May 30, 2023

President Biden yesterday called for the "immediate repeal" of Uganda's severe new anti-gay law and warned he may impose sanctions and other penalties in response. Via Axios:

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed legislation Monday that Human Rights Watch notes criminalizes "merely identifying" as LGBTQ and imposes severe punishments for violations related to same-sex relations, including the possibility of the death penalty.

"This shameful Act is the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption in Uganda," Biden said in a statement on the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

"The dangers posed by this democratic backsliding are a threat to everyone residing in Uganda, including U.S. government personnel, the staff of our implementing partners, tourists, members of the business community, and others," he added.

As you probably know, the push for such laws came from American evangelical groups. Via Open Democracy:

Frederick Clarkson is a researcher at the Political Research Associates think tank in Massachusetts, which exposed the links between US religious activists and anti-gay legislation in Uganda in 2004. He said the wider context of these groups’ increasing activity and spending in Africa is a fight for the United Nations.

One of the groups, Family Watch International (FWI), is campaigning to ban comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in at least ten African countries and has since 2010 been coaching African diplomats on how to negotiate for conservative causes, via an annual training programme in the US.

Here's "Gospel of Intolerance," which addressed the evangelical agenda back in 2013:

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