The New York Times Spotlights Anti-Gay Evangelicals’ Role in Influencing Brutal Legislation in Uganda
January 4, 2010
Three anti-gay evangelical Americans presented a series of talks in Uganda last March about “the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family” which seem to have been a driving force behind Uganda’s proposed legislation to execute some of its gay citizens, according to a New York Times article published on Sunday, January 3.
The United States has now demanded that the proposed legislation meet international human rights standards, but Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity recently said “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”
Although Ugandan leaders have indicated that they will curb the legislation to instead call for life imprisonment of some gay people, locals told The New York Times of the damage that’s already been inflicted by American religious leaders:
“What these people have done is set the fire they can’t quench,” said the Rev. Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian who went undercover for six months to chronicle the relationship between the African anti-homosexual movement and American evangelicals.
Mr. Kaoma was at the conference and said that the three Americans “underestimated the homophobia in Uganda” and “what it means to Africans when you speak about a certain group trying to destroy their children and their families.”
“When you speak like that,” he said, “Africans will fight to the death.”
But shortly after Uganda’s posed legislation drew international attention, anti-gay leaders began distancing themselves from their ties to Africa and its growing rate of homophobia. Most notably, evangelical Christian pastor Rick Warren issued a video statement in December that cited “lies and errors and false reports” as linking him to Uganda’s anti-gay sentiments. The New York Times noted, however, that Warren had visited the country as recently as 2008 and has been quoted as comparing homosexuality to “pedophilia.”
The New York Times also published a related report, “Gay in Uganda and Feeling Hunted,” on Monday, January 4, detailing the hardships LGBT people face in Uganda. The article included a compelling multi-media component on its website with commentary from LGBT people on the ground in Uganda. The Times also published a scathing editorial on Tuesday, January 5 calling upon the U.S. Government and others to make it clear to Uganda that if its anti-gay legislation becomes law, “it will lose millions of dollars in foreign aid and be shunned globally.”
We applaud The Times for shining a light on this vital topic and ensuring that people around the world get a clear sense of the immense challenges LGBT people encounter on a daily basis in Uganda, and how they’ve learned to survive.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest information surrounding Uganda’s anti-gay legislation and the media’s coverage of the topic.
Related Posts:Continuing Media Coverage of Rick Warren Controversy
December 22, 2008
Media outlets continue their coverage of the controversy over Present-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. See the commentary and videos below:
December 19, 2008
CNN: American Morning – Warren Responds to Inauguration Outrage
12.19.08 06:15 am – CNN reports on anti-gay evangelical leader Rick Warren responding to the outcry over Obama inviting him to speak at the presidential inauguration. Warren: “Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and right will recognize that both of us have shown a model commitment to civility in America.”
December 18, 2008
Fox News: On the Record with Greta Van Susteren – Obama and The Base
12.18.08 10:42 pm – Greta Van Susteren and Rick Santorum share thoughts on Rick Warren speaking at the presidential inauguration. Santorum claims with such a move, Obama is saying, “‘Look, let me have the cover of being the moderate, and then I will go ahead and govern as a liberal.’”
Fox News: Hannity & Colmes – Barack Obama Defends Choosing Rick Warren to Deliver Inauguration
12.18.08 09:11 pm – Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, Michael Steele, Maria Cardona and Erick Erickson talk about the Rick Warren controversy. Hannity claims, “Rick Warren – this is the kind of diversity and the kind of change Obama talked about. It’s not being ideological, it’s not having people only with whom you agree.”
MSNBC: The Rachel Maddow Show – Obama Selected Rick Warren to Give His Inauguration Invocation
12.18.08 09:00 pm – Rachel Maddow speaks out at length against Obama choosing Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. Maddow also interviews S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says he “disagree[s] with [Warren] vehemently” on LGBT issues, but that Warren’s selection can be “an opportunity, if we make it one.”
CNN: Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull – Inauguration Prayer Fight
12.18.08 08:26 pm – HRC’s Joe Solmonese on Rick Warren: “[I]n this moment, a symbolically important moment, when the eyes of the world are on this country and on this transitional moment, it would seem to me that there would be someone that president-elect Obama could pick to usher in a new day in America.”
Fox News: The O’Reilly Factor – Battle with the Base
12.18.08 08:21 pm – Truth Wins Out’s Wayne Besen and pastor (and Rick Warren’s friend) Robert Jeffress share their opinions on the Rick Warren controversy. Besen: “[L]et’s stop pretending that Rick Warren is a moderate. He’s masquerading as a moderate. This olive branch to evangelicals is more like poison ivy to [the LGBT community].”
MSNBC: Hardball with Chris Matthews – Obama Chooses Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren to Deliver Inaguration Invocation
12.18.08 07:43 pm – Chris Matthews, HRC’s Joe Solmonese and BeliefNet.com’s Steven Waldman debate the subject of Rick Warren’s inaugural invocation. Solmonese asserts that Obama’s selection of Warren is “an insensitive and politically shortsighted act,” while Waldman claims Obama is “trying to reach out to moderate evangelicals.”
PBS: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer – Insulting or Inclusive?
12.18.08 06:39 pm – Harry Knox, director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, and Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, offer opposing viewpoints on the issue of Rick Warren delivering the invocation at Obama’s inauguration.
MSNBC: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with David Gregory – Inaugural Invocation Uproar
12.18.08 06:37 pm – FRC’s Peter Sprigg and PFAW’s Kathryn Kolbert debate Obama’s selection of the anti-gay Rick Warren as an inaugural speaker. Kolbert says Warren is a “divisive” choice, while Sprigg claims Obama “wanted to reach out across some of these lines of division.”
CNN: The Situation Room – Gays to Obama: We Feel Disrespected
12.18.08 06:37 pm – HRC’s Harry Knox on Rick Warren at Obama’s inauguration: “It’s really very sad for us because we worked very hard for Senator Obama’s election – and now president-elect. And for us to not be respected by his choices in this case is really very disappointing to us.”
NBC: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams – Politics & Prayer
12.18.08 06:28 pm – NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports on LGBT equality advocates’ outcry over Rick Warren’s inauguration speech. HRC’s Harry Knox: “By making this pick, the president-elect really sent a message to me and to my community that we don’t matter as much to him as people who didn’t even vote for him.”
Fox News: Special Report with Brit Hume – Prayer Problems
12.18.08 06:16 pm – Brit Hume reports on reactions from the LGBT community and its supporters to Rick Warren speaking at President-elect Obama’s inauguration.
CNN: CNN Newsroom – Left Miffed at Obama
12.18.08 03:22 pm – CNN’s Rick Sanchez discusses the Rick Warren controversy with Firedoglake.com’s Jane Hamsher. Hamsher: “If [Obama} really wants to preach inclusiveness, then why not have somebody up there, a pastor who represents inclusiveness, and isn’t trying to build his political power by alienating and victimizing people who are gay?”
WSJ.com: Rick Warren
12.18.08 01:05 pm – The Wall Street Journal’s Adam Najberg discusses the controversy over Rick Warren’s anti-gay views and provides excerpt from an interview between Warren and BeliefNet.com’s Steve Waldman in which Warren made strong anti-gay statements.
CNN: American Morning – Obama Outrage over Rick Warren
12.18.08 07:04 am – Hilary Rosen on Rick Warren at Obama’s inauguration: “I think Rick Warren loses his moral authority when he, you know, is completely hypocritical about the way he deals with the issue of gays and lesbians and equality.”
More Media Coverage of Rick Warren Inaugural Controversy
December 19, 2008
MSNBC: MSNBC News Live – Rick Warren & The Inauguration
12.18.08 04:43 pm – PFAW’s Kathryn Kolbert, The American Prospect’s Ezra Klein, and Townhall.com’s Amanda Carpenter debate Obama’s selection of Rick Warren as an inaugural speaker. Kolbert: “We’re disappointed with the choice of pastor Warren primarily because he is opposed to many of the key constituents of the Obama electorate.”
MSNBC: MSNBC News Live – Rick Warren Invocation
12.18.08 01:59 pm – NBC News correspondent Chuck Todd says Obama’s decision to have pastor Rick Warren give the invocation at his inauguration is “almost like a final straw in what has been a very tense relationship between major gay Democratic power players and the Obama world. ”
MSNBC: MSNBC News Live – Ann Curry & Rev. Warren
12.18.08 12:20 pm – Dateline co-host Ann Curry talks about her interview with Rick Warren. Curry claims that Warren was “worried” that if Prop. 8 failed, “it would prevent him from getting up on the pulpit and speaking out against same-sex marriage,” even though the Calif. marriage decision had nothing to do with clergy.
ABC: The View – Elisabeth Hasselback on Rick Warren
12.18.08 11:17 am – The hosts of The View debate Rick Warren giving the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Elisabeth Hasselback claims Rick Warren “is a great choice,” saying, “potentially maybe what President-elect Obama is trying to do is diminish the sort of negative cast that’s on Christian evangelicals.”
President-Elect Obama’s Troubling Inaugural Choice
December 18, 2008
Across the nation, LGBT people and progressives gasped as they read the headlines that President-elect Obama selected the Rev. Rick Warren to give the prayer of invocation at his inauguration. Obama’s hopeful statements of support for the LGBT community made the invitation to Warren that much more shocking. Bloggers and our collected media clips show that Warren has a long history of using his platform to perpetuate anti-gay stances.
Box Turtle states:
“Rick Warren claims he’s not a homophobe because he has “many gay friends” and has “eaten dinner in gay homes.” And yet, he still believes that his friends’ relationships are no different morally from child rape, incest or polygamy.
As the pastor of Saddleback mega-church (the fourth-largest church in the United States) he and his wife spent millions on global HIV/AIDS ministries. Conservatives criticize him for taking such a “liberal” stance on the HIV/AIDS issue, but he continues to equate same-sex marriage with incest and polygamy.
On Father’s Day this year, Warren met was persuaded to meet with the gay-affirming organization Soulforce, where he argued that gay people had to be celibate if they want to serve the church.
Saddleback Church drew global media attention as the venue for a presidential debate on values, which Warren followed up by using his media influence to speak against marriage for same-sex marriage. He was instrumental in building support for the passage of Proposition 8, which banned marriage for gay couples.
Today, President-elect Obama responded at a live press conference with carefully crafted talking points by saying that Warren had invited him to Saddleback in spite of their differing views on many topics and now he has invited Warren to be part of America’s “noisy conversation” of divergent opinions. Obama pointed to the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery as the minister who will give the benediction and has vastly different view on gay issues.
Recently, Warren said in an interview over at Beliefnet that he believes in full equality:
Beliefnet: Do you support civil unions or domestic partnerships?
Warren: I don’t know if I’d use the term there but I support full equal rights for everybody in America. I don’t believe we should have unequal rights depending on particular lifestyles so I fully support equal rights.
Beliefnet: What about partnership benefits in terms of insurance or hospital visitation?
Warren: You know, not a problem with me.
GLAAD has already urged the media ask incisive questions about what equality means in relation to employment, housing and protection from hate crimes. We challenge them to hold both Rick Warren and President-Elect Obama accountable and clarify what “equality” truly means to them.
Rick Warren Media Coverage Update
December 18, 2008
More media outlets are covering the growing controversy over Present-elect Barack Obama’s decision to select Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. See the commentary and videos below:
December 18, 2008
MSNBC: MSNBC News Live – Rick Warren Controversy
12.18.08 11:27 am – Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter analyzes Obama’s response to a reporter’s question on why he asked Rick Warren to speak at his inauguration. Alter: “What [Obama is] saying to gay rights activists is, ‘Look, the era of interest group politics leading around the Democratic party by the nose is over.’”
MSNBC: MSNBC News Live – President-elect Obama on Rick Warren
12.18.08 11:14 am – President-elect Obama discusses why he invited pastor Rick Warren to speak at his inauguration despite Warren holding views on social issues such as LGBT equality at odds with Obama’s own: “We’re not going to agree on every single issue. But what we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable [...]”
CNN: American Morning – Inauguration Outrage
12.18.08 06:05 am – CNN reports on the outcry over President-elect Obama inviting pastor Rick Warren to speak at his inauguration. LGBT equality advocates are upset over the choice because of various anti-gay statements Warren has made in the past.
CNN: American Morning – Obama Outrage over Rick Warren
12.18.08 07:04 am – Hilary Rosen on Rick Warren at Obama’s inauguration: “I think Rick Warren loses his moral authority when he, you know, is completely hypocritical about the way he deals with the issue of gays and lesbians and equality.”
December 17, 2008
CNN: Anderson Cooper 360 – Digging Deeper: Inauguration Controversy
12.17.08 11:08 pm – Hilary Rosen, Robert Zimmerman and Roland Martin weigh in on Rick Warren giving the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Rosen: “This is not a policy difference. This is not even about gay marriage. This is about the way that Pastor Warren has used homosexuality as a weapon [...]”
MSNBC: The Rachel Maddow Show – Lineup Announced for Obama’s Inauguration
12.17.08 09:52 pm – Rachel Maddow and Kent Jones discuss Rick Warren speaking at Obama’s inauguration. Jones sarcastically comments, “Apparently, in his invocation, Dr. Warren will be asking God not only to bless America but also to make it a lot less gay. They couldn’t get someone else? Come on.”
CNN: The Situation Room – Obama’s Choice Questioned
12.17.08 06:39 pm – In reference to the controversy over Rick Warren speaking at Obama’s inauguration, The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes claims that it’s “not unhelpful…”
Past Media Coverage of Rick Warren
December 18, 2008
We’ve gone through and pulled some video from our archives on the past media coverage of Rick Warren. Check out the commentary and video below.
You can also view our YouTube playlist that GLAAD will be updating here: : http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3719D1D6EADA54BE
November 11, 2008
Comedy Central: The Colbert Report – Dan Savage
11.11.08 10:15 pm – Steven Colbert jokingly talks about Prop. 8 protests in front of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and interviews Dan Savage on the suggested connection between Prop. 8 and black voters’ support.
Fox News: Hannity & Colmes – Rick Warren: Controversy Continues Over Prop. 8 in California
11.11.08 09:31 pm – Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren addresses a question about a gay member of his congregation being conflicted over his support of Prop. 8: “I just am opposed to redefining marriage. For five thousand years that term, ‘marriage,’ has represented a man and a woman.”
November 10, 2008
Fox News: The O’Reilly Factor – Culture Warrior: Prop. 8 Protests at Rick Warren’s Church
11.10.08 09:54 pm – Bill O’Reilly denounces Prop. 8 protests in front of Rick Warren’s church: “My problem here is that they’re directing their ire toward the wrong target. To go after a church, which is a private institution, they’re preaching based on biblical teachings. And there are biblical admonitions against homosexuality.”
January 2, 2008
Comedy Central: The Colbert Report – Rick Warren
December 20, 2007
Fox News: Hannity & Colmes – Warrens Address AIDS
12.20.07 09:00 pm – Pastor Rick and Kay Warren talk about their work with AIDS and Kay says, “I thought it was a gay disease. And for me I thought that meant I didn’t have to care. And I was so wrong.”
December 14, 2007
ABC: Nightline – Kay Warren on AIDS
12.14.07 11:42 pm – Kay Warren, wife of pastor Rick Warren, admits she did not respond to the AIDS crisis immediately because it “was tied with homosexuality,” but now says all people with HIV/AIDS should be treated with compassion.
April 6, 2007
CNN: What Would Jesus Really Do? – Pastor Rick Warren on Gays and AIDS
04.06.07 08:31 pm – Pastor Rick Warren says he does not agree with his “gay friends” on every issue, but that he can still work with them on issues like HIV/AIDS; says he can usually find common ground.
December 1, 2006
MSNBC: Tucker – Evangelicals Against Obama?
12.01.06 04:12 pm – Pastor Rick Warren talks about bringing together politicians on HIV/AIDS despite their other political views; Warren briefly mentions Ted Haggard and the the extreme right on LGBT issues.
April 19, 2006
CNN: CNN Saturday Night – Battling AIDS
08.19.06 10:13 pm – Purpose Driven Life author Pastor Rick Warren and his wife say AIDS is not a “gay disease” and that Christians should help people even if it was.
December 2, 2005
CNN: Larry King Live – Rick Warren on Gay People and AIDS
12.02.05 09:01 pm – Rick Warren, pastor and author of The Purpose-Driven Life, talks about churches fighting AIDS and why people are gay or lesbian.
December 1, 2005
ABC: ABC World News with Charles Gibson – Evangelicals Start AIDS Fight
12.01.05 06:30 pm – Evangelical Rick Warren talks about his new push to fight AIDS in America; says church has ignored AIDS in the past because it was seen as a gay issue.
GLAAD Calls on Media to Examine Rick Warren’s History of Anti-Gay Rhetoric
December 18, 2008
GLAAD released a statement today about President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.
From GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano:
The inauguration of a new President is a day when Americans should be brought together, to signal a new beginning for our country. It is therefore deeply troubling that the President-elect has selected someone whose defamatory and damaging anti-gay statements and views, including linking marriage for committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia, clearly divide rather than unite Americans. Media outlets have a responsibility to scrutinize Rick Warren’s history of using his powerful platform to advance anti-gay rhetoric and prevent loving couples from being able to take care of and be responsible for one another.
