Chicagoans Protest Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill

By Joseph Erbentraut in News on Dec 11, 2009 8:20PM

Rachel Maddow is far from the only one speaking out against the Ugandan "Anti-Homosexuality Bill." Some 20 protesters braved the bitter cold and took yesterday, International Human Rights Day, as an opportunity to gather in opposition to the proposed bill outside of the Center on Halsted in Lakeview. The bill, which still appears likely to pass, could criminalize acts of gayness with punishments as harsh as life in prison. Even those abetting gays, including parents or teachers, could face sentences of up to three years in prison if they fail to report their children or students' sexual orientation to authorities.

The bill would also punish those who work in areas of HIV/AIDS activism or health care on behalf of the country's LGBT community, according to a release from the Gay Liberation Network (GLN), the organization which called for the protest. They hoped additional international pressure against the Ugandans could thwart the bill's progress. "GLN is not only calling on Chicago area LGBT’s to help raise awareness of the threatened pogroms against Ugandan LGBTs ... but also to call on President Obama to publicly condemn this proposed bill in the strongest terms possible."

The increasing worldwide attention to the Ugandan bill appears to be making minor inroads against its severity. News arrived today that the death penalty provision had been dropped from the bill, and anti-gay religious leaders, including evangelist Rick Warren and the Vatican have, at last, condemned the proposed bill, while still maintaining their view of the gay community as "immoral." And it's freakishly eerie how close the language used in the bill resembles the words of names like Warren, Fred Phelps and Anita Bryant, just to name a few:

"This Bill aims at strengthening the nation's capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional family. This legislation further recognizes the fact that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic ...

There is also need to protect the children and youths of Uganda who are made vulnerable to sexual abuse and deviation as a result of cultural changes, uncensored information technologies, parentless child developmental settings and increasing attempts by homosexuals to raise children in homosexual relationships through adoption, foster care, or otherwise."