The police response: "They took some stuff so it was a robbery, not a hate crime."

Love the sinner hate the sin indeed.

Fuck.

I lived in Kenya for a short time in the late 80s. Both the Catholic and evangelical churches have made huge inroads, and people don't tend to do things by half measures, it's very "visions of fire and brimstone and hell," for the religious people, at least. It's a very literal interpretation of the bible.

Is the Exodus mentioned in your post this one?
http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/action/
There is a guy in Montreal who has spearheaded a campaign to have their charitable status in Canada taken away. (These are the "pray the gay away" fuckwits.)

Anyway, so, so sad.

Rest In Peace, David Kato

I hope something drastic policy changes happen soon over there.

This is the symptom of what is a much larger and more dangerous problem: A disregard for facts and a total belief in superstition and myth. It portends a very dark era with many more murders for many more reasons.

Oh Dan, hasn't Sarah Palin explained in great enough detail how rhetoric has absolutely no connection to action? Unless it comes from the Left. You need to watch more FOX News.

@1: BBC is reporting that the police are treating it as a murder.

It will never cease to amaze me when certain "Christians" care more about (some) doctrine than about real suffering. It takes a special kind of evil to disregard pain, fear, and death in place of dogma. This event, though extremely tragic, does not begin to encompass what these people are willing to do to follow (part of) their dogma without question: the rejection of condoms, of abortions, of the right of the LGBT community to seek peace and happiness. I just wish there were a way to make these people understand that any religion that does not, first and foremost, seek to alleviate suffering is not a religion that a single person should follow.

@8 Reading comprehension fail re: the new testament, huh? Not that people should need it to be decent or kind, but I'm pretty sure it was all about the love, and not about the judgment...

Africa is the worst place in the world to be a human being. The political instability, poverty, lack of development, lack of education, and most of all: the burden of disease. All of these weigh heavier on the cradle of humanity than anywhere else in the world.

All Abrahamic scripture can be read to support compassion and agression. All Abrahamic scripture Has been read to support the good and the bad, and it has always been so. Ergo, Abrahamic scripture is about as useful as tea leaves in terms of Truth.

All you're going to find in those books is what you've already got inside you. But if you want to get credulous masses to go along with your plan you can find a pile of verses to back up any agenda.

Canuck, you do get around! Such a horrible story. There's a wonderful documentary published last June by Current TV, "Missionaries of Hate", free to view on their website:

Correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to Uganda, where many question whether the growing influence of American religious groups has led to a movement to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death. As an anti-gay movement spreads across the continent, gay Africans and their families face an increasingly uncertain future of isolation, imprisonment or even execution.

They also have a long interview with David Bahati, whom Rachel Maddow later had on her show - he's the MP who introduced the anti-gay bill.
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/924686…

Box Turtle Bulletin has an extensive compilation of items showing how the religionistas have been affecting Uganda -- blood on their hands indeed: Slouching Towards Kampala: Uganda’s Dead….

@12 -- that was the totally incoherent guy on Maddow's show? I couldn't even watch him visually (no captions on the online clip, so nothing to listen to) -- ugh.

Thank you, gus! I hadn't heard of that show, looking forward to watching it. So freaking sad that these Christians do the polar opposite of what their "boss" did...

And yes, I do get around, at least that's what all the boys used to say...and don't all English majors have "I won't look at any more 17th century poets!" meltdowns, run off to Africa, take a biology course, and marry their Canadian prof? Yeah, exactly!

Every time white people mess with Africa, the results are unimaginably horrible. Why can't we learn?

That vanguard show looks interesting. Not captioned, though (and at 44 minutes, I don't expect any of you to help out! :) ) Maybe there's a transcript somewhere.

This NPR interview from August covers the institutionalized gay hatred in Uganda in chilling detail. It's totally appalling and worth sharing with anyone you want to educate.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story…

I'll be interested to see if our President has anything to say about this. The Fierce Urgency of Whatever.

The Rolling Stone editor on the "Hang Them" headline: "We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them."

OH! Well that makes it so much goddamned better, doesn't it?

"it would also criminalize even knowing someone who is gay...." Which would be everybody. That's really going to thin out the population.

Doesn't Uganda have bigger problems than their attitude toward homosexuality right now? America, land of the bored, well-fed, and overindulgent is ready for this message. Africa is SO NOT. We need to worry more about bringing them up from third to first world status. We can offer out, intelligent gays like this guy refugee status in America.

Yes, gay rights are an important issue. But this is like the scene from Life of Brian... if you wander through a random crowd of local people shouting "JEHOVAH!" nobody should be surprised when you get stoned to death. Although it is still very sad, the average Ugandan isn't going to give a fuck whether you're allowed to be out and gay when they have to worry about where tomorrow's meal is coming from. Capiche?

@23, to look at it in your terms, consider that all individuals have the inalienable right to improve their odds of survival by forming households and pooling resources. Can you see that an "average Ugandan" who happens to be gay - especially one worrying about where tomorrow's meal is coming from - should be able to do so like anyone else, as a matter of the fundamental economic survival you emphasize so strongly? Capiche?

(Canuck, you've got one hell of a backstory, dearie!)

@23 -- considering that it is our own religious taliban exporting this torrent of hate, at the very least we have issues to work on RIGHT HERE that would improve Uganda's conditions -- by getting these missionaries of hate to stop.

@10.."Africa is the worst place in the world to be a human being."
I take offense to that! have you been to every single country in Africa?
There are crazy irrational and bigoted people everywhere...

I have never left a comment here but I guess there's always a first time. I get this horrible feeling that, the more LGBT people in the U.S.A. gain equal rights and at least the possibility of being treated with dignity (with a good deal of credit given to anti-bullying messages of hope such as IGBP), the hatemongers who operate under their self-proclaimed allegedly divine right to interfere in the lives of others will have no choice but to focus more and more on Africa, where they can still be assured they have better prospects of fulfilling their mission. By inciting people to more hatred and murder.

Dan has written another example of White Man's Imperialism. These poor Africans continue to be slaves, mindlessly following where the White Man leads them. It's all the White Man's fault, because everyone knows that the White Man only hates and destroys, whereas black people just want to dance and love and live in harmony. Africa is a natural paradise, but it's people are so fragile and susceptible, they can be convinced of anything. They obviously have nothing to do w/ the endless political corruption, the rule of thugs, belief in superstition over science, propensity for genocide and a cruelty that rivals anything else in history. Yes, it's a terrible thought, taking responsibility for that. Better just to blame the White Man.

@26, Sorry your feelings are hurt, but that doesn't make what I said any less true.

I don't think Dan's doing the White Man's Imperialism as much as certain commenters here *clearly* are o.O

@30, i took offense because what you said is not true. i don't know how you can generalize to this extent and make such a blatant statement that Africa is the worse place to be a human being.

Anyways, the point of this discussion is not to figure out the worst place to be a human being

We just need to point out religious bigotry and the exploitation of people that leads to such atrocity. The level of poverty in some part of Africa makes people prone to espousing the hate that is spewed by some American Religious Group. At the end of the day, money matters. So if a group of individual know that they can be supported financially by American religious group and all they have to do is spread the hateful message then they will do so. Anti-Gay for Pay.

@28 Excellent point. It's a slippery slope isn't it? Once it's okay to take away one person's rights it gets easier & easier to take away the rights of other people. American evangelical Christians do, indeed, have blood on their hands.

@31

"I don't think Dan's doing the White Man's Imperialism..."

Lol, no, I don't think so, either. I just used Dan as a stand-in for the shrill wailings I've heard from people (of all stripes) who immediately invoke "imperialism" to forgive whatever horror/cruelty/incompetence that comes out of Africa. Which is no better or worse than anywhere else in terms of man's inhumanity to man.

@23 "America, land of the bored, well-fed, and overindulgent..."

This may be shocking, but America has problems with hunger, disease, and poverty too. Just because the middle and upper classes have the loudest voices doesn't mean we don't have people living in poverty, unable to get enough food or medicine. We just hide them away in "low-income housing" and pretend they don't exist.

Sadly, as long as the problems of unemployment, disabilities, etc. exist, every nation will have people who struggle to feed themselves, get adequate housing and medical care, etc. So, by your logic, we should all give up on "less pressing" problems like inequality and human rights until no one anywhere is homeless or hungry?

If anyone is still reading this thread, this just popped up in my inbox from GetEqual, about another gay Ugandan facing deportation:

http://www.allout.org/brenda/getequal

How can you make it a crime to simply know someone who is gay? Setting aside how awful that is, how the fuck are you supposed to enforce that?

"in countries that ban homosexuality, simply acting or saying certain things is enough to get you killed"

There is inevitably a point where we have to draw a line. Our "assistance" (read: interference) in African politics is largely NOT HELPING the people who need it. Yes, it's a tragedy that gays in Africa can't be out and proud. It's also a tragedy that people in Africa are dying from malnutrition.

At what point can the first world acknowledge that Africa is a hellish shitstorm of a country stuck in the middle ages, and let them sort it out?

and @36, trying to say that America's poorest are as poorly-off as Africa's poorest is ludicrous. When's the last time you saw a family living outside, drinking in the river they shit in, and grubbing in the garbage for food?

America isn't the best place to be unemployed, and unlucky or lazy (or both). That would be somewhere with socialized healthcare. But it's definitely high on that list of countries.

Actually yes, @42, I've lived in the "ghettos". I've seen people sleeping in parks in sub-freezing weather, scrounging for food in garbage cans, and getting shot at. I've been shot at (not on purpose, but caught in the crossfire). Why don't you take a visit before you talk about how good Americans have it?

I don't deny that's it's worse in Africa, but there are people starving to death, getting killed in gang wars, and freezing to death because they don't know where to go at night in our own country. And your logic was that all of that should be abolished before we work on human rights issues. Ideally, yes, but some social problems will never be abolished, and our "safety nets" here are weak at best.

Without getting off into the weeds of gay rights, priviledges and so on-

Did ANY of you actually note that all of the links are to a single pro-gay op-ed site? It's not even journalism, just essays about someones opinions. They believe Christians in America are on a pernicious mission to heinously murder all African gays. All right. Certainly Savage and these writers are entitled their opinions, but without some facts to back those opinions up expecting others to share them is a bit optimistic.

So what actually was said by Savage is that all gay rights oppressions in Africa are specifically the fault of Christianity because....a few American Christians MAY have said a few stupid things? The article claims they said stuff and so does Mr. Savage. But nowhere are there links to any published speech or conference agenda or youtube clip to support that statement.

And all Christians in America are responsible for every gay death in Africa because....the Bible says, and all Christian pastors I know say, that while practicing homosexuality is a sin we are to love the sinner. Even the link to a fellow named Osteen under the ominous title of 'Hate, Practice and Theory' never once uses the word hate. The guy basically says we're all sinners, Christians shouldn't focus on homosexuality when they have their own issues, and Biblically we are enjoined to love anyone regardless of their actions. Yeah. Pretty damning. Pretty hateful. I can see where that might lead to people dying in Uganda. Or not.

In fact, I don't recall following a single Savage link to a reputable non-biased source of information. They're all advocacy sources, and not even good ones which try to twist facts to their leanings. They don't bother with facts at all.

Here's a hint, Mr. Savage, and the rest of the gay rights missionaries. If you want to be taken seriously by anyone other than the tiny minority that already agrees with you- try backing your arguments up with some real substance. What you're trying to do is win approval for your cause. You do this by pissing off the majority of Americans who consider themselves Christian by slandering their faith? Or is all the virulent poison directed at most of your countrymen just a ploy to get a spot on MTV and talk show guest spots?

Want gays to marry? Want society to accept you and your boyfriend on equal terms to heterosexuals? Want bullying of gay students to end, or insulting references to gays to cease? Calling all Christians hate mongers and murderers probably isn't the best road to get there. Calling anyone who disagrees with you a bigot or a hater isn't helpful either. For talking amongst yourselves it may help to blow off steam, but when you take your personal hatred public, it makes you look really foolish.

Apparently, the New York Time thought it fitting to include the timing of the conference, the "Kill the Gays" bill, and the involvement of conservative American evangelicals. I don't think the New York Times qualifies as an advocacy source.

From the New York Times:
As the most outspoken gay rights advocate in Uganda, a country where homophobia is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people, Mr. Kato had received a stream of death threats, his friends said. A few months ago, a Ugandan newspaper ran an antigay diatribe with Mr. Kato’s picture on the front page under a banner urging, “Hang Them.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kato was beaten to death with a hammer in his rough-and-tumble neighborhood. Police officials were quick to chalk up the motive to robbery, but members of the small and increasingly besieged gay community in Uganda suspect otherwise.

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009,” Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, said in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

Ms. Kalende was referring to visits in March 2009 by a group of American evangelicals, who held rallies and workshops in Uganda discussing how to turn gay people straight, how gay men sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” intended to “defeat the marriage-based society.”

The Americans involved said they had no intention of stoking a violent reaction. But the antigay bill was drafted shortly thereafter. Some of the Ugandan politicians and preachers who wrote it had attended those sessions and said that they had discussed the legislation with the Americans.

After growing international pressure and threats from a few European countries to cut assistance — Uganda relies on hundreds of millions of dollars of aid — Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, indicated that the bill would be scrapped.

But more than a year later, that has not happened, and the legislation remains a simmering issue in Parliament. Some political analysts say the bill could be passed in the coming months, after a general election in February that is expected to return Mr. Museveni, who has been in office for 25 years, to power.

On Thursday, Don Schmierer, one of the American evangelicals who visited Uganda in 2009, said Mr. Kato’s death was “horrible.”

“Naturally, I don’t want anyone killed, but I don’t feel I had anything to do with that,” said Mr. Schmierer, who added that in Uganda he had focused on parenting skills. He also said that he had been a target of threats himself, recently receiving more than 600 messages of hate mail related to his visit.

“I spoke to help people,” he said, “and I’m getting bludgeoned from one end to the other.”

Many Africans view homosexuality as an immoral Western import, and the continent is full of harsh homophobic laws. In northern Nigeria, gay men can face death by stoning. In Kenya, which is considered one of the more Westernized nations in Africa, gay people can be sentenced to years in prison.

But Uganda seems to be on the front lines of this battle. Conservative Christian groups that espouse antigay beliefs have made great headway in this country and wield considerable influence. Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, who describes himself as a devout Christian, has said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/…

Why do you read this blog if you think every post is obviously biased? If you hate Dan and his fans, why do you pound out essay-length comments on every post? I would think it wouldn't be worth your time. Seems like a plea for attention to me.

@46

Actually, I was looking for a book someone recommended on Camus' novel by the same name of this blog. I read a few of the posts out of curiosity while checking out the search link, and there you have it.

I don't hate Mr. Savage. I don't know him. Actually, I can't think of a single person I hate, off the top of my head. I do abhor his world view. And he and many here labor under a fundamental mistake. You all want to change how the majority of the country thinks and acts. No-one doubts your right to make the attempt. What you must do is provide the evidence that such change is needed. The burden of proof is on you, not on those supporting the status quo. Lacking any such ability to prove the necessity of change, you resort to abuse and hatred of those you oppose. A bit childish, but if that's the stage of development you're at, okay.

Instead of proof of the need of change, you have people like Savage twisting statements made by those with whom they disagree, when they aren't outright lying about them. You have people like Savage telling anyone who disagrees with him that they're bigots and haters. You have people like this man telling the 97% of Americans who aren't like him that they must accord him and those who have chosen his lifestyle special treatment, special citizen status. And when the rest of us object, we're the bad guys.

And that irrational attitude which would make my 6 year old look mature offends me. It should offend any rational person, anyone who values debate on issues, not attacks on interlocutors. That's why I wasted so much time here, I guess. You are a group of people who think the government, the folks who run the DOL for goodness sake, can efficiently run a one stall bathroom, never mind a nations health care system. You are the folks who think 'most of my male friends have vaginas' a logical statement, not a clearly mentally unbalanced one. Looking for reason in that kind of crowd is like looking for a virgin in a brothell. Instead of shaking my head, laughing and moving on, I wasted hours of my life arguing with you. Mea culpa.

But never mind. In 2 days my family heads to the Italian house, where I intentionally have neither phone nor email, for 3 or 4 months. So you can keep the echo chamber echoing, and never have to listen to a single voice of dissent. You can continue your hatred of this country and everything which built it and made it great. You can continue espousing lunatic social policy treating those who choose lifestyles as victims, or the lazy and profligate as deserving of the proceeds of the work and discipline their neighbors practice. Have fun.

Dear fucking lord, there are pretty much no recent Slog posts that don't have at least one of your essays on it. I read almost every comment even if it's obvious trolling or poorly written, but I just can't make it through these. It's too fucking depressing. Every second you spent on that essay was wasted because no one is going to make it halfway through. It's seriously sad and disturbing that you care this much.

@Seattleblues

Have a good time at you Italian house. I sincerely wish I had your problems :(

But you have an obvious hatred of this country.

Meh!! Early morning fail!! "Your" not "You".

@49: As a parting gift, Seattleblues gave us a greatest hits compilation! That's nice.

Enjoy Italy. Stay as long as you want. Just don't get sick - wouldn't want that nasty socialized medicine to get you.