This is exactly what I was worried about. By taking the death penalty out of the Uganda anti-homosexuality bill, the government has improved the bill's reputation, and its chances.
The Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo said the government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are "repugnant to the Ugandan culture," but wanted a more "refined" set of punishments. Death was too much, so the refinements include life in prison and reeducation.
Whether the punishment is sufficiently refined or not, Buturo articulates the rotten core of this bill: a heterosexual majority running roughshod over the dignity of a very small, and very vulnerable minority for no reason other than political dominance. And heterosexuals can get swept into the vortex; the bill imposes a regime of controlled speech and opinion, where objections to homosexuality may be freely uttered, but support is prohibited.
I don't know about Ugandan culture, but that abuse of power is repugnant to any civilized government. And I am afraid our heated rhetoric has not helped. To my mind, at least, this was never about the death penalty; it was always about the discrimination. But after we set the stage with our focus on government murder, the bill now looks, to many people, ever so much more reasonable. We may have cause to regret our inadvertent aid in making that happen.
7 Comments for “Repugnant”
posted by TS on
I do not care about ignorant foreign people, as long as they do not try to conquer my corner of the world. I feel very badly about any gay people in places like Uganda and Nigeria because in some way they’re right to blame the West for introducing something they are far too hopelessly ignorant to live with; and I would be in support of programs to help get any existing gay people that want to leave evacuated from those dominions. But the most important thing we can do is to cut all cultural influence flowing from the West to these countries. This is our only hope of saving Ugandan teenagers who have the misfortune of being homosexual from aspiring to have a gay identity and community there. This aspiration will only get them persecuted needlesly.
The way to do this is to have Western state departments command corporations to withdraw from these places, and order any travelers to refrain from introducing Western goods, media, or ways of life.
Isolationism is the moral high ground, a pragmatic winner, and will save lives. The only thing to lose is access to labor and natural resources that are not ours in the first place. But that is why it will never happen. Oil companies don’t care about the cultural and economic turmoil their dealings with ignorant foreigners cause. They just want the black gold.
posted by Elizabeth on
Of course the bill is still repugnant, but shouldn’t we all be glad it’s less repugnant in its current form than as originally proposed? I’m sure the Uganda gays are quite pleased that all of the international outcry has now spared them the risk of being killed.
posted by Bobby on
If I was a gay man in Uganda I would rather get the death penalty than spend 25 years in prison.
posted by Elizabeth on
Good point Bobby. I guess I’d probably seriously consider death over a lifetime in a Ugandan prison.
posted by BobN on
“in some way they’re right to blame the West for introducing something they are far too hopelessly ignorant to live with”
Fundamentalist Christianity?
posted by DragonScorpion on
This whole effort has been so despicable. It’s difficult to believe that still today, in the 21st century, with all the advancement societies have made toward tolerance and democratic values that people could still advocate for such a grotesque level of persecution â to the point of genocide. Of course, horrific persecution of homosexuals is still commonplace in many Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, our strong “ally” and major source of oil.
I think the article brings up a great point. Executing people for personal behaviors that are essentially victimless ‘crimes’ tends to turn off most even half-way civilized people, even many of the most staunch social conservatives. But segregating gays from society or giving us prison terms, that’s a bit easier for anti-gay activists to support.
It’s a bit similar to the theory that if law-enforcement relies more on non-lethal weapons, while in some ways an improvement in regards to less fatalities, it could have the unintended consequence of more police brutality as it could reduce a sense of restraint.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all this is that some U.S. religious leaders (Rick Warren) and politicians (Republican Senators Inhofe & Grassley) have helped support Ugandan programs which have steadily become more aimed at cracking down on homosexuals.
At least these three in particular have, as I recall, recently made public statements that oppose the ‘kill the gays’ legislation. This is much appreciated, however, these conservatives and others should take a moment to learn a valuable lesson from this: supporting efforts to legislate socially conservative ideologies can quickly become a Frankenstein’s Monster beyond their control.
For more on this.
posted by David on
@ Deb-
I do believe this was written with people like you in mind. Smell you later.