30/04/2024
Wayne Besen, progressive chat show host on US radio and blogger, warns that fundamentalist religious groups and cynical corrupt rulers are waging war against LGBTQIA+ Africans. Wayne writes "Forget their toothy grins, sugary sweet professions of “love”, and adamant denials of bloodlust. It was always the goal of evangelicals to enact a program—or, more accurately, a pogrom—of terror, murder, and social death against LGBTQ Africans. Uganda is a vivid warning that we must heed. The fanatical fundamentalists aren’t stopping until we stop them. Frustrated by increased marginalization at home, declining church attendance, and rejection of their medieval views, western fundamentalists flocked to Uganda. They turned the landlocked African nation into a laboratory to create a fundamentalist Christian utopia. Uganda’s opportunistic dictator, Yoweri Museveni, embraced these crazies in exchange for western cash, connections, and clout. Given the lure of such incentives, already beleaguered and vulnerable LGBTQ Ugandans never stood a chance. Ironically, Colonial Christians and the Ugandan government are gaslighting critics of their hate campaign, falsely portraying homosexuality as a “western import.” Yet, it’s a subservient President Museveni who kowtows to mostly white, western evangelicals to punish his African countrymen. He’s selling out Ugandans to gain favors from rich Caucasian donors that come bearing gifts to prop up his brutal dictatorship". Wayne goes on "The religious extremists who are wreaking havoc in Uganda, are the same ones working to dismantle our democracy in America. It’s no coincidence that the Ugandan law happened in a religious authoritarian country accused of “detaining, beating, torturing and disappearing critics and opposition members.” This is the sick type of society MAGA Republicans are trying to install in America. Anti-gay and anti-democracy activism go together like a hamburger and fries. You rarely find a healthy country with anti-LGBTQ policies, because if the government can decide which people can have sex or be in relationships, there is nothing off limits or within their repressive purview". For the full article and much more content from Wayne Besen, subscribe to his newsletter. You can find his website via any good search engine.
