January 12, 2009

“If you want to foster AIDS and kill queers in Africa, Rick Warren’s the man for you.”

Looks like Gay City News has finally emerged from its Obama Kool-Aid stupor.

Good piece, well worth the full read — and a good article to pass along to those who still don’t see what the big deal is about Rick Warren (since, after all, it’s only us lowly ‘mos having big ol’ faux-outrage hissy fits), but who might be persuaded to righteous outrage by Warren’s African crusade:

Obama’s First Gift to Africa: Rick Warren

If you want to foster AIDS and kill queers in Africa, Rick Warren’s the man for you. While Warren’s characterization of queers (and Jews and Muslims) as godless perverts fuel bigotry in the US, the real effects of inviting Warren to preside over Obama’s inauguration will be felt in sub-Saharan Africa. …

In case you actually care, his campaign for AIDS prevention, in a region decimated by the disease, sneers at condoms, needle exchange, and sex education. He claims all those efforts merely slow the spread of AIDS, while his plan can stop it flat. The secret — abstinence before marriage, religious conversion, and, not included on his website, that perennial favorite, queer-baiting.

One of his closest allies in Uganda in his so-called fight against AIDS is Martin Ssempa, an evangelical preacher who blames queers for the disease, makes a show of burning condoms, and this spring organized a rally with the theme “A Call for Action on Behalf of the Victims of Homosexuality,” where he spent most of his time railing against queers.

As far as treatment goes, Ssempsa offers faith healing in his Pentecostal services if only victims believe enough and make a nice donation. In general, the bulk of his anti-AIDS activism seems to be legal battles to ensure that homosexuality remains illegal and the media continues to portray queers as sexual predators.

He’s getting it done. Homosexuality is still illegal, and queers face increasing harassment and violence from everyone from the government to their next-door neighbors. Newspapers sometimes print lists of people suspected of being lesbian or gay, opening them up to job loss and physical violence. Several activists are arrested every year. …

Terrible for queers, Warren and his pals are almost worse for AIDS. Uganda’s HIV infection rate, which had dipped from its 1996 height, has been climbing back up in recent times. The problem? Advocates like Warren and Ssempa dumping sex education and condom promotion in favor of abstinence-only programs, which study after study show actually increase risky sex. …

The most vulnerable of all are gay men. Warren has supported figures like the archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who in 2006 and 2007 campaigned ferociously for anti-gay legislation which stipulated five years’ imprisonment to anyone who had anything to do with a same-sex marriage ceremony, participated in gay organizing, or had anything to do with anything gay of any kind “directly or indirectly in public and in private.”

Hate-mongering may have become a habit for Akinola. In 2005, he was implicated in the massacre of more than 650 Muslims by a Christian mob tied to the Christian Association of Nigeria. He was president of the group at the time. For all this, Akinola earned praise from Warren in an April 2006 Time Magazine article lionizing him as a defender of the faith, a “Nelson Mandela”, and “a model for Christians around the world.” …

Much more at the link.

Further reading:

Uganda Targets Queers for Attack
September 13, 2007

Another Ugandan Sees Through Nation’s Anti-Gay Propaganda
September 22, 2007

To paraphrase Francis Maude, it’s like vowing to fight rain.
Buturo vows to fight homosexuality, October 9, 2007

U.S. Accused of Funding Ugandan Homophobes
October 11, 2007

Uganda Wants to Send Gays to Island, So “They Die Out There”
October 17, 2007

HRW to Uganda: Drop Charges Against Sexual Rights Activists
June 14, 2008

Episcopalians: Frederick Clarkson Explains How Peter Akinola’s Homophobia is Destroying Your Church
July 6, 2008

Posted by: Sapphocrat

Permalink | |