Uganda’s "Kill-The-Gays" Bill author coming to National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in February, according to The Sunday Monitor.
In February, David Bahati, the mover of the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill is expected to attend a prayer breakfast in the American capital of DC.
Mr. Bahati, according to reports, may speak at the event where President Barack Obama – a gays-tolerant liberal president, is also expected to attend. On Friday, Mr Bahati said he would attend. The event is organized by The Fellowship- a conservative Christian organization, which has deep political connections and counts several high-ranking conservative politicians in its membership.
psychodrew has just posted this same story and agreed we should publish ours.
"I intend to attend the prayer breakfast," said Mr. Bahati – himself an organizer of the Ugandan equivalent of the national prayer breakfast. This week, citing international pressure, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni advised his party’s National Executive Committee, his cabinet and the NRM parliamentary caucus to "go slow" on the Bill. MP David Bahati is the sponsor of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Uganda’s Parliament. He is also a member of the secretive American evangelical group known as The Family, which founded and organizes the National Prayer Breakfasts held on the first Thursday in February, typically at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue N.W. The Monitor reports that the Family has invited MP Bahati to attend this years event. Every U.S. President since Eisenhower has attended and spoken at this breakfast. Will President Obama agree to share the same room with these two would-be murderers? Mr. Bahati said he would see the Bill through the legislative process before turning his attention to local politics in this election year. He expects competitors for his seat and primaries are just nine weeks away.
President Museveni revealed that he had received several phone calls from world leaders, including from U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. His reaction, say observers, shows that the Uganda government is taking the issue seriously enough.
It’s unclear how his national and international profile brought on by the gays Bill will affect his fortunes.
"We need to protect our children and stop recruitment," he says. In the interview with Inside Politics Mr. Bahati blames American author Jeff Sharlet who writes about the intersection between religion and politics.
..."Sharlet is a liar and is responsible for generating the interest in this Bill abroad. He just wants to sell his book," Mr. Bahati says referring to the Sharlet's’s new book "The Family. The Secret Fundamentalism at the heart of American power." The book profiles The Fellowship, the organization that has invited Mr Bahati to the prayer breakfast next month.
In interviews, Mr. Sharlett has said Mr. Bahati and the Ethics Minister Dr. Nsaba Buturo, earlier a vocal supporter of the Bill, are part of the Christian organization and claims The Fellowship has recently directed money to Uganda and considers President Museveni an ally.
When asked if there can be any future evidence that he may have received money in compensation from radical Christian groups, Mr. Bahati says: "not a penny."
- for some background and a R.M. interview with Jeff Sharlett from early december:
Leaders of this anti-homosexual legislation in Uganda are planning and promoting a "Million Man" march for february 17th.
A Ugandan preacher said on Friday he planned a "million-man" march to support an anti-gay draft law which the United Nations top human rights official called "blatantly discriminatory".
Pastor Martin Ssempa, who has close ties to U.S. evangelicals and President Yoweri Museveni's family, said the march was being organised for February 17.
"We want to show how many people support the bill," Pastor Martin Ssempa told journalists in the Ugandan capital.
"We want to give a postcard that (Museveni) can send to his friend (U.S. President) Barack Obama," Ssempa said in front of posters saying "Africans Unite Against Sodomy" and "Barack Obama Back Off".
Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, added to Western criticism of the proposed legislation by saying it breached international standards. She called on Uganda to shelve it.
"The bill proposes draconian punishments for people alleged to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered -- namely life imprisonment, or in some cases, the death penalty," Pillay said in a statement.