Not yet

Not yet there.

But, keep up the pressure.

The Archbishop of Canterbury condemns the bill.

In an interview with the British Telegraph newspaper, the leader of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has publicly condemned Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill that would literally enable the Ugandan government to hound gay men and women to death if the penalty of "aggravated homosexuality" is not removed.

In the interview, Dr. Rowan Williams talks about the schism facing the Anglican Church, his relationship with the Vatican, and also comments on legislation tabled by Ugandan MP David Bahati that has been dubbed the "Kill the Gays Bill":

“Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades,” says Dr Williams. “Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to turn pastors into informers.” He adds that the Anglican Church in Uganda opposes the death penalty but, tellingly, he notes that its archbishop, Henry Orombi, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last year, “has not taken a position on this bill”.

Late in coming. Of course, of course. Does little to shore up his moral leadership. Not when he has literally been bullied into making the statement. Maybe it gives him some cover... His Anglican brothers in Uganda will not accuse him of  'neo-colonialism'. Maybe....

 Article continues with an analysis I dont like, but, which is most likely true.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill now looks set to become law in February, 2010 if it passes through parliament unfettered.  

I dont want the bill. Truly. It should be thrown out. So, should I settle for no death penalty while I am still criminalised and legally hounded in my own country. Extraordinary. Or, very human. I still want freedom in my own homeland. Me and my partner still hope for freedom.

So, not yet.

Which makes me more hopeful that the kind of pressure below is better.

Get me right, I have been pushing for Religious Leaders to condemn the bill. Because they have the moral authority, to do so and are listened to in Uganda. And, because this bill is made in the name of God and religion. Bahati's statements continue to show the mentality of Ugandans.

This condemnation will force my genocidal country mates to re-think. They believe they are more Christian than any other person. They believe they are morally upright. I want a check on this moral superiority which makes the Bahati bill no less than a symptom. I want it killed. I dont want it resurected. For my safety, for the safety of other gay Ugandans, the defeat of this bill is something that is necessary. It may not occur, but, denting the moral authority of the preachers of hate may be something that we settle for. Not yet. Not enough.

So, an American Senator comes out also, against the bill. Unfortunately this is the kind of language that my people understand. They claim we are a democracy, when we act like a dictatorship... Oh well. But, the President does understand any threat to the military. Real or imagined.

US Senator joins critics of Anti-homosexuality Bill

ANGELO IZAMA

Kampala

A senior American Senator has warned that relations between Uganda and the United States would suffer because of a proposed Bill against homosexuality.

Mr Russ Feingold, who chairs the Senate’s Committee on Africa, said he was outraged by the Anti-homosexuality Bill proposed by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati.

“Its passage would hurt the close working relationship between our two countries, especially in the fight against HIV/Aids,” Mr  Feingold said in a statement released by his office. According to Mr Feingold, he has expressed his concerns to the US State Department and to President Museveni personally.

Mr Feingold is currently pushing through a law to compel the Obama administration to provide direct military assistance in dealing with the Lord’s resistance Army. Calls for political action by donors and rights groups against the Bill which is expected to pass easily in the House have mounted ever since it was tabled several weeks ago.

True, we are not yet there. Not at all.

Monday morning. Another week, another day. Christmas is near. Just doesnt feel like so.

Have a good week. Keep pushing.


gug

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I hadnt seen this. Funny, the Monitor has stepped up into the gap. They are really reporting positively, (well, that means that, they are not supporting the bill! Well, you know where I stand.)

They have been slow, they have been reluctant. But, they have stepped into the gap which the New Vision has very studiously avoided. A well reasoned article. Wish I had written it myself... But, I didnt! An excerpt.

Sexual violence apart, Ugandan women, especially in rural areas, suffer deplorable health services.  The country’s maternal mortality rate, at 435 deaths per 100,000 births, is one of the highest in the world.  This is an aggregate figure: it is even higher in the poorest rural areas, where most women give birth at home without qualified help.

 

According to aid agencies, 62 per  cent of Uganda’s clinics lack basic medicines and 65 per cent of health worker posts remain unfilled.  Women suffer most from these gross service gaps because it is they who assume the main responsibility for family care and they who are generally last in the queue for medical attention.

And what if international donors, who supply more than one third of Ugandan government revenues, cut aid in response to the outcry over the Bahati Bill from their own citizens?

It is understandable that Ugandans should see this as bullying, a new form of cultural imperialism; and it is fair to point out that the West’s human rights halo is not looking so shiny after Switzerland’s overwhelming vote to restrict the religious freedoms of their minority Islamic population.

But donor governments are under real pressure from their own citizens and may be forced to trim aid that, in many cases, is tied precisely to targets such as improving health services. Who would be the losers here?  Overwhelmingly, Ugandan women.

Hey, you ask yourself, with all these ills, why are we still determined to fight the ill of homosexuality? I think I should be flattered that my sexuality is so important. Of course I am not. Not when you want to kill me in the name of your god.
But, with all these ills, why are we determined to deal with this particular one?

I will give you Honourable Bahati's answer.

 "We are not going to yield to any international pressure – we cannot allow people to play with the future of our children and put aid into the game. We are not in the trade of values. We need mutual respect."

 To that, well, I will not add another comment.