This issue has me pretty riled up and I thought my friends here on Gather who don't follow me elsewhere (Facebook & Twitter) should know about it.
The Ugandan Government is considering (and will most likely enact) legislation that will execute all HIV+ gay individuals and imprison, for life, the rest of gay folk in the country.
Here are some excerpts from news articles:
Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda's parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a "person of authority" over the other partner, or if the "victim" is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.
Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail – a scenario that human rightsUgandans breaking the new law abroad will be subject to extradition requests. campaigners say will result in a witchhunt.
(source: Uganda considers death sentence for gay sex in bill before parliament)
Can you believe this? Life in prison for having sex with another person of the same sex as you? If you're caught having gay sex more than once or you're HIV-positive, then it's the death penalty for you! And, just because you don't live in our country anymore doesn't mean you're no longer subject to this law -- we'll hunt you down and find you no matter where you're living!
Can you imagine living in a nation like this?
It's truly fantastic that developing/rising nations look to the United States for guidance in shaping their political lands...capes; however, it's truly a damned shame that when they do so, they pick the most absurd and politically inappropriate examples from our history. The proposed legislation in Uganda re: HIV/homosexuals smacks directly of McCarthyism -- perhaps one of the most shameful chapters of American political movements, and perhaps political movements of any and all nations, ever!
So what, exactly, has the United States government done about this? There's actually a very, very simple, one-word answer: NOTHING!
Other governments around the globe, including Great Britain and Canada, have condemned and deplored Uganda's proposed legislation:
[UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown followed Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, in telling Uganda that the legislation was unacceptable.
Mr Brown made his views plain in a breakfast conversation with President Museveni of Uganda on the margins of the Commonwealth summit.
(source: Uganda proposes death penalty for HIV positive gays)
The United States, through its silence, approves of this deplorable treatment that other nations around the globe are condemning.
Let your voice be heard: Call US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and let her know that you will not stand for the United States Goverment's silence on this issue, and demand that we, along with other civilized nations, condemn such deplorable treatment: 202-647-4000
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Comments: 44
I would hope that the rest of the world would make very clear that such brutality would result in major consequences - but have little hope of that .... the fact that we deal with China, in spite of the serious human rights issues there, sickens me - why would this be any different :(
These people ARE crazy. And, yes, they are representatives in our own government. Why are people allowing this to happen? I surely didn't vote them into office.
It is a great disgrace to this nation that a few oligarchs, some of them religious terrorists, as Sheryl puts it, are working as law maker in this country to influence law maker in other countries to spread hatred against gay people. What kind of Christianity is that!!??
The way these people see certain passages of the Bible is so twisted that they resemble Islamist extremists to me. Is that what we want for our country?
Just when I thought the world was finally getting it, along comes Uganda and humanity takes a giant step backwards.
Some of what I see of the health care reform here is no different and a roundabout way of killing off people with lifelong illnesses such as AIDS, those who require life support, seniors and others who have been deemed as useless. We just aren't using bullets.
Yes, this IS crazy. Yes, they DO claim to be good Christians. This is a time when real Christians should be standing up and condeming their actions, not turning a blind eye and giving a tacit approval of their heinous acts. What's wrong with you? Don't you think that real Muslims should denounce Islamic terrorism?
Please don't allow others' comments dissuade you from doing the right thing!
While everyone is calling it “Swine Flu” and the WHO using it to spread their panic and untested vaccines, there is strong evidence that the deaths—almost all from Pulmonary conditions—are from a rising incidence of Tuberculosis as a result of mandatory cut in health services related to poverty conditions.
"The reason the Cambridge scientists found was that IMF loans uniquely demand less government spending, fewer doctors per person, and a cut of nearly half in the number of people with TB that received Directly Observed Therapy, or DOTS."
"...follows the strict IMF “conditionalities” demanded by Washington. The purpose of the IMF loan is explicitly to stabilize the Ukraine currency and support the Central Bank, and not to help the economy or the population..."
On November 17 this year, the IMF in Washington decided to withhold the next $3.4 billion tranche of its Ukraine loan claiming that the Government and Parliament failed to sufficiently cut social spending!
Be sure to read the entire article. The U.S. will NOT be far behind this type of law with reducing required medical treatment under the proposed healthcare plans.
RE: Ukraine Black Death Cases
... Maybe that's why our administration isn't taking a stance regarding this horror in Uganda.
"The United States, through its silence, approves of this deplorable treatment that other nations around the globe are condemning."
I agree, Peter F. ... to not speak up is an act of approval.
with many thanks to Peter
Mark
Please keep posting to our group and ask others to join.
The world is crazy... count your blessings.
A number of African nations have, for many years, considered homosexuality 'unAfrican'.
There have been many statements to this effect. To an American audience let me place it in the context of something like cannibalism; as far as many Africans see it.
Whether Americans like it or not, this is the culture one is confronting.
The question is; will the US and Western nations immediately give VISAs to persons who stand in danger of being killed? If America and Western nations will consider those in Uganda as it did those who, in 1959/60 left Cuba, then the solution is clear.
If Western nations will not do this, then outside of expressing personal outrage, there is not much more that can be done.
Hence, the action to be taken is not to get into a screaming sanction match with Uganda but to have Western nations automatically offer sanctuary.
In this way one avoids unnecessary diplomatic verbiage.