A complete lack of action

As many of you know by now, a new law has been proposed in Uganda that would sentence any repeat offender of “homosexual acts,” or any HIV-positive person who engaged in a homosexual act to death by hanging.   As if this weren’t bad enough, the proposed law would sentence any person who has knowledge of homosexual acts to 3 years in prison.  This is the greatest offense on LGBT rights in the world to date.  It would codify DEATH as a punishment for any person who actively lives a gay lifestyle and can not be tolerated.  It sets a terrible precedent for all countries in the world.

American LGBT groups have been astonishingly silent about their views on the new law.  HRC, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and other prominent groups have yet to even issue a press release on the law, let alone publicly announce any kind of strategy to work to keep the law from being passed.  Gays and lesbians in Uganda are facing the removal of their most basic right, the right to live, and the American groups that supposedly champion gay and lesbian rights have not done anything? That is appalling.  How can these groups call for equality in the United States while members of our community in Africa face a law that calls for their execution?  If a law like this was proposed in the United States, groups like HRC and The Task Force would quickly mobilize and work tirelessly to ensure that it did not pass.  What makes the members of our community in Uganda any less worthy? Why do they not deserve something as simple as even a message of support from the groups? Volunteers? Anything? The lack of action on the part of the groups is disgusting and I hope that as the importance of the issue continues to grow, I certainly hope United States LGBT organizations step up to the plate to help Ugandans.

However, LGBT organizations are not alone in their silence. The United States Administration has yet to do anything substantative to attempt to prohibit passage of the law.  Other countries around the world have taken such steps:  Sweden has threatened to cut aid to Uganda over the law and the UK has vowed to lobby against its passage.  What is the US doing? Absolutely. Nothing. Surprised? Me neither.  Given his less than stellar record on delivering promises to the LGBT community (DOMA? DADT? Anyone?) I am not surprised that Obama has remained tight-lipped on the issue.  However, frequent White House visitor Rick Warren and US conservative group The Family have been linked to the proposed law, which implicates Obama, the administration, and the US government as a whole on an entirely different level.  Not only should the US be publicly denouncing the proposed law, but we should be threatening to cut aid should the law pass.

The United States, both the governmental and non-governmental sectors, need to work together with the international community to keep this law from passing in Uganda, and the complete lack of action thus far on the part of both sectors is a disgrace to the United States’ commitment to human rights.

– Ali Rozell

[Via http://guprogressive.wordpress.com]