Anti-gay bishops meet in Mukono

Tuesday, 30th September, 2008

By Ganzi Muhanguzi

A TOTAL of 39 bishops, are in the country to defend the Global Anglican Future Conference Movement (GAFCON).

GAFCON is a clergy movement against homosexuality in the Church.

Archbishop Nicholas Okoh from Nigeria, who is also the chairman of the GAFCON Theological Resource Group, said the misrepresentation of Christ and his nature is a threat to the Church.
“The controversy about who Jesus is, almost crippled the Church some time back,” he said.
He urged Christians to follow the Bible and reject popular distortions.
The group is meeting at Uganda Christian University, Mukono.
Uganda’s Archbishop,s Henry Luke Orombi, in August, declared the next 10 years, a decade of mission, urging the Anglican churches to spread the gospel.

Currently in the Anglican Church, the liberal Anglicans, led by Canterbury are in favour of homosexuality, while conservatives, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria are opposed to the move.

Akonola’s group is threatening a break in communion if the Canterbury does not retract their stand.

The Meeting, which ends today, attracted clergy from USA, UK, Australia, South India, South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.

Slow day.

True, a slow day for me. Much to do, the roll to do it is just not there. Duhhhh.

The day itself is dull and windy. And cold. So cold that I need to put on something warm. Clouds, and the roll of thunder in the distance. Cheer up. This is Uganda. Will not be surprised if it is blazing hot in a couple of hours.

Someone has dared to challenge the Church in Uganda.

Well, as recently as yesterday I was betting with myself that it is impossible. Crude memory, mine. I should have remembered Kevin O’Connor’s article in one Sunday Monitor. But it did not register much with me. Reason? Kevin’s white.

Amazing. (and not so amazing) A racist ting to my thinking.

Oh, well. Its true, guilty as charged. I did not consider that article very significant because the defender was a white man!!!!! Sorry Kevin. You know how it is.

Some excerpts from Kevin's article.

Internal Anglican politics have no interest for me. But what does interest me is that busy Orombi should be worrying so much about what is happening in faraway USA, spending days on something irrelevant for Uganda in Jerusalem, when he should be giving priority to his domestic agenda.

And surely topmost in that agenda is the corruption that is here, there and everywhere in our country. Whether it be the Global Fund, GAVI, junk choppers, Butabika Hospital land, ghost soldiers, ghost teachers, potholes, CHOGM cars, and much, much more – it happens in Uganda. We seem to have just about every form of corruption except ghost ghosts.

But, who knows, perhaps next year there will be a Sebutinde Ghost Ghosts Commission.

Now that someone else has dared to take on the church, I am perking up my head with interest.

Some excerpts.

"But what is this obsession about sex among the Anglicans?

But is life only about homosexuality, and women priests?

However, there is a feeling that humankind is not really bothered by many of the issues that are rocking the Anglican church. They are actually more concerned about things like how and where to get their next meal.

In Zimbabwe, for instance, it’s how and when President Mugabe will leave power that is their major concern, not gayism or women bishops. In Uganda, issues of major concern include President Museveni’s interest to stand as president in the 2011 elections, the LRA war, mile akenda, biting poverty and school fires!

For instance in Uganda where there is chronic corruption, what has the church as proof of their disapproval of what is going on? I thought corruption is a vice that condemned by the Bible (see Thou Shall Not Steal)! Are some sins considered heavier than others? Is homosexuality more of a sin than stealing?

A sin is a sin in God’s eyes? For example, why don’t African church leaders boycott or stop swearing-in of politicians to office, never mind whether such politicians are corrupt or unfaithful to their spouses?

In my view, church leaders should not be selective - they should condemn all vices whether at home otherwise with a passion - they shouldn’t ignore some issues and harp on others. Secondly, why should the Anglican Church face a possible schism over homosexuality and women bishops?

Can’t there be another way out of the impasse, apart from breaking up?"

Brave man, Mr Kalumba.

Aha! Of course he is going to be accused of being gay. One guy amused me. He wrote sometime ago in the New Vision a satirical piece about the need to include gay people in HIV programmes. He was arguing that disease is disease, and we have to fight disease because it is disease. And, as a conclusion, he reminded his audience that he is a married man- that is, on defence against the attack that he is a homo!

Kalumba of course will be attacked. But he is very brave. And you know what, I am no Christian, and, from the theoretical point I say I understand the politics of Orombi and Akinola in the church. But I also wonder, the questions he asks of the church are very pertinent. Why the hell dont other Ugandans ask them?

Why is my sexuality so important with all the other multiplicity of 'sins' that the religious can focus on? Is it because they see me as defenceless?

Clouding thoughts. For a cloudy day.

GayUganda

The Church and Homophobia

Nowadays, in Uganda, sermons in mosque and church, Anglican and Catholic usually talk about homosexuality. We are painted stupid, ugly, bad, killer, un-african, evil, and all sorts of things. Anyone who defends us comes out as bad, simply because they have defended us. Why is this so?

With Ssempa, I sincerely believe that the problem is repressed sexuality. From a lot of things that he says, it is quite clear that the guy has a problem with sex. From thinking that masturbation is evil (one of the worst), to abstinence campaigning and crowning homosexuality with evil. He is obsessed with homosexuality. Too obsessed for him to be free of it. Poor guy.

But the Anglican church?

There is an atmosphere of siege in the kuchu community here. With so many problems in our lives, we cannot understand why our sexuality has become such a huge issue. Politics? The African princes trying their best to take over, a coup within the church?

They tried, and failed. Or I think they did.

But we are paying the price. The new scapegoat for all the ills of society.

Its frustrating, but a real price. The bill in Nigeria which Akinola gave his blessing was so harsh it would have made it a crime for three ‘homosexuals’ to meet and talk. The erosion of their human rights, in Akinola’s view, was ok. Because they were homosexuals. Less than humans. So it was ok to let the legal might of the state be concerned with these iniquitous beings.

Now from our Church of Uganda's Orombi.

I knew that he was one of the schismatic leaders. But I had not heard this level of rhetoric from him. Even when we came out last year in August, I know that that Sunday, most Pentecostal and Anglican and Catholic churches preached about homosexuality. But I didn’t hear of him expressly talking about homosexuals. But he did have quite a number of surrogates. The guys who had us thrown out of the People’s Space at the Commonwealth Meeting. They were some of his bishops. With the muscle power of Ssempa’s Brown Shirts. That was the moment I did understand that these guys hated, simply, and virulently. And I was afraid.

Let me examine some of the points I have against the anti-gay church people in Uganda.

I simply cannot dialogue with the Moslems. The Mufti proposed a concentration camp: marooned and exiled on an island in Lake Victoria. He said it three times, just to make sure that we understood him. Yes we did. No dialogue there.

The Catholics?

Funny thing is that, despite the fact that they are known to be anti-gay, in Uganda the Catholics have not had much beef in fueling the homophobia to current levels. They are opposed. That is known, but they do not need to go out and prove how anti-gay they are.

The anti-gay Anglicans. And the Pentecostals, with Ssempa’s lead. Those are the forces of homophobia in Uganda. They are determined to so tar us with evil that they are going out of their way to paint us devils. Catholics are moderates in this account of wolves.

When one of their number (Anglicans), Bishop Ssenyonjo dared to demur, he was defrocked, and later excommunicated.

Yet these guys have consistently made sure that they do not reach us, that they do not talk to us, that we are pariahs to them. There is no dialogue.

So, they have used this hate to for their political needs. They want to ‘lead’ the church. Whatever. But in their strategy plan is making us evil in the sight of all and sundry.

They started with labeling us un-African. Till we reminded them of those ancestors of ours who were gay and African. And the fact that homosexuality in Africa predated Christianity.

Then they have gone out of their way to prove how bad, how evil we are. They hold a huge audience. Our people, in their poverty, do cling to religion. The church and mosque are huge factors in their lives. Thanks be that most of them believe in traditional faiths besides the ‘official’ beliefs.

But when week after week, in pulpits from minarets to church, homosexuality is held out as the modern day evil of all evils, there is bound to be a reaction from the populace. In Uganda, there is no dialogue on sexuality. There is a monologue from the church about the evils of our sexuality. And believe me, people are beginning to believe it. After all, who dares to come out and say they are homosexuals in Uganda?

So, according to the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, homosexuals ‘want to kill him’’ I don’t wear my collar when I am in countries which have supporters of homosexuals’

‘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’

The accusations from the prelate are many. We, homosexuals, are killers, murderers. We want his scalp. We want him silenced. We are in 'outside' countries, and not in Uganda. And we are offering wealth to convert the children. And the brave holy church is going to be out there to protect the poor defenceless Africans.

Besides the untruths which are in these statements, and the need that he feels to justify his leadership of the Anglicans, the fact is that he is whipping up hatred towards gay people in Uganda.

He is a very important person. And he is a ‘spiritual’ leader. And when he feels that he needs to create a scapegoat that is defenceless and abhorred by the populace, it is very easy, and very sharp of him to choose homosexuals in Uganda. Because our ability to fight back is very, very limited. Our people simply believe that what the pastor says in church is the fact. Is truth. Even I, am anonymous. Only in cyber do I have a measure of freedom.

So, the church, has chosen to fight us with its tremendous power. We have no option but to fight back.

Ridiculous, but true. And even those of us who say we have no faith cant but realise what a self appointed enemy the church is, against us.

And the church has allied with the state. The president, over and over again has lauded their ‘fight’ against ‘homosexuals. The traditional leaders are joining in the campaign.

Will we survive? How far will they go?

I have no answer to those questions. But I know I am in a fight, an unequal one. Well, they risk reputation, for me it is life, so, who has more to lose? But I sure as hell (is it sure?) need to realise that it is war.

GayUganda

PS. This almost refused to be written. I was too emotional at first, but remembering what is at stake, I could not NOT write it.

Gays Out!!!!

I had not seen this.

Apparently, the Anglicans in Kenya are excluding homosexuals. WildeY, I am not conversant with your faith or lack thereof. What is your stand on this, you self confessed homosexual?

Gay Anglicans in Kenya Forbidden to Attend Church
Other Sheep East Africa eNews this morning reprinted excerpts from a July 3rd article in the Nairobi Star....

The Anglican Church of Kenya now wants to stop gays attending church.

Gays and lesbians will not join the Anglican congregations anymore...unless they renounce their sexuality.

Eldoret Dioceses Anglican Bishop Thomas Kogo yesterday said the church had decided to forbid homosexuals from going to their churches if they could not repent and stick to biblical teachings.

He said: "We have no choice about this. Those who want to practice lesbianism or be gays must stand aside and let those of us who respect the biblical teachings continue with our work."

Bolton, dont take this badly. You know, from what these good guys say here, it is very, very clear that we are not welcome in Church. So when they come to the west and start saying politically correct things like they still think we can be Christians, very few of us believe them. They simply want us in prison.

Er, and this one is for Bolton. This guy Giles Fraser seems to have no problem with straight speaking. And taking on the homophobes! Wasnt he the one who wrote the other article about it not being a case of ideological differences, but of power? He wades into the controversy again, and he is amusing!

No, different guy.

But he also gives a very interesting history of Anglicanism. And of religious tolerance.

Why isnt Ronan Williams calling Akinola to account? I dont know, and cant judge on that. Seems as if it is something which I will try to puzzle out.

Is like Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Mugabe. Again the same softly, softly approach which allows a bully to go on doing the bullying. Oh, my history lessons. The British Prime Minister who was appeasing Hitler... Same approach, isnt it?

Food for thought, food for thought.



Gug

An Unheavenly Silence

An unheavenly silence on homophobia

Clerics at the Global Anglican Futures Conference have been slow to condemn violence against gay people. It's incredible, and unchristian

Barely 24 hours into the Global Anglican Futures conference (Gafcon) in Jerusalem and the assembled leaders have already exhausted every synonym for schism, without uttering the word itself, to describe the impact of actions taken by the US Episcopal church and the Anglican church of Canada. The meeting, lasting eight days and costing £2.5m, is the climax of ultimatums and summits, spanning a decade, about the ordination and consecration of gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions.

Last night, the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, said the Gafcon movement would liberate people from religious bondage and would offer a spiritual haven for those who could not live under a "revisionist leadership". It sounds appealing to the millions of Anglicans disillusioned with western churches. But a press conference revealed acute differences of opinion between the bishops, especially, and most worryingly, on the subject of raping and torturing homosexuals.

A question from Iain Baxter, a media representative from the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, aroused expressions of disbelief and outright denial from the primates. The name of his organisation raised a discomfiting titter. Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya and is punishable by a fine, imprisonment or death.

Archbishops from these countries were on the panel. They said they could not influence government policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) legislation, nor could they condone homosexual behaviour because their churches would be shut down. They added one could not break the taboos of African society without suffering the consequences.

Presumably, these cultural constraints justify the punishment meted out to Prossy Kakooza, Baxter's example of someone tortured because of her sexual orientation. She was arrested, marched naked for two miles to a police station, raped and beaten.

Akinola did not condemn these acts. Neither did the other African archbishops. Orombi said he had never heard of people being tortured because of their homosexuality, that when he learned about incidents – from the western media – he was at a loss to understand why he had not heard of them. He refused to accept that persecuting and torturing gay people was done openly in Uganda.

It was clear they failed to grasp how homophobic rhetoric from the pulpit led to violence and intimidation, as described by Colin Coward from Changing Attitudes. Still no condemnation was forthcoming. As a follow-up I asked whether the lack of condemnation meant they condoned torture of homosexuals. It took the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, to articulate opposition to all acts of violence towards all people. The Africans didn't even nod in agreement.

Their muteness – either because they did not understand the question or did not understand why they had to issue a condemnation – is a harrowing glimpse of a dogmatic and draconian narrative that has not been explored thoroughly; least of all, it seems, by those who have allied themselves with the populous Anglican churches in Africa.

Failure to condemn acts of torture is inhumane, incredible and unchristian. Three characteristics that no Anglican movement should be proud of.

Should i add in my shillings worth? We have been talking about the Ssempa's and Orombi's of this world. Kimbowa, one of Ssempa's flock was only the latest to come and piously show how much he hated me. Because i am a homosexual. Nothing new here. yet everything is new, isnt it?

Ahem, I had not seen this analysis of the thoughts of their excellencies from Nigeria and Uganda. The Nigerian Archbishop actually lied. (disingenious, political correctness for lies). He lied, and here is some interesting proofs of his lies.

Why do you hate me so much?

Dumb question. But sometimes dumb questions need answers.

It’s a grey overcast Sunday. Saturday night was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I would like to forget it, but I cannot. The day has been overcast, and I have realized that I didn’t want to come back to the blog.

Reason.

A Christian came. Invaded my privacy here, and he is telling me how bad I am, and how he does not hate me, but love me. So he insists on engaging me in a conversation.

Why don’t I just shut him off? After all he makes me boil with the anger of frustration. But why should I shut him down?

Dialogue. We do not dialogue with the likes of Ssempa, and Akinola. Because they do not listen when we talk. (And we do not listen when they talk. The conversation is a shouting match, both groups insisting on how evil the other is, hearing little of the others point of view). Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria believes if I shake his hand I may soil him. What a man of God! But I am insightful enough to know that if I ask them to listen to me, I should also listen to them. Upside of that, if they do listen to me, they will no longer think me evil. My not so secret weapon. Truth.

Ignorance. I was in a meeting with someone, who was telling me about those I curse as homophobes. She kept insisting that people like Nsaba-Buturo are sincerely ignorant. That they do not know the realities of sexuality. They have been taught, from day one, to believe that a homosexual is a devil incarnate. They believe it. Simply, and sincerely. And to them, any proof to the contrary is just ignored. Is this true?

Likely.

But to me, it boils down to the fact that someone is persecuting me for what I am. And goes as far as advocating to have my head cut off, in the name of his religion.

A guy called Kimbowa. He is a Christian. When I tell him that I am gay, he says, ok you are, but something is wrong. When I tell him I am not a pedophile, he tells me that studies have been done to show that I am a pedophile. I look at this [imbecile, my quick anger insists], and shake my head in frustration.

So, how will I tell him what I am when he does not have the grace to listen to what I say?

Yes, I can ignore him.

Surely I can? But it also irks me that someone thinks I am so bad that he does not question my goodness! I am a human being too, I cry. So, I have bad things and good things about me. It would be immensely satisfying to push that into his head.

That is a rant of a reason.

But a more serious one. These guys may show hatred for us out of ignorance. If we can educate them out of this ignorance, we gain. Hatred is hatred, even when it is clothed in ecclesiastical clothes. If they point a gun at us and shoot, the bullet kills us, whether they intend it or not. I would rather that I take away the gun, than that I would have to harm them before they harm me!

Ok, now I am calm. At least I hope I am calm enough. Let the dialogue begin.


GayUganda

I am what I am

An interesting concept. I am what I am. I do not have to apologize for it. I do not have to tell someone sorry, I am different.
I do not have to believe what you believe. I do not have to have your prejudices. Because I am a different entity from what you are. A complete human being. Because I am gay, a homosexual living in Uganda, I have had to live a sort of apologetic lifestyle. I have to hide myself from the people that are closest to me. Hide the fact that I am what I am because of the fear that I will be held to account for what I am.
What has set off this train of thought was a unique occurrence. I have just come back from a party. A gay party. A party where homosexuals living in Uganda, and Kampala were specifically invited to meet other guys. It was organised by gay guys who are positive, living with HIV.
They have to hide their identities because of the simple fact of a heavy double stigma. They have to hide from their communities the fact that they are gay, and they have to hide from their fellow gay guys the fact that they are positive to HIV.
What a hard time that they have.
At the same time, why do we have to go through this kind of thing?
We are what we are. There is no end to the apologies that we have to give to the world for being homosexuals. So, why go ahead and give them. I read this story of Helen Degeneres. Of how she came to coming out on her show. How she faced the fact that her sexual orientation was not just a matter of personal concern. But that it was something that mattered to her enough to come out and say, hell, I am gay, and that is part of my identity. I also remembered the story of Dick Cheney’s daughter, how, after being outed by Edwards the presidential candidate, she felt like crawling into her shell, and the only call that she wanted to answer was one from Degeneres. Coming out to ourselves creates a bond. A strength. I do not have to go to Archbishop Orombi and say I am sorry that I am gay. I do not have to go to Akinola and apologise. I just have to know that, this is what I am. If I believe in god, then this is what he made me to be. I will not change it, I will not duck it.
Some believe that because I am gay, I should accept that and stay celibate because I may commit a sin. But don’t I commit a bigger sin in not accepting what god made me to be? Twisted logic. But I am what I am. Sorry for borrowing that from the bible, scripture to some?No, because I am what I am.
And I am happy being what I am. And I will not get to the point of apologising for what I am. I am simply what I am.
Accept me, reject me, I am what I am.

GayUganda

An African LGBT Perspective

A reader commented that this blog provides an ‘African lgbt perspective on the turmoil within the Anglican Communion over homosexuality and the repression of LGBT people on the African continent’.
It is unintentional on my part. It is true that it is rare that the voice of the African LGBT is heard. The cost can be very severe. Stigma is a huge issue, the stigma of being a pariah in your own community. We are there, but we are not heard.

Unfortunately, what is heard are the voices which insist that ‘homosexuality is un-African’, or such ridiculous things like there are no homosexuals in Africa (it was the president of my country who said that. Wish I could show him the Gay Uganda Website). Personally, I am partly fueled by a sense of anger. There are too many ridiculous lies talked about Gay Africans. We are present. We are. The reason why we are not heard is the fact that we have some very severe laws against our very existence. Yet it is also because our leaders insist on denying us our humanity.

The Rt Rev Akinola springing back from touching a homosexual person’s hand is characteristic. Homosexuals are worse than pigs and dogs (Mugabe, Zimbabwe), do not exist in Uganda (Museveni), and so Africans are the 'worthy' leaders in the current schism in the Anglican Communion.

What is not so widely known is the fact that there are voices of dissent. In Nigeria, there is a Changing Attitude chapter which is active. In Uganda, the one Ugandan bishop who attended Lambeth 2 was ‘defrocked’ (I think is the word), because he would not endorse the thinking of the rest of the Church of Uganda. I saw a letter to him from the Archbishop Luke Orombi, addressing the Bishop Emeritus of Buganda the Rt. Reverend Dr Ssenyonjo as plain Ssenyonjo, forbidding him the right to hold a service in the province. Archbishop Desmond Tutu thought it all very ‘unchristian’- the schism.

To me, Ssenyonjo and Tutu are very Christ-like figures. I would not dream of emulating ++Akinola. And Archbishop Orombi of the Uganda Province is another I see as a shepherd throwing sheep to the wolves, in the interest of ‘biblical’ Christianity. I am sorry if I say I can never think of the Christ of the Bible throwing one sheep to the wolves.

They deny us our African identity, attempt to deny our spirituality and throw us out of church, and support laws that make it impossible for us to give our point of view. I write with anger on my mind. It fuels the speedy thoughts, and makes me want to lash out, forgetting the many other things that are positive.

I am alive, I am gay, a homosexual, the kind that the Rt. Rev. Akinola had never met, till he went to New York. (And then he could not touch his hand!)

I live in homophobic Uganda, with my partner of years, and though I am not able to get married to him as we would love to, I can still say that I am love him and I have not been denied my chance at loving a fellow human being.

Those are blessings that I will hold on to, that I will remember, even as the new year nears. We have been through this year, we will get through another; God willing. Ishallah!

GayUganda

Akinola Christ-like?

I have been seeing this article bandied about. And I thought it is due a quick question.

Is this Christ like?

'The way he tells the story, the first and only time Archbishop Peter J. Akinola knowingly shook a gay person’s hand, he sprang backward the moment he realized what he had done.

Archbishop Akinola, the conservative leader of Nigeria’s Anglican Church who has emerged at the center of a schism over homosexuality in the global Anglican Communion, re-enacted the scene from behind his desk Tuesday, shaking his head in wonder and horror.

“This man came up to me after a service, in New York I think, and said, ‘Oh, good to see you bishop, this is my partner of many years,’ ” he recalled. “I said, ‘Oh!’ I jumped back.”'

What does it show of the man Akinola?

Well, it is hard to say, but-

• He has met few homosexuals. (No, excuse the correction. He has met few admitted homosexuals.) why does he fight them so much?
  
• He strongly believes that touching a homosexual would taint him. With what?
  
  To him, he is fighting the admittance of some lesser humans into a congregation of humans
  

But the one thing which struck me most when I first read the article was this thought. Would you have found Jesus dead springing back from touching a sinner? This is the guy who was famously censured for 'eating with sinners.' Well, remember that the Archbishop of Uganda told the one of Canterbury that he could not sit down with the Archbishop of the US church.

These are mighty interesting Christians!

Christian and LGBT? Stand up and Be Counted

I am a Ugandan. And I happen to be gay. That part of my identity is just that- a part of my human-ness. Yet there is a danger that in the eyes of the world, it seems to define me.
That is what is happening in the Anglican church. I am not an Anglican, nor a Christian. Yet as an African, and a Ugandan, my spirituality is so persuasively a part of my environment that I cannot deny its influence. I am a spiritual person. Many of my country mates, some homosexual, identify as Christian, many as Anglican.
That is why the current schism in the Anglican communion is of interest to me.
It is also of interest because they are at war, civil war, and the battle grounds are defined by my sexuality, a part of my identity that I have just affirmed as part of me, but not the whole of me.

Hate groups?

Hate is a strong word. Christians want to be identified by its contrast, love. But hate is being dressed up as love. I have been cruising the blogs of world opinion. A lot of what is being said of Anglicans and homosexuality, and I cant help noticing distinct groups.
One I call hate groups. They are very common, they are the most vocal. They are not talking about human beings. They are talking about ‘homosexuals’, ‘sodomites’. They believe the litmus test for any human being is whether he or she supports their view that homosexuals are out to thrash the world. The Rt. Rev. Akinola reports how he sprung back after being informed that he had just shaken the hand of a homosexual. It was like he had touched a leper. Same insinuation. Less love. From the leader of millions of ‘Christians’. Think of Jesus keeping his hands away from touching a sinner.
These hate groups support any measure against the ‘Homosexual Agenda’. They are loud, vocal, and see no problem with taking basic human rights from homosexuals in the name of ‘Biblical’ christianity. Ask the Rev Akinola about his views on the recent gay bill in the Nigerian Parliament. It should technically be impossible for two gay people to meet in Nigeria and shake hands after that bill is law. Even HIV prevention will be impossible. You just cant legally meet a homosexual!
According to Agape news, it is ok to bully school children suspected of being gay. It is a small price because some will not become homosexuals.
The language is bitter. There is no compromise, no call to logic. The only logic that is seen is the scripture. The church is bleeding.

Love groups?
Yet, Christ’s body, being Christ’s body, has that grain of love that still draws people to it. There are other Christians who believe homosexuality is wrong. And they are holding out the hand of love and care to the ‘wrong’ homosexual.
Frankly, the rabid hate groups don’t scare me. Their hate is so virulent that, like Akinola, their sheep’s clothing of Family Christianity’ are ill fitting. The love groups are more likely to draw in the unwary and homosexual and convince him or her that he is wrong. Yet they can be reasoned with.

LGBT Christians
Yet there are Christians who are gay. I admire these guys; because they are standing like a stone determined to reverse the welling tide of hate. They are determined to claim their spirituality, their place at Christ’s table. They will not deny themselves their sexual orientation. And at the same time they will not deny or reject their faith. It is also a part of their identity and they affirm it. (One, Two)
LGBT Christians are crucial. They are the very essence of virtue that hate groups have to deny.
For the wounds of the ever bleeding Church to be patched, LGBT Christian have to stand out and be counted. When I came to myself as a homosexual, I got this tremendous relief, this assuarance that I had stared self hatred in the face and I had won. The victory was mine.
The LGBT Christian, standing up and winning in the face of this hate is given. Because hate has that virulence which is self consuming. And love is an over whelming wave when we learn to embrace it. Let the LGBT Christian stand up and affirm himself, herself. There is yet hope for the Church, maybe just because its foundation is love.

gug