Leading Black Pastor Eulogizes Slain Ugandan Gay Rights Advocate David Kato

One of the leading African American ministers in the country stood in his pulpit to eulogize Ugandan gay advocate, David Kato, who was murdered after having a death threat against him published on the front page of a local newspaper. The Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, head pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, announced to the 150 people gathered at the memorial service on Monday, February 7, 2011, that he was “beginning the conversation” to engage Black church leaders to save the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender leaders such as David Kato.

"Tonight we make an important first step in bridging the chasm that separates gay & straight people in the church," Butts proclaimed. "This discussion on human sexuality should have happened a long time ago and if it had maybe Kato's and many many other's lives would have been saved."

Frank Mugisha, Executive Director of Sexual Minorities of Uganda, who worked closely with David, said, "Being here tonight inspires me and gives me strength to carry on David's work advocating for gays and lesbians, bailing them out of jail, providing financial support and protection. Before coming here I did not know that a religious leader could stand up freely and support gays and lesbians. In Uganda when a pastor did that he was excommunicated."

Uganda has been under international scrutiny as it continues to consider a law that would included the death penalty for gay people. Conservative Evangelicals have been documented spreading anti-gay sentiment to Uganda so that Ugandan LGBT people are now having to flee their homes due to threats and persecution.

"So long as these laws remain in force millions of people will continue to live their lives under the threat of arrest and in some cases even execution. These laws legitimize homophobia by giving it a government sanctioned seal of approval,” said Charles Radcliffe. "Our first challenge has to be the decriminalization of homosexuality." Mr. Radcliffe is the chief of global issues for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

New York City Speaker Christine C. Quinn, in a written statement read by a representative, called Kato's death "a reminder that every single individual has the power to promote equality and stand up against injustices both near and far.”

Pastor Joseph A. Tolton, Pastor of Rehoboth Temple and organizer of the service, praised Dr. Butts for his leadership in this critical moment. “The gay and lesbian African American community had a historic homecoming in this memorial service for David Kato. We found ourselves welcomed home to the cradle of the Black Church. We are clear that we all walk under the banner of love where our community will work together and not allow ourselves to be divided because of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is our first step in a long journey.”

The service, reminiscent of those held for the many martyrs who paid the ultimate price for freedom in the US, included a solitary portrait of Kato bearing the words "Demand Justice" positioned in the front of the church. Local church choirs and a featured solo from violinist Juliette Jones brought the gathered community to their feet with tears in their eyes. The memorial was one of two memorials held in New York City just two weeks after Kato was murdered in his home in Uganda. His death captured international attention and yesterday's memorial will certainly carry forward the discussion of homophobia in Uganda, the United States and the 70 countries that still imprison or execute gay and transgender people.

Activist Calls for US Black and Gay Media to Report on Injustice in Uganda

As confirmation of the death of Ugandan gay activist and Sexual Minorities Uganda officer David Kato hit stateside on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, it has left many in the black and LGBT community’s with lingering questions. As the details of the case unfold, what is clear is that the hatred and homophobia that is rampant in Uganda must be met with swift resistance before it spreads any further.

SMUG Chairperson Frank Mugisha, who has been on an east coast tour of the U.S. to garner support against anti-gay legislation and discriminatory behavior in his homeland, will hold a press conference exclusively to members of the black and gay media, urging them to “tell the story” of violence, and injustice that is threatening black and gay people in Uganda.

On Friday, January 28^th at Noon

BLACK FAITH ALLIANCE FOR GLOBAL LGBT JUSTICE

The Global Justice Institute, GLAAD, GLO TV Network, BGM Network, GBMNews, GayByGod.net, The Fellowship, MCC New York, Rehoboth Temple

Called an Emergency Call To Action to challenge black and gay media to tell the story of Uganda's current plight against murder, discrimination and bigotry. This is what was discussed with Frank Mugisha and Pastor Joseph Tolton.

African Americans protest Bahati’s US tour to promote “kill the gays” in Uganda

Bishop Zachary Jones (L) Pastor Joseph Tolton(C) Frank Mugishi(R) Photo Credit: Ocean Morisset

By Nathan James

GBM News Correspondent

As Ugandan Member of Parliament David Bahati, the sponsor of a Draconian new bill making homosexuality a capital offense in his country, came to the United States this past week, seeking support for the legislation, an “Emergency Town Hall Meeting” was held Saturday, in New York City. Organized by the Black Faith Alliance for Global LGBT Justice, the event at Rehoboth Temple Christ Consciousness Church in Harlem featured a keynote address from Frank Mugishi, of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). At issue was the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Act, whose provisions include life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of homosexual relations, and execution for anyone having previous convictions for homosexuality, is HIV-positive, or has gay sexual relations with a person under 18. In addition, the bill also makes failure to report a “known homosexual” to the authorities a crime, punishable by 7 years in prison, and creates an extradition process for Ugandans who are caught having gay relationships anywhere in the world. This extraordinarily harsh legislation against gays also highlighted, according to the meeting’s organizers, the involvement of the Christian Right here in the United States in the bill’s development.

Citing the “continued efforts of the religious right in turning blacks and gays against each other”, Bishop Zachary Jones of the Unity Fellowship Church spoke of how the Christian right in the US was heavily engaged in California’s Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage in that state, and on the use of Uganda as a “lab” in which the effects of anti-gay legislation could be observed. “The religious right,” Jones stated, “Is using Africans as pawns in a global chess game.” Jones was joined at the pulpit by Pastor Joseph Tolton, Rehoboth’s own presiding cleric, who read out the “call to action” on Uganda, imploring the United Nations and the US State Department to make decisive moves to address the plight of Uganda’s gays. Tolton cited a right-wing, Republican-based, American evangelical group, “The Family” with “exporting hatred to Africa, with a direct threat to the LGBT community in Uganda, by funding and sponsoring the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.” Tolton linked the situation in Uganda with American gays, saying, “We know that the freedom of our brothers and sisters in Uganda is clearly connected to our freedom here at home in the United States.” Pastor Tolton was followed by Frank Mugishi, who recounted in chilling detail the suffering of gays and lesbians in his home country.

Frank Mugishi, of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Photo Credit: Ocean Morisset

Mugishi described forced hiding for gays and lesbians, “corrective rape” programs for lesbians, and the outright publication of the names and hometowns of gays and lesbians in local newspapers, creating a mob atmosphere in which gays feared being hunted down and beaten or killed. Mugishi stated that Uganda was “determined” to use all possible means to remove gays from its society, and the Anti-Homosexuality Act enjoyed broad public support. Mugishi and his organization have been operating underground in Uganda, and with the possible passage of Bahati’s bill, feared a catastrophic wave of anti-gay killings. GBM News asked Mugishi about the extradition clause in the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Mugishi confirmed that this would leave Uganda’s gays “little chance of escape”.

In a televised interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, MP Bahati cited “God’s Law” as justification for the proposed bill, and told viewers that “children were being recruited into homosexuality” by gay men in Uganda. When pressed to provide evidence of his claims, Bahati demurred, repeating only that “homosexuality is not of [Ugandan] culture.” While in Washington, Bahati stayed at a residence on C Street, also shared by numerous Republican members of Congress, and found receptive ears in several right-wing Christian organizations for his rhetoric. In Uganda, Bahati has gained the support of powerful allies such as Pastor Martin Ssempa, who showed scatological pornography as his “example” of gay sexual practices, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has said he will not oppose the bill if it passes Parliament. Bahati himself, in the documentary Missionaries of Hate, aired last summer on Current TV, stated that he would not hesitate to have his own daughter put to death under the law he authored, if she were found to be a lesbian.

In final statements at the Town Hall meeting, Pastor Tolton called upon all closeted gays and lesbians to “come out, wherever you are”, because “now is the time”. He urged gays of color to engage in a “sustained response” to homophobia, decrying the “spiritual colonialism” of the “religious right”. The approximately fifty attendees were brought to the pulpit as a show of unity, singing We Shall Overcome, recalling the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s. An appeal was made for donations to help Mugishi spread his message about the Ugandan situation, and to support Uganda’s imperiled gay population. Whatever lies ahead for Uganda’s gays in the coming months, it was clear that this critical, complex issue involving the efforts of a modern state government to exterminate a minority within its population, will continue to call to the hearts and minds of the LGBT community the world over.

The Global Justice Institute, GLAAD, GLO TV Network, GayByGod.net, The Fellowship, MCC New York & Rehoboth Temple join efforts to mobilize the community.

CALL TO ACTION

The Christian Right is Killing BLACK Gay People in Uganda

The Human Rights THREAT in Uganda effects ALL OF US

Rachel Maddow- -Kill the gays- bills U.S. supporters

African Americans protest Bahati’s US tour to promote “kill the black gays” in Uganda

MEDIA ALERT

December 10, 2010

BLACK FAITH ALLIANCE FOR GLOBAL LGBT JUSTICE

The Global Justice Institute, GLAAD, GLO TV Network, GayByGod.net, The Fellowship, MCC New York, Rehoboth Temple

Media Contact : Joseph Tolton, Blur Advertising 646-765-6960 jtolton@blur-advertising.com

African Americans protest Bahati’s US tour to promote “kill the black gays” in Uganda

WHAT: Emergency Town Hall Meeting to challenge Ugandan PM David Bahati who is currently promoting his “kill the gays” bill on a trip to the United States

WHEN: Saturday, December 11, 2010

1:00 p.m. (SHARP)

WHO: Pastor Joseph W. Tolton - Rehoboth Temple

Bishop Zachary Jones - Unity Fellowship

Rev Pat Bumgardner - MCC

Dr. Marjorie Hill - GMHC

Tokes Osubu - GMAD

WHERE: Rehoboth Temple Christ Conscious Church

310 West 139th Street, New York, NY 10031

(Fredrick Douglass & Edgecombe)

WHY: LGBT People of African Descent and our allies, family and friends are responding to the immediate attack on our fellow brother and sisters in the country of Uganda. The conservative Christian right organization known as The Family and so-called “ex-gay” activist Scott lively exported hatred to Africa with a direct threat to the LGBT community in Uganda by funding and sponsoring the “Anti-Homosexuality” bill which would introduce the death penalty for gay people and require extradition of gay Ugandans around the world. LGBT communities of color in the USA and across the globe are at greater risk for hate crimes and persecutions. Killing LGBT people in Uganda or anywhere else around the world is wrong.

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