Being the Change I Wish to See

This is part 2 of a series of articles on the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill.

Part 1 of this series is located here.

Rachel Maddow gives the bill’s details and more direct American anti-homosexual contacts involved with the legislation. These anti-gay activists claim that gay people can be “cured”, so homosexuality is a lifestyle choice instead of an innate and normal part of a person’s being.

They don’t claim that a person chose to be gay in the first place, but that being gay is caused during a person’s upbringing by multiple factors. A gay lifestyle is considered a choice because they claim people can be “cured” of being gay if they undergo their “treatment”.

Credible, licensed doctors, therapists, and organizations all over the U.S. determined decades ago (1973) that homosexuality is not an illness, it should not be treated as such, and those who try to “cure the gay” will do considerable psychological harm, including pushing people to suicide.

In my opinion, the proper course of helping these individuals is to help them come out as gay and reconcile their sexuality with their families and friends. If the person is having conflict reconciling his or her religious beliefs with being gay, a good therapist will encourage him or her to join welcoming Christians, Jews or other faiths (whichever applies) in churches, etc. where homosexuality is welcomed and celebrated.

Video: 4 minutes:

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Caleb Brundidge is a real piece of work, and the International Healing Foundation is neck-deep in this mess. IHF is run by Richard Cohen, author of the book Coming Out Straight. This book was used to justify this law. They lied when IHF claimed to have no knowledge of the existence of this pending law. One of the ten commandments is about not bearing false witness, isn’t it?

Indeed, who are the people in the United States who can put pressure on Uganda to stop this legislation? I can think of a few right off: The Family and the American Evangelical ministers (both very anti-gay) who encouraged Uganda to go down this path in the first place.

There are also far more potent and credible people who can exert real pressure and even exact sanctions on Uganda. They are President Obama, the U.S. State Department, and Congressmen and Senators not affiliated with The Family that approve aid funds to Uganda in the budget each year. Sweden gives Uganda $50 million each year and has threatened to stop all funding if the law passes. The U.S. gave them $246 million in 2009.

If it were up to me, if the legislation becomes law, I would pull their aid funding and halt all trade with them until this legislation goes away. What would you do?

More in the next post, Part 3, which can be viewed at this link.

Technorati Tags: anti-gay, Caleb Brundidge, Don Schmierer, Human Rights, kill-the-gays bill, Rachel Maddow, Scott Lively, Uganda

written by joubess \\ tags: anti-gay, Caleb Brundidge, Don Schmierer, Human Rights, kill-the-gays bill, Rachel Maddow, Scott Lively, Uganda