David Kato Slain

Since I’ve been talking about civil discourse, I think I really need to talk about the tragic death of David Kato.  David Kato was an LGBT activist in Uganda, where homosexuality is illegal and where a bill was introduced in 2009 suggesting the death penalty for anyone convicted of committing homosexual acts.  Much of the international community made a stand against it, and the evangelicals from America,  like Scott Lively and Rick Warren, who had pushed a very strong anti-homosexual agenda in Uganda got a lot of negative press attention because of it.

A tabloid in Uganda called “Rolling Stone” (no relation) published Kato’s picture along with other suspected homosexuals with a tagline that read “Hang Them”.  Kato and a few other’s pictured led a successful lawsuit against the magazine, but only a few weeks after that victory Kato was bludgeoned to death in his home.

Some of the LGBT activists are placing the blame on the American evangelicals for stirring up the hatred originally, some are blaming the magazine, and many are blaming Uganda for being religiously intolerant.  I can only say that this is the danger of talking about gay people as though they aren’t human.

I cannot help but see some similarities between the “Hang Them” tagline and the rifle sites on Sarah Palin’s target list.  Both Giffords and Kato noted that that rhetoric was going to lead to violence against them.  At what point does violent rhetoric become the equivalent of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre?  I’m not sure, myself.  It’s difficult, these things are so upsetting it’s almost impossible to find the rational response to them. 

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David Kato Slain
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One thought on “David Kato Slain

  1. 1

    YOU HAVE SOWN THE STORM AND SURELY
    YOU WILL REAP THE WHIRLWIND!

    AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ARCHITECTS OF THE UGANDAN GAY GENOCIDE

    A vicious immoral insanity has invaded Uganda like a biblical plague, and is now eating away at her soul and festering amongst her people like a virulent malignant disease. Moreover, this plague, if not stopped, excised and exorcised from Ugandan culture, will continue to incite more political oppression, more unjustified murders and more unwarranted and illegal imprisonments. This insanity that I refer to is extreme homophobia, which has been tragically and purposely imported into the country by Right wing Christian evangelical leaders, resulting in disastrous consequences for the people of Uganda. This intolerant mindset has been eagerly and cruelly embraced by Uganda government officials, who have now codified this extreme form of homophobic genocide into their very country’s constitution.

    Every disease, whether physical or spiritual is spread by a host or a carrier. Subsequently, after carefully researching the facts and events which led to this spiritual affliction and infection, we have determined the agents of this heartbreaking virus. Thusly, we name you Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, Don Schmierer, Richard Cohen, Rev. Rick Warren and your protégé Dr. Martin Ssempa, as the primary carriers of this blighted philosophy. Moreover, we also name Republican Senators James Inhofe and Chuck Grassley as secondary enabling agents of this vicious strain of poisonous hatred. But the major blame for being the main delivery system and introducing this toxic madness to the governmental system of Uganda, we lay at the feet of David Bahati (architect of the Bill and Member of the Ugandan Parliament).

    What is amazing about you right wing “Religious leaders” from America is your hypocrisy and misguided egos. Moreover it is for good reason that I make the distinction of referring to you as “Religious” and not spiritual leaders because the word “Religious” denotes a fanatical devotion to doctrine and dogma which often results in zealous mindlessness and misguided actions, whereas, “Spiritual” connotes possessing an intimate relationship with the Creator, e.g.: The Holy Spirit, God, or Christ. Moreover, when we examine your historical actions, we observe no real spiritual fruit from your ministries, but instead poisonous and toxic offerings with which you have deceitfully and fraudulently passed off to the body of Christ as teachings of Christ. Consequently, for this apostasy, for this act of spiritual perversion, you have purposely sown the storm of religious fear and confusion with seeds of hatred and homophobia, and for that you shall surely reap the whirlwind of Divine Judgment!

    What is even more baffling and disappointing to me, is how you “Religious” leaders claim to be led by God, as a justifications for your actions. This is far from the truth! Because if you were truly anointed by God, then your five senses would be similarly anointed or Divinely sensitized as well, but they are not! For if they were, then the screams of the murdered and tortured would assault your ears so greatly, that you would not be able to sleep at night, as a result of the forces that you have set in motion. Your eyes could not help but observe the hurt, harm, and suffering that you have afflicted upon the innocent people of Uganda. Furthermore, the stench of fear and desperation would overpower your sense of smell, as would the taste of innocent blood gag you, as it filled your mouths, while you felt the innocent blood dripping from your very hands. You have unleashed a great evil in the name of Christ: The Prince of Divine Love and Peace! In the Bible, Christ proclaimed that He came to fulfill the promise of the Scriptures. Christ also proclaimed that there were two new commandments which supersede all the others and they were One: Love the Lord with all thy Heart! Two: Love thy neighbor as thyself! How can you possibly reconcile the evil that you have done against these precepts? I challenge you to show me where in the Scriptures does Christ call for the deaths of gay people? Where does Christ: The Divine Manifestation of God’s love admonish the authorities to lock them up? There is a famous aphorism which states “Thoughts are things and words have power!” And Richard Cohen, the very inflammatory words in your published book “Coming Out Straight,” have unleashed a destructive power in the land! “On Page 49, you list a damning litany of false facts that have been used by Ugandan homophobes to justify their ruthless oppression and criminalization of same gender loving people. These so-called facts, were so false, so fallacious and inflammatory that when exposed on national television, you stated that they would be deleted from future editions. However, the damage has been done, Richard Cohen, and your lies and false statements have been used as fodder for the horrific “Kill the Gays Bill” that has been enacted by the Ugandan Government! Consequently, no amount of back pedaling, no amount of protestations of innocence, and no amount of political evasion can absolve you from being an integral part in this bloody genocide! As a renown T.V. news host truthfully told you on the air, ‘YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!’ It is also truly regrettable, even damming, that you and other “Religious leaders” who profess to be former gay men, are so anxious and desperate to turn public scrutiny away from your selves. You are so deeply entrenched in self-hate that you would willingly sanction, overtly or covertly, Ugandan governmental policies which legally legislate genocide and gross human rights violations. But this we say to you and to your similarly conflicted colleagues: A wife and children does not a heterosexual make!

    The same charge of hypocrisy can be laid at your feet, Rick Warren, the Global “Religious” leader and author of “The Purpose Driven Life.” It is common knowledge that you are anti-gay from previously made statements. Most conservative ministers are. But, It is also common knowledge about the close mentoring relationship between you and Dr. Martin Ssempa, Uganda Chairman of the National Task Force Against Homosexuality, who was a frequent visitor to your Saddleback Church! Dr. Ssempa, by his own lips, professed how he wrote letters to you asking your advice on these issues of homosexual criminalization and how you said nothing! Edmund Burke prophetically said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing!” Consequently, your silence was damning! It was tacit approval of your inner views concerning the subject. Consequently, you too, have sown the storm of religious fanaticism and political oppression with your seeds of silence! You too, will reap the whirlwind of Divine Judgment, as you give an account of your lack of action, before God, as to why you allowed such a travesty to take place! No amount of videos pleading peace and tolerance, after the fact, can undo the hurt, the harm, and suffering that your silence evoked! No amount of feigning ignorance of these events will exonerate you or erase the stain from your soul! You too, shall stand before a loving God and will be weighed in the balances of justice and be found wanting, as will your protégé Dr. Ssempa! His was a crime of commission, but yours was a crime of omission. Sadly, many others are guilty of such damning political and moral apathy. People such as Republican senator: James Inhofe. You possessed close personal relationships with Ugandan political officials. You had the opportunity to rein in these horrific and homophobic political machinations. You possessed the power to temper, moderate and bring sanity and reason to this homophobic madness and hysteria, but you did nothing because deep down in your heart, you delighted in these human rights violations and thought that you could evade blame for the tragic consequences it generated. The “Kill the Gays Bill” served your own right wing agendas of hate and homophobic discrimination. You Right wing senators have sown that very storm of religious and political madness with the seeds of criminal neglect from which you shall surely reap the whirlwind of Divine Justice!

    Lastly, we charge you David Bahati, member of Uganda Parliament, with the crimes of political and moral treason. You have betrayed your vow to protect the nation of Uganda and the weal of its people, and in its place you have substituted and inserted your own hatreds and personal demons into one of the most appalling pieces of legislation ever to be crafted in any country, appropriately nicknamed the “KILL THE GAYS BILL!” That you would stubbornly advocate and legislate such a human rights monstrosity is beyond belief! What is puzzling and even more frightening, is that you hold a position of power within the Ugandan Parliament. You foolishly assert that because the country of Uganda does not hold the genocide of same sex people as a human right violation, that it is not one. You foolishly advocate that any Ugandan gay person OUTSIDE of Uganda having consensual sex in any other part of the world should be extradited back to Uganda to be imprisoned. You foolishly rail against and denounce other compassionate nations who have taken an appropriate stand against your policies by refusing to fund your country or grant you monetary aid. Subsequently, you have made Uganda a Pariah in the world community. You, David Bahati, have sown the storm of moral cruelty, intolerance and oppression with your acts of ignorance and gross insensitivity and you are now deservingly reaping the whirlwind of world censure. Consequently, like all of your aforementioned fellow “Religious” and civil conspirators, who have plunged Uganda back into “The Dark Ages”, although we recoil in horror from your actions, and weep real tears for the innocent lives that your misguided cabal are destroying, we do not hate you, nor wish you harm because we know that the mills of God grind slowly but justly! We also know that God will allow no government, no nation or no one to arbitrarily and inhumanely destroy His creations. Lastly, we know that you and your colleagues will surely face Divine Retribution because as the Scriptures so perfectly and prophetically promised that “whosoever sows the storm, will surely reap the whirlwind!”

    By Terry Angel Mason, Global Author
    http://www.terryangelmason.com

    The AUDIO MESSAGE YOU MUST HEAR :

    http://betweentheraindrops.podomatic.com/entry/2011-01-29T13_39_26-08_00

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