PASTOR Martin Ssempa, the odious creature who played a major role in helping Uganda to draw up a vile anti-homosexuality bill, is smarting over the fact that the draft legislation has been shelved.
Commenting on a statement issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which urges Uganda to engage in an informed debate and repeal all legislation that criminalises same sex and other “unnatural” sexual behaviour, Ssempa – who enjoys support from many US evangelicals – and our very own Stephen “Birdshit” Green who issued a press statement supporting the Bill -Â said the UN had been hijacked by “sodomites” bent on:
Pastor Martin Ssempa shows porno on his laptop in his war against The Gays
Forcing it [homosexuality] down our throats.
He said homosexuality was a “violation of reproductive rights” and practitioners were “victims of bad parenting”, adding:
Homosexuality is curable.
According to campaigning group Avaaz, over 1.6 million people signed an on-line petition opposing the anti-gay Bill. Under intense global pressure, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament blocked the Bill from coming to a vote in an emergency session at the end of last week.
The Bill is not necessarily gone for good, but to be considered again, it would have to be reintroduced as a new Bill, and go through the whole Parliamentary process, which took 18 months last time.
The European Union High Representative, Catherine Ashton, joined the fray, saying that the EU:
Reaffirms the strong commitment of the European Union – and myself – to the entitlement of all persons to enjoy the full range of human rights without discrimination.
The Guardian reports that opponents of the legislation have welcomed the setback and quoted Avaaz’s Alice Jay as saying :
The news that the brutal anti-gay law won’t be discussed … is a victory for all Ugandans and people across the world who value human rights. This vile bill is a matter of life and death for gay Ugandans, and would have seen the execution, imprisonment and persecution of friends of Avaaz, and thousands of others who have committed no crime at all. We must now ensure this heinous bill can never return to parliament again.
And, surprisingly, a retired Ugandan Anglican bishop, Christopher Senyonjo, welcomed the news too:
This was a dangerous Bill …We feared that they may use this opportunity to do anything to anybody.
This Bill must never see the light of day as the mob could use this to inflict terrible crimes against people. The pressure from people around the world has had a big impact and the resulting influence from the international community has played a very important role in stopping this going forward.
The Bill may be on hold, but Uganda remains a country held deeply in the thrall of Christian fundamentalists who do not need legislation to demonise gay people. The likes of Ssempa, and David Bahati, the MP who tabled the Bill – encouraged and funded mostly by American evangelicals – are unlikely to halt their attempts to stir up hatred. Uganda urgently needs to examine the tactics of these Christian bigots and halt their homophobic activities once and for all.
Hat Tip: Ricken Patel, Avaaz.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 17th, 2011 at 9:52 am
“Homosexuality is curable.” Stupidity, on the other hand, is much harder to eradicate.
May 17th, 2011 at 9:59 am
I wonder have they ever heard of a chap called Jesus – he tramped around the middle east a while back, saying “be nice to eachother,” “turn the other cheek” etc – hung round with a lot of menfriends – didn’t have much time for women or raising a family…
Not that I’m saying he was gay or he was even a real person – but I doubt he’d last long in Uganda should this sick, depraved legislation see the light of day.
Such a perverted law could be turned on anyone – Mr SSempa himself for instance – spends what must seem an inordinate amount of time to the average baying mob of lunatics, downloading gay porn – and I would like to think that as an exponent of such a hate-law he should spot that he could be the first in line to suffer it’s consequences – and realise his massive lapse of both critical thinking and indeed his basic humanity.
American Evangelicals have a LOT to answer for. Not only are they vastly stupid – but they are bloody dangerous.
May 17th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Well, it was good to see at least one Anglican archbishop was totally against it, and as he is presumably in Uganda, he is bold in coming out with a far stronger condemnation than Dumbledore managed to mutter. Also, I think this part is spot on:
“We feared that they may use this opportunity to do anything to anybody.”
Aside from the obvious inhumanity of executing and imprisoning people for simply being gay (I’m sorry, as Green points out, they would ONLY execute people for ‘aggravated sodomy’, and simply jail first timers and those who would not tell the police about it, which is far more reasonable…), this kind of legislation is incredibly dangerous in the hands of any authority. If it had passed, all they would have to do to get rid of their political opponents is call them gay.
May 17th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Considering that the US routinely turfs Muslims off planes on the slightest chance that they might be linked to terrorism, you wonder why they don’t see US fundies going to Uganda to stir up hysteria which gets innocent folk killed in the same light.
I’d have thought the potential link between ‘The Family’ and Ugandan lynch mobs was a lot clearer than that between, say, ‘the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens’ and beardie bombers.
But oh, I forgot, the US fundies only ended up in Uganda AFTER some reasonable homegrown attempts to tackle HIV/AIDS by education were replaced by Christofascist abstinence programs, thanks to Bush’s links with said fundies.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:13 am
It would be easier if the Phelps, Greens, Minichiellos all went off and lived in Uganda,. I’m sure they would get on – for about a minute!
May 17th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Remember that the legal and societal situation in Uganda for LGBT people remains shocking. The only thing to have happened here is that the implementation of an even more draconian legal situation has been avoided – at least for now.
In the meantime Ssempa, a closet case if ever I saw one, will continue to make the societal atmosphere ever more poisonous – with the help of his ghastly American evangelical friends.
May 17th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Indeed, Ivan: “Methinks he doth protest too much.”
May 17th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
@JR: Uganda is one of the most beautiful counties on earth and I found the people there to be extremely friendly. They are obviously suffering from their own home grown mental idiots, making them put up with the likes of birdshit is going too far. I think that all the people you name would be better off getting to meet their magic friend, asap!
May 17th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Agreed.
It’s a bit sticky when one of them did the invocation at the president’s inauguration.
http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/.....ation.html
May 17th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I wouldn’t put too much hope in that retired Ugandan Anglican bishop Christopher Senyonjo was opposed to the bill. The Ugandan Anglican archbishop stripped him of his title (and pension) for being pro gay rights several years ago so I fear Senyonjo is very much a lone voice.
May 17th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Given that many African countries, ie Kenya etc, are facing problems with growing islamist insurgencies and persecution of christians by muslims, its nice to see the US fundies deciding who the real enemy is..
(and yes, you do detect a note of sarcasm in my tone !)
May 17th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
They (Christians) can’t say that homosexuality is biological because that would lead them down the path to evolution, which would destroy their religion.
I would like to see a law that condemns all Christians to death for adultery since adultery is one of the big No-No’s in their ten commandments.
There is no mention of homosexuality in the ten commandments, but they need more witches to burn to cover their own sins…as usual
May 17th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Apologies for being off topic but there is a petition here:
http://www.gopetition.com/peti.....ience.html
There is an article creationists being allowed into a UK school to peddle their crap while pretending that it is science and a form to fill in after a short statement stating that you are opposed to creationism being taught as science in schools.
May 17th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Interesting that Ssempa believes homosexuality is curable, yet still pushes for death sentences. In my eyes that makes him even worse. He thinks people should be killed for having what he regards as an illness.
May 17th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
I have just signed the petition ref: Creationism in schools. I noticed on the Christian Concern site that allegedly 33,000 people receive its weekly email. That’s seems a very large number, unless like the Nazis, the number has been purposefully inflated to give a false impression. Those Christians – you just cant trust them!!