Are US Evangelicals to Blame for the Death of a Ugandan Gay Activist?
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/449-are-us-evangelicals-to-blame-for-death-of-a-ugandan-gay-activist.html
Kato Mivule | February 1st 2011
Once again Uganda made international headlines this past week when a Gay Rights activist, David Kato was murdered at his home in Mukono, Uganda. Speculation run high as to the motivation of his killers given the anti gay and homophobic atmosphere in Uganda.
There is no doubt that the anti gay fervor is certainly adding to the unnecessary and unneeded persecution and demonizing of Gays in Uganda, creating a homophobic environment and certainly Christian Leaders must spoke out against such hate. It is unchristian to hate anyone because they are gay and or for that matter do not agree with you or your spiritual lifestyle. As a Christian, you cannot force your spirituality on anyone. You cannot preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the sword and “Christian Legislation”, to do so diminishes the free gift of Salvation by Grace in Jesus Christ.
I do not see anywhere in the New Testament were Jesus Christ or His disciples call for the imprisonment of Gays in the Roman Empire. I do not see them fighting for such legalization of “Christian Values” as the law of the Land in the Roman Empire. Yet this is what some Evangelicals from the US have unfortunately promoted in Uganda.
Is this then what caused the death of David Kato, the Ugandan Gay activist? I do not think so but certainly his life was made more difficult by such unnecessary demonizing and inflammatory rhetoric from religious and political circles in Uganda even to his grave when the burial ceremony was hijacked by a Priest to lash out at gays.
Ugandan Christians have now been placed in useless fights against Gays as the main spiritual focus and this ought not to be so. Perhaps the death of David Kato, while not caused by Ugandan Evangelicals, should be a time to rethink the whole anti-gay legislation issue in Uganda and drop the useless anti-gay bill that is unfortunately defining Ugandan Evangelicals as wimps and puppets of US Religious Right zealots.
The purpose of the Church is not to legislate “Christian Laws”, doing so is to digress from New Testament scripture. Secondly, we Christians must learn that we are not the only ones inhabiting this planet earth and this earth is not Heaven, we must therefore learn to live with others who disagree with our “Christian Values”.
My personal humble appeal is that Pastors will call for the withdraw of the Anti-gay Bill in the Ugandan Parliament and seek to reassure the Ugandan gay community that even while they disagree with them, at least they agree to coexists peacefully and seek to do them no harm. Even while we might disagree with Gays in Uganda, first and foremost, they are Human beings created in God's Image and yes, Jesus Christ died too for them too, many of them are your brothers, sisters, and or cousins...let us see Humans not simply defined by their sexual preferences but as Human beings created in God's Image. There is no need and no biblical basis to demonize Gays in Uganda, and Christian Leaders should stand to defuse such rhetoric.
On the other extreme is the propaganda machine of ignorance and what seems to be reverse hate in the Western Media to generalize and demonize whole populations that do not necessarily agree with them on the Gay issue. The day that David Kato was murdered, the Western media picked up a statement by a leading Ugandan activist, Val Kalende, that “David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S Evangelicals in 2009. The Ugandan Government and the so-called U.S Evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”
Rather than seek a peaceful coexistence with other parties, the first statement by the leading Gay activist in Uganda was that US Evangelicals are to blame for the murder of David Kato, and the Western Media without thought or at least with purpose and intent carried that unfortunate generalized statement across Western news outlets and blogs.
Rather than foster an atmosphere of reason, respectful debate, and understanding to at least promote coexistence in Uganda, the Western Media took the opportunity to actually hijack the unfortunate death of David Kato to foster and spread what seems to be reverse hate for US Evangelicals.
There was no single evidence that US Evangelicals as a group paid the assassins to have David Kato murdered as the Western Media painted and insinuated in Western Media reports and blogs. While I do not agree at all with some US Evangelicals influencing morality legislation and the criminalization of Gays in Uganda, to suggest that ALL US Evangelicals are responsible for the death of David Kato was ill conceived, evil, vengeful, hateful, and Western Journalists should have known better – what they engaged in was reverse hate...the very hate against the Gay community that they claim to be fighting against. I don't see how hate can be used to fight hate in Uganda.
Secondly, to assume that Ugandans cannot self determine is the most racist and hostile statement against the people of Uganda. To suggest that Ugandans are wholly influenced by US Evangelicals is to say that they are fools and idiots who only wait for US Evangelicals to fill them in with garbage and as a result to further suggest that even the Gay community in Uganda cannot self determine but are simply robots controlled by Western influences.
Thirdly, some Western Journalists are plain ignorant, pathetic, and oblivious to events on the ground in Uganda; they for example will pick up stories in Uganda when the issue is about Gays but will not report about rampant corruption in Uganda's government and the oppression of opposition parties and the press by dictators supported by Western Governments. There was the case of Pedophilia crimes, young boys who were victims of sexual abuse, and young girls repeatedly raped and abused, yet such cases are not reported but sensationalized stories about Gay persecution are reported in the Western press because that is what sells and gives them a false sense of security and euphoria that they are joining the 'March with Dr. King' on Washington for civil rights; and at the same using such sensational stories to demonize US Evangelical Christians as a group. Rather than seek to foster respectful and peaceful debate about Gay issues in Uganda for example, the Western Press has only become a problem, and increasingly seen as sensational, ignorant, imposing, and imperialistic.
Kato M.
Notes
1] “Ugandan gay activist slain after photo published - Africa - Salon.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.salon.com/news/africa/?story=/news/feature/2011/01/27/af_uganda_gay_activist_slain.
[2] “Gay Ugandan's Murder Blamed on U.S. Evangelicals - New America Media.” [Online]. Available: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/01/gay-ugandans-murder-blamed-on-us-evangelicals.php.
[3] “US should use influence to stop persecution | The Daily Beacon.” [Online]. Available: http://utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/the-social-network/2011/feb/1/us-should-use-influence-stop-persecution/.
[4] “Scott Lively's bizarre response to the murder of David Kato - The Angle - Boston.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2011/01/scott_livelys_r.html.
[5] “Pressure builds after murder of LGBT activist | Uganda Talks.” [Online]. Available: http://www.independent.co.ug/?p=175&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=360#comments.
[6] “Jonathan D. Fitzgerald: The Deadly Serious Connection Between Evangelicalism and Homosexuality.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-d-fitzgerald/the-deadly-serious-connec_b_815651.html.
[7] “Ugandan Gay Activist, Former NPR Guest, Killed : NPR.” [Online]. Available: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/28/133306184/Ugandan-Gay-Activist-Former-NPR-Guest-Killed.
[8] “David Kato, Gay Rights Activist, Is Killed in Uganda - NYTimes.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=2&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB.
[9] “David Kato, Uganda Gay Activist, Brutally Slain.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/david-kato-uganda-gay-act_n_814775.html.
[10] “PostPartisan - Murder in Uganda.” [Online]. Available: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/01/murder_in_uganda.html.
