In all of the content we have posted since President Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage, it is the content from Africa that has proven the most disturbing. In this 3,000 word investigative report by Modern Ghana correspondent Stephanie J. Wearne, we are offered a glimpse at the bizarre and frightening reality for homosexuals in the nation of Uganda.
For Modern Ghana, Stephanie J. Wearne writes in small part:
While the debate in other parts of the world is about legalizing gay marriage, in at least one east African country, the discussion is about imposing the death penalty on those found guilty of homosexual acts.
To substitute for public executions, which were the daily norm under Idi Amin’s tyrannical regime; the trademark of the country of Uganda is now homophobic attacks.
Back then, Ugandans disappeared at the hands of the State Research Bureau due to their political beliefs. Now it is homosexuals who have no one to turn to for safety. And with so many security organs handling suspects, relatives find it hard to locate their loved ones.
In Uganda, there are two kinds of suspects: those who are arrested and make it to the courts; and those who are arrested and will never see a judge. And not everyone being arrested, tortured, and persecuted or who disappears is gay or lesbian. People who render them assistance also face persecution.
According to information obtained by Modern Ghana, the family of Norman Walugembe is living in fear, panic and despair. They think he may have been killed.
According to one family member who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, Walugembe, 34, had been giving medical care to gays and lesbians. “It is true, his source of income was the small amount he earned from medication he provided to gays. He is been a bridge between gays and medical professionals who provide medicine to the homos,” the family member said, adding that: “I know he is not a gay, because he has a wife and a child.”
“He’s is the kind of character who doesn’t want to see a certain group of people persecuted. That is the why he could sometimes went all out to get them some medication.”
Although the controversial anti-homosexuality bill was widely criticized outside Uganda soon after it was submitted to Parliament, the bill has strong appeal among all of the country’s religious leaders.
Parliament Member David Bahati, now a minister from the ruling National resistance Movement (NRM), sponsored the anti-homosexuality legislation in 2009, which carries penalties as severe as death. After it was condemned by a number of donor governments, to which Uganda is heavily dependent, the legislation was pulled.
The recent reemergence of the proposed legislation is no surprise. It is the direct and defiant result of the Obama Administration’s recent move to use foreign aid to push gay rights. “Gay rights are human rights,” declared Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticized the legislation, and President Obama labeled it “odious.”
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