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By Gary Roberts, November 26, 2009

Keep your eye on Uganda. There’s something stirring in the halls of parliament over there. Something ugly, evil and hateful and it’s getting ready to uncoil its oily, scaly body and bare its venom-filled fangs at a minority segment of Ugandan society.

The potential passing of a new Anti-Homosexuality Bill which seeks to legislate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people is a serious issue and, for some, a very real threat to their existence. If passed, this bill will put people to death if they enter into a sexual relationship with a member of the same sex.

According to Wambi Michael, a blogger at rabble.ca:

The Ugandan government will put to death gay citizens repeatedly caught having sex and throw into jail those who touch each other in a “gay” way, if a new proposed bill becomes law.

David Bahati, Ndorwa County West minister of parliament, tabled the bill saying Uganda needed comprehensive legislation to prohibit any form of sexual relations between people of the same sex.

The bill, according to Bahati, seeks to plug gaps in the Ugandan constitution, and stipulate that marriage is between a man and a woman only. Other unions will not be recognized. And if same sex couples are married abroad, they face life imprisonment.

Even friends and family of LGBT people won’t be safe from this bill—it will give authorities the power to imprison these people for up to three years if they fail to report that they know a gay person.

The bill would even seek to punish Ugandan citizens who enter into a homosexual relationship while traveling abroad.

Blithely unaware of the irony associated with his job title, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo says he is happy the bill is causing a lot of debate globally:

It is with joy we see that everyone is interested in what Uganda is doing, and it is an opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership where it matters most. So we are here to see a piece of legislation that will not only define what the country stands for, but actually provide leadership around the world.

Whoa, careful now, people—this slope to the Middle Ages is becoming more and more slippery!

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By Gary Roberts, December 23, 2008

Pope Bendict XVI

You know, sometimes I think gay people can be downright mean and unrepentant when it comes to upsetting religious sensibilities. Am I alone in thinking this? No sirree! I would be in a most auspicious company if I were to make such a claim. Why, that most revered icon of Catholic humility and acceptance, Pope Benedict XVI himself, has gone so far as to put forward the suggestion that those nasty little gay people are a threat to mankind’s survival!

It’s not enough that there are gay people out there who want nothing more than to settle down, get married and lead a quiet, ‘normal’ life with their partners. No, that’s obviously not what we want - we want to tear down the foundation underpinning the sanctity of marriage between a  man and a woman and impose our beliefs on the majority in order to end procreation and bring about the destruction of mankind!

Of course, that’s not true. I jest.

I like to imagine, instead, that humanity has progressed in huge strides since the Dark Ages, not just in terms of technology, but also in the overall improvement of basic human rights. I know we’re not perfect as a species—far from it—and that there are many millions of people suffering still at the hands of despotic and corrupt governments in the world. But come on; when you look back on history and see how much farther we’ve come, it’s pretty amazing don’t you think? And just when you start to get this warm, fuzzy feeling that things are looking good in retrospect, you then get an institution such as the Catholic church vilifying a segment of the human population and, in leading by example, taking its followers back towards those dark days of ignorance and fear.

There are billions of people worldwide who believe the Pope is the representative of God and whose words and opinions are to be taken literally, as gospel truth. What are the followers of the Vicar of Christ going to make of such words from their leader? How many gay, lesbian, transsexual and transgendered people will now find it harder than ever to lead a happy, fulfilling life in countries where the majority of the population despises them for daring to be true to their human nature? Doesn’t the Catholic church see how such words can be dangerous and, ultimately, in the eyes of its congregation, strip people of their humanity?

I don’t know about you, but I think we should be more concerned with the untold amount of harm religious leaders are capable of inflicting upon their fellow man, or woman, by the use of such bigoted and immoral language.