http://www.rightsidenews.com/201002058535/editorial/uganda-
rejects-obamas-pro-homo.ual-qchangeq.html
Ugandan Christian minister Martin Ssempa has issued a strong
rebuttal to President Obama's criticism of his country for
considering passage of a law to discourage and punish certain
homo.ual practices. "Sodomy is neither the change we want nor
can believe in," says Ssempa, who runs the Family Policy and
Human Rights Center in Uganda.
Ssempa, a major player in the country's successful anti-AIDS
program, says that Obama has an "obsession with the spread of
sodomy in Africa," in contrast to the efforts of the George W.
Bush Administration to help Uganda resist the dangerous .ual
practices which facilitate the spread of the deadly disease. The
Ugandan anti-AIDS program has emphasized abstinence and monogamy.
Ssempa's website declares, "HIV/AIDS is not an allergy. It is
not a ... disease. It is not a badge of honor. It is a cold-
blooded, indiscriminating killer that can only be stopped by a
proven solution-abstinence until marriage and faithfulness
within marriage."
Partly because of the continuing need to avoid AIDS-and the
practices which can spread it-Ssempa and many other Ugandan
pastors have united to form a task force against homo.uality
and support new legislation to curtail the negative health
impact of the so-called "lifestyle." The task force states that
"Practices like homo.uality and bi.uality areociated
with serious, yet preventable public-health risks. The risk of
HIV transmission in male homo.uality is, for example, about 10
times that of hetero.ual ., simply due to use of parts of
the body for inappropriate functions. Other diseases and medical
complications are alsoociated with these practices.
Secondly, by its nature, behavior spreads in the population
through experimentation, modeling and social affirmation.
Increase in homo.ual and bi.ual practice could thus rapidly
reverse Uganda's success against HIV/AIDS."
But at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on
Thursday, Obama, capitulating to pressure from the "... rights"
lobby which helped elect him, condemned the prospect of "odious
laws in Uganda," after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had
made similar comments. The proposed legislation has drawn
international condemnation from the Obama Administration, the
global ... rights lobby, homo.ual activists in the media, and
dozens of "progressive" members of the U.S. Congress.
Clinton said that she had called President Yoweri Museveni of
Uganda to express "our strongest concerns about a law being
considered in the Parliament of Uganda." But Clinton failed to
disclose that he had told her that he had received reports that
foreign homo.uals have been targeting Ugandan children for
.ual abuse. Museveni has expressed puzzlement that Clinton and
other representatives of Western nations have seemed so
preoccupied with the subject of "...s."
But because of the power of the well-funded homo.ual lobby,
the campaign has taken the form of a global effort to isolate
Uganda and even cut off aid to the poor country because of its
stand against homo.uality. Under this pressure, American
pastors such as Rick Warren have denounced the anti-homo.ual
legislation. Ssempa and other Ugandan pastors, in turn, have
accused Warren of succumbing to "hysteria" generated by the
homo.ual lobby.
In his statement, Ssempa expressed concern that Obama failed to
understand the nature of the legislation. "President Barack
Obama makes two mistakes," Ssempa said in his statement. "First,
Uganda's anti-homo.uality law only prescribes the capital
punishment in cases where the victims are children or the
handicapped. This is consistent with the existing laws for
similar crimes by hetero.uals. We wonder if President Obama
thinks that the hetero.ual . of a girl is a lesser crime
than the homo.ual . of a handicapped boy."
"Secondly," Ssempa goes on, "homo.uals and ...s are never
targeted for who they are, rather what they do. It is the
repugnant .ual acts which they do which constitutes a crime, a
sin and a rebellion against the order of nature. Here in Africa,
we believe homo.uals can CHANGE. It is very disappointing for
Africans to hear Obama, who ran on the ticket of 'change we can
believe in,' losing courage when we postulate in faith that
homo.uals can truly change. We wish to tell him that sodomy is
neither the change we want nor can believe in."
Accuracy in Media's review of coverage of the so-called "Kill
the ...s" bill in Uganda finds that it has been completely one-
sided, inaccurate, and distorted beyond belief. Contrary to
press accounts, the legislation is not designed to kill
homo.uals but discourage and punish homo.ual practices which
spread disease and death. Christians in Uganda are trying to
build a culture of life and avoid the .ual perversions which
have devastated families in the U.S.
AIM's investigation of the controversy has determined that the
Soros-funded Open Society has been spearheading the funding of
homo.ual activism in Uganda and the rest of Africa. For
example, his Open Society Initiative for East Africa, in
partnership with Media Development in Africa (MEDEVA), aired a
program on ".ual minority rights in Uganda," which even
included advocacy of legalized prostitution. The Open Society
Institute also held a four-day workshop on legal strategies "to
promote ..., ..., bi.ual, and transgender rights in
Africa."
Ssempa went on in his statement to bring up the matter of
Obama's support for abortion: "Thirdly, we wish to remind Obama
that the unborn babies killed under his extremely odious laws of
abortion, are the ones who are killed not for what they have
done, but just because they are. Shame on his administration for
agitating to protect abnormal and deviant .ual acts, when
innocent babies are butchered daily in the abortion industry,
which is funded by his administration."
Like "... rights," Obama has made support for abortion, even in
health care legislation, a priority for his administration.
The Ugandan pro-family activist said that Obama's comments "will
not stop the passage of the anti-homo.uality bill, but rather
it has shown us that of all the problems that Africa has, the
priority is not HIV/AIDS or trade but sodomy."
Ssempa has been outspoken about the need for the legislation.
But other Ugandan activists have spoken out as well. Charles
Tuhaise, chairman of the board of Agape Community Transformation
(ACT), a Christian organization in Uganda, has told AIM that
"This is a bill written to control a problem that has largely
gotten out of hand in western society and is now spreading
tentacles worldwide. Perhaps Uganda has helped to highlight the
danger that the homo.ual movement poses to the world."
Ssempa drew a contrast with the administration of George W.
Bush, which he said had helped Uganda resist the spread of AIDS.
"African history will remember President George W. Bush for
helping to stop the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS, Malaria and
Tuberculosis with his presidential emergency fund (PEPFAR)," he
said. "On the other hand we are writing Obama's history as one
whose single focus is a divisive obsession with the spread of
sodomy in Africa. We are sad that the presidential emergency
response of Barack Obama is the use of the White House as a
bully pulpit to spread sodomy, while enabling the murder of
millions of unborn babies in his unconscionable and extremely
odious abortion laws."
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