Mar 29

written by Sherri Joubert

This article is part 12 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 11 articles can be accessed at the following links:

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Rachel Maddow’s recap of the The Family, how it permeates governments and interview with a high-ranking Family member

Here is Rachel’s interview with Bob Hunter, long-time member and leader of The Family (also known as The Fellowship) who worked extensively in Uganda to help build that nation (13 min.):

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Doug Coe was one of the leaders of The Family. The short segment of one of his speeches to members in the video clip above is, I think, disturbing. To tie Christ Jesus and Christianity to the Soviet Red Guard and Hitler’s Nazis turns my stomach. I’m not particularly religious and I don’t go to church much, but I have read the Bible cover-to-cover a few times. What Jesus preached and what Doug Coe preached are diametrically opposed. To me, he got the wrong message about Jesus’ teachings entirely.

The founders of The Family did require that members put the group before their families, their jobs and themselves. There is probably more to The Family than we know.

I’m not convinced The Family is that benign. From reporting on The Rachel Maddow Show and Jeff Sharlet, The Family has a lot of influence in politics and in a lot of areas all over the world. I also don’t buy it because of the amount of money they control, and their ability to get Senators and Congressmen to go to other countries on their behalf.

Bob Hunter says The Family is too secretive and is addressing being more open. He denies there is any real membership in The Family and claims it is a loosely associated group of around 10,000 groups throughout the world and in many professions, including journalism.

So, all these groups form The Fellowship and they, obviously—even though they‘re linked together, they‘re atomistic and they‘re out there and there‘s no—they—there‘s no one position. Nor does The Fellowship deal with politics in anyway, because we‘re trying to attract people from diverse political perspectives. – Bob Hunter from interview with Rachel Maddow

Again, I smell a rat. The Family has control of a huge amount of money and sends powerful politicians around the world on their behalf.

Part 2 of the Bob Hunter interview (7 min.).

No one in The Family in America is thought to be in favor of the kill-the-gays bill in Uganda.

Ugandan members of The Family, with false information from Evangelicals and cure-the-gays industry members, are the people who introduced the bill against the push-back from American members. High level American Family members, like Bob Hunter, are working behind the scenes to stop the bill. The U.S. State Department is working with their Ugandan counterparts to stop this legislation.

President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken out publicly against this bill. President Obama attended this year’s U.S. National Prayer Breakfast, as many presidents have since President Eisenhower was in office, and spoke out to the attendees against the Ugandan bill.

It is beginning to look like progress is being made to stop this legislation.

Part 13 is located here.

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Mar 13

written by Sherri Joubert

This article is part 11 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 10 articles can be accessed at the following links:

Short update video (3 min.).

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Rachel Maddow reports the following in this video:

Last week, the State Department‘s top diplomat in Africa told reporters he had been in touch with Uganda‘s president to express the U.S. government‘s opposition to the bill.

According to new reporting in “D.C. Agenda”…Uganda‘s president has told the U.S. State Department that he‘s going to veto the bill.

After “D.C. Agenda” first reported this, we confirmed it today [Dec. 22, 2009] with the State Department. State says the Ugandan president has committed to the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, both in person and in a follow-up phone conversation that he, the Ugandan president, will stop the bill.

Meanwhile, according to “D.C. Agenda,” the next U.S. step is to try to get the Ugandan president to make that commitment in public, to get him to speak out against the bill in public, rather than just giving assurances in private.

Take a lesson here about being persistent. By continuing to report on this story for weeks, Rachel Maddow has put this issue front and center in the media. I believe she has played a large role in turning this issue around and preventing this legislation from becoming law in Uganda, though it isn’t over yet.

This is an important issue not because it’s a gay rights issue, it’s important because it’s a human rights tragedy that came about because of interference in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals and the cure-the-gays quacktivist industry.

Sunlight really can be the best disinfectant.

Part 12 is available at this link.

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