April 24, 2010

Jennifer Knapp comes out again at Larry king's show. Watch the vid

ALL Hispanics with fear of profiling under the new Arizona Law

Hispanics fear profiling under new Arizona law

1 hour ago

PHOENIX — Arodi Berrelleza isn't one of the targets of Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigration — he's a U.S. citizen, a high school student from Phoenix.

But the 18-year-old said he's afraid he'll be arrested anyway if police see him driving around with friends and relatives, some of them illegal immigrants.

"If a cop sees them and they look Mexican, he's going to stop me," Berrelleza said. "What if people are U.S. citizens? They're going to be asking them if they have papers because of the color of their skin."

Berrelleza's concerns were echoed by Hispanics across the state Saturday, a day after Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill that requires police to question people about their immigration status — including asking for identification — if they suspect someone is in the country illegally.

The new law, which will take effect in late July or early August, was cheered by many, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough crackdowns have made him a hero in the anti-illegal immigration community. He said it gives him new authority to detain undocumented migrants who aren't accused of committing any other crimes.

"Now if we show they're illegal, we can actually arrest them and put them in our jails," Arpaio said.

Current law in Arizona and most states doesn't require police to ask about the immigration status of those they come across, and many departments prohibit officers from inquiring out of fear immigrants won't report crime or cooperate in other investigations.

Now, police departments seen as weak on illegal immigration could face lawsuits. The new measure also toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor and knowingly transporting them.

Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the state with the most illegal border crossings, with the harsh, remote desert serving as the gateway for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans.

Arpaio said he hoped Arizona's example coerces the federal government into acting. President Barack Obama called the new law "misguided" Saturday and instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if it's legal, but also allowed that the failure to enact immigration reform at the national level left the door open to "irresponsibility by others."

"You're going to see a lot of interest with the politicians in Washington to get something done," Arpaio said. "Because I think they'll be afraid that other states will follow this new law that's now been passed."

Mona Patton, a 58-year-old real estate agent from Prescott, said she's proud of Brewer and the Legislature for trying to protect people from violent drug cartels.

"When Arizonans aren't safe then something has to be done. We've got to let law enforcement handle things," Patton said.

A handful of protesters lingered at the state Capitol Saturday morning, with a bigger rally expected to draw hundreds on Sunday afternoon. Opponents of the law also gathered in Tucson outside the campaign headquarters of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat who opposes the measure and said his staff has been flooded with phone calls, some from people threatening violence and shouting racial slurs.

Brewer has ordered state officials to develop a training course for officers to learn what constitutes reasonable suspicion someone is in the U.S. illegally.

Civil rights advocates vowed to challenge the law in court, saying it would undoubtedly lead to racial profiling despite Brewer's assurances.

Supporters dismiss concerns about racial profiling, saying the law prohibits the use of race or nationality as the sole basis for an immigration check. The measure's sponsor, Republican Sen. Russell Pearce, said opponents are using racial profiling as a cover for their true concern — deportation.

"This is not about profiling. They're worried about the laws being enforced," Pearce said.

Largely because of Arpaio's policies, Arizona was known for tough illegal immigration crackdowns even before Brewer signed the bill into law.

But Arpaio's jurisdiction is limited, and the new law will have its biggest impact in the rest of the state, where many police bosses have long resisted suggestions that their officers conduct day-to-day immigration enforcement, saying it would distract them from investigating other crimes and sow distrust among immigrants.

Immigrant advocates say the bill could worsen an already tenuous relationship between law enforcement and Hispanics in Arizona.

State Sen. Rebecca Rios, a Phoenix Democrat and fourth-generation Arizonan, said she's concerned about her 14-year-old son being harassed by police because of his brown skin, black hair and dark-brown eyes.

"I don't want my son or anyone else's son targeted simply because of their physical characteristics," Rios said. "There's no reason I should have to carry around any proof of citizenship, nor my son."

After Brewer signed the bill, a reporter asked if she knew what an illegal immigrant looks like.

"I do not know what an illegal immigrant looks like," Brewer said. "I can tell you there are people in Arizona who assume they know what an illegal immigrant looks like. I don't know if they know that for a fact or not."

But she said with the training being developed for police officers, "the law will be enforced civily, fairly and without discriminatory points to it."

Associated Press Writer Paul Davenport contributed to this report

MEXICAN SINGER PAQUITA LA DEL BARRIO: I'D RATHER A CHILD DIE THAN BE ADOPTED BY A GAY COUPLE

PSee for your selfopular Mexican singer Paquita La Del Barrio, usually known for taking strong positions against sexist male culture, is making headlines in her country following an interview in which she said that she would rather see a child die of hu

nger in the street than be adopted by a gay couple.

The singer added that if she had a son she would never be at peace if he was with a gay couple — a child needs to be with someone who deserves him.

Watch it (with translation from Andres Duques at Blabbeando), AFTER THE JUMP...

God Hates...?

God Hates ...? New doc battles bigotry with animation and humor
by Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Apr 15, 2010

When Chicago-based filmmaker Ky Dickens set about creating Fish Out of Water, a film addressing the way in which interpretation of Biblical text is so often used to condemn gay and lesbian relationships, she wanted to approach the somewhat sobering topic from a fresher, somewhat unconventional angle than the typical documentary.

And so, much of the film uses animated scenes - reenacting some of Dickens’ own experiences coming out, as well as Biblical passages - to accompany interviews with faith leaders and LGBT persons from around the country. Dickens’ creation sheds new light on a seemingly age-old debate of homosexuality vs. religion, offering both the queer community and its religious allies the ammo they need to confront the hurtful and politically-damaging misconceptions.

Republican and too Gay friendly..The" Right" complaints

In Massachusetts, Even the GOP Is Too ’Gay Friendly’ for the Right
by Kilian Melloy
Thursday Apr 22, 2010

The mainstream success of a moderate Republican gubernatorial candidate and his openly gay running mate has incensed some on the fringe right. Massachusetts-based right-wing group MassResistance has taken aim at the Republican nominees for the upcoming gubernatorial race in that state, with text at the group’s site referring to Charlie Baker and his running mate Richard Tisei as "RINOs," or Republicans in Name Only, and branding them as "extreme" and "anti-family."

The anti-gay group MassResistance opposes marriage equality and has attacked GLBT advocates for, among other things, seeking safer schools legislation for fear that it might "promote homosexuality" by banning anti-gay bullying in schools. An individual associated with the group also wiretapped a meeting of GLBT youth in 2000 even though state law forbids the making of recordings without the knowledge and permission of those being recorded. The resulting "fistgate" tape was then broadcast on local radio, and MassResistance has continued to make a cause celebre of the illegally made recording since then.

Text posted April 21 at the MassResistance website sums up Bakers career as a litany of pro-gay accomplishments, including the fact that Baker "publicly supports homosexual ’marriage’ and abortion." The site also noted that, "While [Baker was] CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care the company had a policy of supporting ’gender identity or expression.’ In 2008 Harvard Pilgrim scored a perfect 100% from the national homosexual group Human Rights Campaign for its employment policies. (This means it even paid for employees’ "sex-change" procedures!)"

The site is even more critical of Tisei, with the text calling him "probably the most left-wing Republican officeholder in Massachusetts history. He is openly homosexual and is a co-sponsor of the radical ’Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes’ bill (H1728) currently in the Legislature. He strongly supports same-sex ’marriage’ and voted NOT to let the people vote on it."

Tisei’s further nefarious doings: "He appears in a hideous pro-homosexual ’marriage’ propaganda video produced by the homosexual lobby (complete with phony statistics). He has a 100% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and a 100% rating by Planned Parenthood. He co-sponsored the expanded buffer zone bill. He also co-sponsored the ’emergency contraception bill’ that was vetoed by Gov. Mitt Romney."

The site laments that Massachusetts voters did not cast their ballots for Christy Mihos, a more "pro-family" candidate than Baker and Tisei, in MassResistance’s view, in the primary election. "In his speech before the convention Mihos said he would appoint only pro-family judges to the state Supreme Court, and that he would veto the ’Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes’ bill," text at the MassResistance site reads. "And on his website Mihos said that he supports the Opt-In Parents’ Rights bills."

Baker: Pro-Gay, Anti-Trans?

The text also critiqued Sen. Scott Brown’s endorsement of Baker and Tisei. Brown overcame a potential image problem stemming from a nude photo shoot he did in a national magazine in the 1980s to claim the Senate seat left vacant upon the death of famously liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy. That victory lionized Brown for the nation’s conservatives; his anti-gay credentials as a state lawmaker who sought to derail marriage equality before it could take effect in Massachusetts in 2004 also brought Brown admirers. However, in the last six years, Brown indicates, he has come to accept that marriage equality in Massachusetts is no longer an issue. He has also said that he would oppose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution seeking to ban marriage equality on a national level.

Massachusetts GLBT equality advocacy groups, however, recently gave voice to their displeasure with Baker when he attacked the anti-trans discrimination bill, using the far-right parlance of calling it "the bathroom bill," shorthand for claims that if transgendered individuals are given access to public facilities that reflect their own sense of gender (rather than their physiology), rapists and child molesters will enter women’s restrooms and shower areas under cover of the law to attack women and girls.

Though conservative voters have shown more interest lately in substantive issues such as the economy, anti-gay groups have pushed the so-called "bathroom argument" as a new socially conservative touchstone, warning of the perils and perversions of men using the women’s restroom--even if those men identify as women.

Although many people mistakenly believe that transgendered individuals are simply gays or lesbians who dress and live as members of the opposite sex, the issue is more complex--and distinct from sexual orientation: transgendered people frequently insist from extremely early ages that they are actually members of the opposite gender, despite their physical anatomy. Though the phenomenon is rare, transgendered people are so deeply convinced of their true sexual identity that some say that they have only experienced a sense of comfort and belonging in their own bodies after having undergone sex reassignment surgery.

Others are content to dress and live as members of the gender to which they belong, without undergoing the surgery and hormone treatments they would need to transition; the use of restroom facilities that match their gender identity is part of what trans people see as the rights that are denied them. The political debate, such as it is, focuses on people who are anatomically male, but identify as female. (Those who attack trans-inclusive anti-discrimination bills do not seem to identify anatomical females using men’s rooms as a social menace.)

"It appears Charlie Baker was for transgender civil rights before he was against them," MassEquality’s DeeDee Edmondson said in a statement issued after Baker publicly sought to distance himself from the trans anti-discrimination bill, going to far as to issue a leaflet that referred to the legislation derisively as "the bathroom bill." "Given Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s history of protecting employees from discrimination based on gender identity, which happened under Charlie Baker’s watch, we were surprised to hear of his opposition to the Transgender Civil Rights Bill," added Edmondson.

The current governor of Massachusetts, Patrick Deval, supports the bill.

GLBT site Queerty also covered the story. An April 18 Queerty item contrasted the candidate’s support for gay and lesbian equality with his apparent opposition to trans protections, summing up with, "Transgender voters: Still marginalized by politicos."

Tisei, an openly gay candidate for Lt. Governor, has also become a lighting rod for the anti-gay right. Tisei came out publicly late last year in an interview with local newspaper of record The Boston Globe. But the victory he and Baker shared at the primary would not have surprised analysts; in a Nov. 23, 2009, article on Tisei--who became a state lawmaker at age 22--Tufts University political scientist Jeffrey M. Berry predicted that Tisei’s status as an openly gay candidate would not hurt Baker’s chances, even though the running mates were looking for the GOP nomination. "The state is tolerant, and it is way past that," Berry told the Boston Globe. "We’ve accepted gay married as a part of life here."

PA State House Candidate ’Outed’ - As Straight. Is this Progress or what!

PA State House Candidate ’Outed’ - As Straight
by Kilian Melloy
Friday Apr 23, 2010

In a twist that some take as a sign of progress, one Philadelphia politician has accused another of hiding his true sexual orientation: incumbent state Rep. Babette Josephs, a Democrat, has accused Gregg Kravitz, who is running for her seat, of being heterosexual--and only pretending to be bisexual in order to curry votes from the GLBT community, according to an April 23 story at Philly.com.

"I outed him as a straight person," the 70-year-old Josephs told attendees of a fundraiser, some of whom reacted with amusement. But Josephs had a more serious claim to make: "There will be cheating if he can get away with it, because he already has tried to lie to people about a whole bunch of stuff, including his sexuality," she claimed. Josephs also said that Kravitz has a trust fund and "has never had a job," and intimated that he was a dilettante with little true political passion.

Kravitz, 29, expressed umbrage, saying, "That kind of taunting is going to make it more difficult for closeted members of the LGBT community to be comfortable with themselves. It’s damaging." As for the trust fund story, "I wish it were true," said Kravitz. The article offered a thumbnail of his career: a trader for a financial services firm, then a political consultant and fundraiser. Most recently, the article said, Kravitz had worked as a spokesperson for another politician.

"We’ve hit a new high point when candidates are accused of pretending to be gay to win a seat," Mark Segal, a longtime proponent of GLBT equality, said. Segal, who publishes the Philadelphia Gay News, added, "I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and I never have heard of this kind of charge in any race in the nation. I take that as flattery. It shows how far we’ve come."

"My sexuality is not a qualification for office," said Kravitz. "I bring it up only in the context that it’s important for the LGBT community to have a seat at the legislative table."

TPM reported on April 22 that Josephs had begun to distance herself from her earlier comments, telling the site, "I don’t even care, because a person’s sexuality has nothing to do with any of this."

"Be careful about being open because somebody like Babette Josephs will publicly ridicule you," Kravitz told TPM, saying that was the lesson he had learned. TPM noted that it was Kravitz himself who had supplied the media with a recording of Josephs’ comments.

Some observers were skeptical. "A sign of progress," repeated commentary atwizbang.com, where the story was ere-posted on April 23. Commented the individual who posted the article, "Is there any surprise that these same people are painting Tea Party members as extreme?

"I guess they have a point," added the commentator. "If this is the new norm, I’d rather be an extremist."

Obama Supporters are getting impatient, signs of disappointment are palpable.

Obama backers show signs of disappointment

President Barack Obama (R) is saluted as he returns to the White House a visit in California, in Washington, April 20, 2010. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

(Reuters) - Gay rights activists heckled President Barack Obama this week at a Democratic event that exposed signs of disenchantment threatening the party in November's congressional elections.

Five million first-time voters turned out in 2008, many drawn by Obama's promise of hope and overwhelmingly voting for Democrats. Now disappointed, or at least apathetic, they may not go to the polls this year.

Obama's support has dropped below 50 percent from nearly 70 percent after 15 months in office, Gallup opinion polls show.

Gay rights supporters, anti-abortion activists, environmentalists and backers of immigration reform all have seen their agendas stalled, with watered-down healthcare the main accomplishment of Obama's once-ambitious agenda.

At Monday's rally in Los Angeles, protesters shouted at Obama to repeal the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" military policy that allows gays to serve if they keep quiet about their sexual preference. Gays believe that makes them second-class citizens, and Obama has vowed to repeal the policy.

"Hey hold on a second. We are going to do that," he said. "I don't know why you're hollering," he added.

Supporters shouted "Yes we can," his slogan from the 2008 election, and "Be quiet," but the discontent lingers.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan insisted that opinion polls showed more than 80 percent of liberals approved of Obama. By comparison, Republicans right and center are locked in a "bloody civil war," he said.

Obama himself acknowledged during the day that "some folks are impatient and some folks just didn't realize how long this was going to take, how hard each battle was going to be. And so people get kind of worn down."

Many on the left who want more are fighting the president and one another. Others are abandoning politics. Both trends bode poorly for Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress in addition to the White House since January 2009.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs along with a third of the 100 seats in the Senate.

APATHY SAPS SUPPORT

Many gay activists would not show up to heckle Obama. They have stopped paying attention altogether.

"Obama was a vessel that everybody poured their hopes into. The gay community was no different," said John Henning, director of the Los Angeles-based grass-roots group Love Honor Cherish, before the president's California visit.

"What is really happening in the gay community is we are going into a hibernation phase," Henning added.

The sentiment is widespread.

"Even in the best of conditions, the Democrats would have a slight retrenchment of voters," said Stanford University professor Gary Segura, who is also a researcher at pollster Latino Decisions.

"But we're not in the best of conditions. We have a lot of disappointed Democrats and so I would expect more significant retrenchment, a lot of disappearing voters."

Blacks, Latinos and young people made up the bulk of the new voters who secured comfortable congressional majorities for the Democrats in 2008. Each could be a problem this year.

Obama is the first black U.S. president and more than 90 percent of black voters still approve of his record, Gallup says. But African-American members of Congress say job creation is critical and unemployment is roughly twice the national average among black males over the age of 20.

San Francisco videographer Joe Razo, a 24-year-old black man, backs Obama but needs to be convinced that congressional races matter. "I kind of just do the presidential elections," he said.

For many Latinos, including nearly 11 million illegal immigrants, the lack of an immigration bill and heavy use of deportation are a double slap in the face.

"A lot of people are not going to vote," said Salvador Reza, operator of a day-laborer center in Arizona. "(Obama) would have to actually come through with ... a serious immigration reform effort, or people are going to abandon him," he said.

Keeping Latinos happy should be a no-brainer for the Democrats, the party of choice for the fastest growing minority largely because of a pro-immigrant stance that contrasts with the anti-immigrant rhetoric of many Republicans.

Obama campaigned on making immigration reform a priority, but the way forward for illegal immigrants and the employers who say they need them is no more clear than it was before Obama took office.

FIGHTS WITHIN THE LEFT

The "everyone's in it together" feeling of the 2008 election has been replaced with "me first" on many fronts.

Obama's biggest accomplishment, the healthcare overhaul, opened old wounds. A fight over whether federal funds could be used to pay for abortion tied up the bill and split the party, which has been a strong supporter of abortion rights but now has a significant wing opposed to abortion.

Michigan anti-abortion rights congressman Bart Stupak, who voted for the healthcare bill after getting a pledge from Obama not to use federal funds for abortion, became the number one target for abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Stupak has dropped out in the face of what was expected to be a bitter primary race against an opponent backed by NARAL and other abortion rights groups. This could open the district for Republicans in November as Democratic success in such rural heartland areas has been based on the party fielding candidates with conservative views on issues such as abortion.

Similar fights will be played out elsewhere.

"Pro-life Democrats generally win in the more conservative states in the Midwest, if you think of Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. A pro-choice candidate would have a more difficult time," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Other issues are causing rifts in the ranks -- among them climate change legislation, now stuck in Congress.

Former Vice President Al Gore's environmental group is trying to push aside rival left-wing groups vying to be the next issue in line for congressional attention. "Tell our Senators: We got next!" Gore's Repower America, urged on March 26.

POTENTIAL LOSSES

Politicians are counting the races at risk.

Four of the 10 Senate races where Democrats may lose, including Majority Leader Harry Reid's re-election bid in Nevada, are in states that had above-average increases in turnout between 2006 and 2008, Professor Tom Schaller of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, calculated on political blog fivethirtyeight.com.

Battles for governor that could be affected by the new 2008 voters include California, Texas, Florida, Nevada, Georgia and Illinois, he calculated, noting that new governors will oversee redrawing federal voting districts after the 2010 census.

The voters could affect the outcome of the majority of 23 highly contested House of Representatives races. Democrats' key to winning is not persuading moderates but mobilizing the newer voters, Schaller said.

Arizona Signs Immigration Bill Targeting Latinos

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Arizona Signs Immigration Bill Targeting Latinos

posted by: Jessica Pieklo 1 day ago

121 comments

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer just signed the controversial bill that would require the police to ask people about their immigration status if officers have any reason to suspect they are in the country illegally. The signing of the bill represents a tragic day for Arizonans and for this country, but could mark the beginning of a fierce and necessary battle to overhaul the country's immigration laws.

Disgusted with this bill? Let Congress know!

In an effort to try and appeal to the reasonable elements of the Arizona electorate, President Obama blasted the bill as a threat to "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."

The bill now makes the failure to carry immigration documents a crime, and gives the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. It is an offensive, racist bill and to suggest otherwise is laughable. Does anyone really think the bill is targeted at anyone other than Latinos? Give me a break.

This is not the first time the bill has been brought up. Janet Napolitano had vetoed similar measures before being tapped to head the Department of Homeland Security by President Obama.

If a sliver of hope can be found through all this racism and hatred it is that the issue is likely to energize Latino voters, Democrats, and further fracture a destabilizing Republican base. This should push immigration reform to the forefront and once and for all expose the current Republican leadership as supporting a fascist law akin to those enacted by the Nazis. This includes Sentator McCain who, in his ever-lurching desperate movement to the right, endorsed the bill a few days ago. No longer can reasonable Republicans claim their party has not been taken over by the racist fringe.

Call on Congress to overhaul an immigration system that is unfair and failing all of us.

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TheCall Ministries Plans Anti-Gay Rally in Uganda - Will it Revive the 'Kill the Gays' Bill?

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TheCall Ministries Plans Anti-Gay Rally in Uganda - Will it Revive the 'Kill the Gays' Bill?

posted by: Steve Williams 1 day ago

24 comments

Those of you who have followed the story of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, frequently called the 'Kill the Gays' Bill for its mandate of the death penalty for the crime of "aggravated homosexuality" which particularly targets any sexually active gay person with HIV/AIDS, will no doubt be familiar with the history of the bill and how it appears that it was inspired by certain American evangelicals that, in March of last year, attended a conference in Uganda entitled: "A Seminar on Exposing the Homosexual Agenda." You can find out more on the American ties to the bill by going here.

Just when it seemed that the 'Kill the Gays' bill had been put on the back burner by Ugandan lawmakers, a new threat looms on the horizon from American anti-gay and anti-abortion extremist Lou Engle of TheCall Ministries who, with the endorsement of several of Uganda's local religious figures, has organized a rally event in Kampala for Sunday, May 2, that, according to the website, aims to specifically target "homosexuality and increased immorality" along with "the decay of morals and infrastructure" as "challenges" that need to be tackled alongside "witchcraft" and "human sacrifice."

From the Human Rights Campaign's action alert:

Right wing fundamentalists are once again exporting hate and intolerance masked as religion to Uganda. The Call Uganda, led and fueled by American fundamentalist Lou Engle, is an anti-gay stadium event and all-day rally, scheduled for May 2nd in Kampala, Uganda. Faith leaders, including HRC’s Religion and Faith Program, have joined together to insist that we will not stand for the continual exportation of violence and hatred by fundamentalist preachers. Enough is enough. These incendiary actions, led by Lou Engle and others, put LGBT people, their families and allies in fear of their lives.

Engle, who bills himself as a "visionary" against “the spiritual darkness of the homosexual agenda,” recently took a turn in the spotlight as part of the 2009 "prayercast," an online gathering that called for divine intervention against America's health care reform bill.

Engle was also part of a November 1, 2008, pro-Proposition 8/anti-gay marriage rally TheCall held in San Diego where he spoke against homosexuality, gay marriage and abortion. Engle is on record as saying that gay people are "possessed by demons", and has, in the past, called for "Christian martyrdom" to stop abortion. Engle's son also nowapparently works in San Francisco carrying out exorcisms to cast out "homosexual spirits."

While his influence may seem largely constrained in America, should Engle export his breed of anti-gay fervor to Uganda at this precarious time, it could add fuel to an already volatile fire.

As a result of last year's much smaller conference, a media campaignbegan in Uganda whereby the names, pictures and identifying details of Uganda's so-called "Top Homos" were printed in a national tabloid. Given the scope of this new event, such intensely dangerous circumstances seem destined to happen again, especially if Engel's past inflammatory statements on homosexuality and abortion are anything to go by.

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) highlights why Engle's often colorful rhetoric could be especially dangerous in Uganda:

Sexual Minorities Uganda calls on all human rights defenders, organizations, religious communities and leaders, governments, and civil society, globally to take action to ensure that Lou Engle and his associates do not set foot in Uganda and that the Call Uganda does not proceed with this inflammatory and hate-inducing plan. While Sexual Minorities Uganda supports freedom of worship, we recognize the need for restriction on any speech that incites hatred and violence against a minority group. If a prayer event is to be held in Uganda, it should be done in a manner which encourages Christ-like love and acceptance and does not incite hatred and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people...

[Engle's] inflammatory speech and focus on martyrdom can easily incite people in Uganda to disregard people’s human rights and go to extreme measures to eliminate whatever they characterize as “evil” or a “vice”. For example, Lou Engle preaches, “The most ‘dangerous terrorist’ is not Islam but God. One of God’s names is the avenger of blood. Have you worshiped that God yet?”

Put bluntly, the intolerant message that Engle and TheCall will be taking to Uganda in May could prove lethal for Uganda's much maligned LGBT population, and could ultimately be the spark that is needed to once again get the wheels turning in favor of the gravely abhorrent Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

All this comes at a time when reports suggest that, while the bill's looming presence has not yet been extinguished, there has been a gradual wind-down of support for the legislation after President Museveni voiced his opinion that lawmakers should "go slow" on the bill and consider it carefully given the global attention the legislation has received.

One thing is clear: International condemnation of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill has effectively slowed what once seemed to be a deadly runaway train. Lou Engle's proposed May event might once again stir up enough anti-gay animus to give new life to the proposed law and, moreover, could inspire fresh hatred and violence towards Uganda's LGBT population. This is a prospect that can not go unchallenged.

For those who are interested, SMUG has an action plan including a contact address so that those who are concerned can write to TheCall Ministries to voice their protest over "TheCall Uganda" event. Find out more here.

Pro-equality faith leaders and LGBT rights supporters have also created a Facebook group through which people can stay informed on the campaign to stop "TheCall Uganda" event from going ahead. You can join the group by going here. Alternatively, you can follow them on Twitter by going here.

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Urge President Museveni to veto the Anti-Homosexuality Bill . Sign the Care2 petition today.

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