Evangelical Christians Are Shocked–Shocked, I Tell You!–To Find Out Their Anti-Gay Rhetoric Might Encourage Uganda’s Push To Make Homosexuality A Capital Offense

Richard Jeffrey Newman — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:09:21 +0000

Jeffrey Gettleman, in this New York Times article, writes about how three Evangelical Christians from the United States–Scott Lively (click here to read quotes from his talk in Uganda), Caleb Lee Brundidge and Exodus International board member Don Schmierer–are now trying to distance themselves from an event in Uganda at which they spoke about “how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how ‘the gay movement is an evil institution’ whose goal is ‘to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.’ The reason for their backpedaling is that the event contributed to the climate that led to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which would make homosexuality a capital crime. In a rhetorical move that is remarkably similar to the ways in which the religious right tries to distance itself from people who murder doctors that perform abortions, each of these men or their organizations has issued statements about how their message is one of love and compassion, not hatred and violence. Read the article and follow some of the links. Their hypocrisy speaks for itself.

I do have to share, though, my favorite quote from Gettleman’s article. Referring to the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Schmierer says, “That’s horrible, absolutely horrible. Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.” (Makes me wonder if any of them are Black.)

Richard Jeffrey Newman » anti-gay legislation

Evangelical Christians Are Shocked–Shocked, I Tell You!–To Find Out Their Anti-Gay Rhetoric Might Encourage Uganda’s Push To Make Homosexuality A Capital Offense