilsin wrote that Prop 8 was the proving ground for what he calls the New “Rainbow” Right.

Engles is now headed for Uganda and Jim Burroway from BoxTurtleBulletin reports that Ugandans LGBTs are denouncing TheCALL and asking for help.

But back to Hawaii – here’s what ITN head Ed Silvoso says: “It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom.”

Please click inside to read Bruce’s compelling and important report.

The federal challenge to Prop 8 happening now in the US District Court in San Francisco is not just a legal expose of the ongoing discrimination against same sex couples – it is also revealing just how deep is the divide in American thinking and perception.

In his latest fundraising letter issued Friday afternoon, National Organization for Marriage Executive Director Brian Brown summed up the legal strategy of the Olson/Boies team as putting Christianity on trial.

Please click inside to read his spin and my back-spin.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) is holding a hearing Thursday on the proposed “Anti Homosexuality Bill” now pending in the Ugandan Parliament.

The hearing will be held from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. in the 2172 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC.

TLHRC Co-Chairman James P. McGovern (D-MA) and TLHRC Exec. Committee Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), as well as other Commission members, will hear testimony from Karl Wycoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of State; Julius Kaggwa, Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Uganda; Cary Alan Johnson, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission; Rev. Kapya Kaoma, Political Research Associates and Christine Lubinski, HIV Medicine Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, among others. Baldwin’s office said the committee is trying to webcast the hearing.

But is an hour and a half enough time to expose the international antigay effort – for which Uganda is a working model? Religious Right researcher Bruce Wilson produced a short documentary (20 minutes) called “Transforming Uganda” that spells out who’s who and how the Anti Homosexuality Bill is part of a much larger underground antigay Christian movement. Please watch the video and click inside to read about a conversation between Wilson and Rev. Kapya Kaoma – who is testifying today – about the movement.

Transforming Uganda / high resolution from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.

Bruce Wilson is a straight religious right researcher who not only produces extraordinary work but understands the possible consequences of what he uncovers – especially to the LGBT community. This is a cross-post of an in-depth piece about Lou Engle who we in Southern California remember as the hyper-antigay Christian whipping up the fasting crowd at the pro-Prop 8 event in San Diego called TheCall. Few of us really expected to see Lou Engle wearing an ill-fitting suit leading the anti-healthcare reform bill “Prayercast” organized by the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins – with portions broadcast live by Rachel Maddow recently. Given his frenetic fanaticism and some of his pronouncements about Christian martyrs and statements such as -“Wherever I go I spit, but it’s holy water” – it is disturbing to learn from Wilson about Engle’s association with US Sen. Sam Brownback and that he might take his religious show on the road – to Uganda. This is one of those investigative pieces that LGBT politicos should read and save because it seems we’re just getting to know Lou Engle. Additionally – please bookmark and continue to follow Bruce Wilson at Talk to Action.