Being the Change I Wish to See

This article is part 9 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 8 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda
• Part 5: State Dept Must Make US Policy Clear
• Part 6: Richard Cohen and debunking gay cure
• Part 7: Evangelicals were for it before they were against it
• Part 8: Rick Warren forced to oppose Ugandan bill

In the following video, Senator Russ Feingold demonstrates to those involved with The Family, other right-wing religious organizations, and the “cure the gays” quack industry exactly how one goes about communicating his or her condemnation of the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill (4 min).

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Let’s review (from the above video):

• Don’t just “hope” something changes, make it change by doing what needs to be done
• Don’t be involved with organizations or people who support such archaic views, or condemn them early and widely when you find you are in an indefensible position because of that association
• Use America’s huge amount of leverage – we provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Uganda every year – and raise the issue that the money may stop coming if the Ugandans pass this horrible legislation
• Don’t just tell the American press, Rachel Maddow or American audiences; tell Uganda’s President Museveni that you condemn this pending legislation

President Obama, Senators James Inhofe and John Ensign condemn the pending bill while Senator Sam Brownback won’t comment on the bill specifically or whether he agrees or disagrees with punishing homosexuals generally. Come on Senator Brownback. You can answer a basic question about whether you support or condemn the punishment of people for being gay. (4:29 min)

Uganda was saying they won’t be swayed by international interference about this issue, but it is nearly the end of February and the bill is at least stalled in the Ugandan Parliament. When it comes to millions of dollars in aid from multiple countries, and the condemnation of world leaders a lot more powerful than they are, I believe they changed their position.

Maybe Congressmen and Senators will be more careful in the future with whom they associate themselves. Maybe when they make “humanitarian trips” to third world countries they will convey mainstream American policies, values and ideals. If they don’t, our State Department diplomats must visit whoever they visited right away to make sure foreign leaders understand the people they just met with do not represent U.S. policy positions nor do they speak for America as a whole.

Now that this story has stayed in the news for a couple of months, the American leaders who were meddling in Ugandan affairs are being held accountable by Americans, and Ugandan leaders are being held accountable by America and European countries that provide them aid.

We will have to keep a much closer eye on religious organizations and “experts” with an agenda that go overseas to provide humanitarian aid and “education”.

My first thought is this is why we need good investigative journalists and enough of them to keep us properly informed in this complex world. The State Department must also be aware of the messages delivered by these organizations and make sure foreign countries’ leaders understand they do not necessarily represent American policy, then make clear what our policies are.

Unfortunately, third world countries trust just about anyone who comes to them from America with money and aid claiming to be experts, especially if those people are telling them exactly what they want to hear.

Uganda, like many African countries, is severely homophobic. The “cure-the-gays” industry claims gays can be turned straight. In Ugandan leaders’ minds that means gay people can be cured, therefore anyone who is gay remains so by choice, and therefore any actions against gays, no matter how harsh, are acceptable. This is flawed logic since being gay is not a choice, it is not a disease, and it cannot be cured.

Part 10 is available at this link.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Bart Stupak, Chuck Grassley, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Jeff Sharlet, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, John Kerry, kill-the-gays bill, Mike Stark, Museveni, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Russ Feingold, Sam Brownback, Starkreports.com, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda

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This article is part 5 in an 11-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better know as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 4 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda

Video (6 min):

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The U.S. has gotten more timid about demanding human rights around the world over the past 9 years. The Bush 43 administration outright committed human rights violations itself and allowed a significant increase in human rights abuses to go on widely with its isolationist policies.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has been low-key about human rights so far. President Obama made a trip to China and human rights wasn’t a significant part of the agenda. China has improved on human rights issues compared to 50 years ago, but their progress is much slower than it should be.

One reason we may be timid about human rights in China is China owns such a huge chunk of U.S. debt. If they called our debt, they could bankrupt us. It is unlikely they would do that because all their assets in U.S. debt securities would be worthless, and they would lose the country who buys more from them than anyone else on the planet. That would bankrupt them. In that light, we should be less timid about direct human rights talks with China.

Nicholas Kristof is right that the President needs to use his influence around the world, and especially in East Africa where his father was from and where Obama’s own ancestral tribe resides. President Obama has more credibility and influence in East Africa than any president in our history. He should use it on human rights.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell is absolutely right that America sends hypocritical signals about homophobia. We are hypocritical that we treat LGBT people as second class citizens, and then demand Uganda not pass laws to discriminate against them and punish them harshly just for being LGBT.

But, just because America is struggling with the civil rights of a minority group does not mean we support felony criminalization of that minority group or harsh punishment of them. No matter how hypocritical America is about its treatment of its LGBT citizens, being LGBT is not illegal here. Rick Warren and The Family may be strongly anti-gay, but they don’t support such treatment of gays, even if they haven’t said so to Uganda.

The Family’s positions and beliefs have been influential in Uganda for over 20 years. U.S., Canadian and European aid has been going to Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa longer than that. Yet Ugandan President Musevini is risking that essential aid by signing a bill such as Bill 18: The Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2009 into law. Losing aid will kill thousands of people a day from disease and hunger. If these fringe Americans can use their influence to cause such a human rights catastrophe, they can use their influence to avert it.

Congressman Anthony Weiner is right that the U.S. State Department and Ambassadors must be our official source of American policy positions. That U.S. legislators can take off on a plane and get in to see the leaders of developing countries, who view any visit from a U.S. government official as important, needs to be countered with immediate visits from the State Department to make sure actual U.S. policies are made clear no matter what any legislator says. We know these Evangelicals, Senators and Congressmen are extremist conservative ideologues (fringe-of-the-fringe right-wing nut-jobs). A small country in East Africa doesn’t know that and will take what is said as how all of America stands on any issue.

With the incoming younger generation and attrition of older, much more conservative citizens, LGBT civil rights and social acceptance is improving. It has a long way to go, but it has come a long way in a short time. I discuss the LGBT equality issue in detail in the article U.S. not really about equality.

Race and civil rights in America are similar to LGBT civil rights but much farther along legally and socially. Still, many non-whites experience different levels of discrimination every day. The situation is changing, but it still exists over 40 years after the passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. America made a quantum leap forward when we elected Barack Obama as President of the U.S. We’ve come a long way on race, but we still have a long way to go.

Like all sweeping civil rights changes, equal LGBT civil rights will have to come through the federal system and be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The tide of history is turning rapidly, and I do not believe it will be many more years before same-sex civil rights are equal with opposite-sex civil rights in America.

The difference between what Uganda wants to do and what happens in the U.S. is the difference between violating human rights and arguing both for and against the civil rights of a minority group. The difference between them is as wide as the ocean between the U.S. and Africa.

The buck stops with the State Department. It is the duty of the State Department to speak for the U.S. and its policies throughout the world. Individual Senators and Congresspersons may interfere in foreign countries to the benefit of their personal beliefs, but the State Department must step up and visit the same leaders within a day to communicate America’s official position.

Part 6 is located at this link.

Technorati Tags: Anthony Weiner, Bart Stupak, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, kill-the-gays bill, LGBT civil rights, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Museveni, Musevini, Nicholas Kristof, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Sam Brownback, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda, US State Department

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