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GO HOME Uganda’s ambassador Oliver Wonekha – President Obama has the backs of the Gays around the world and Museveni says he has declared war upon Gays –  Surely we should acknowledge this WAR?

By Melanie Nathan, February 17, 2014.

The word is spreading that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been signed into law in Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni. We do know that President Museveni has assented to the Anti-Porn Bill, but at this time his signature to the AHB is rumor only. Though some discredited Tabloids, are reporting that it has been signed, we have yet to verify this as correct.  But Museveni has said that he will indeed sign the Bill. His time is running out. In the meantime M7 has declared war on the Gays of the World and so we should respond accordingly.

What does one do during war? We expel and recall ambassadors, we stop AID and Trade.

If we do not respond with a significant response, beyond the mere cutting of AID, we will be accepting such without a defense and inviting more countries to persecute LGBT people through State sanctioned laws. Imagine if a country said we are going to jail all Jews or all black people and then declared an international war on that minority. Surely that is a message to attack and hurt those minorities? An invitation for other countries to do the same?  This is in essence a declaration to kill. It provides license to persecute local and international gays.

The BILL: Museveni’s time is potentially up to assent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The Bill provides for life in prison for gays and has many other onerous clauses, though we have yet to see a true depiction of the Bill that passed Parliament on Dec 20, 2013. If the President does not assent to it and sends it back to parliament it will go through more process and can become law anyway after 2/3rd majority voted for it. If he ignores it and does not send it back, it will automatically become law right away. He has said he WOULD sign it and we all know that such is his political play to renew his long term dictatorship with his party. He could not risk alienating his party without putting his support behind the bill. So in essence if he does sign or even ignore it AHB becomes law.

What we do know is that if he signs or ignores it – it will be law and:

• We will see the most insidious example of how a dictator has thrown a minority to the wind, endorsed their persecution, as a mechanism for his political survival;
• We know the Bill infringes a very basic human right – the right to one’s sexuality – in Uganda and sets the tone for all of Africa if this goes unfettered;
• We know it is a serious assault on the Ugandan Constitution and the International Declaration of Human Rights;
• We know it underpins the ongoing witch hunts, assaults, persecution, arrests, parading in front of press, public outings of LGBT Ugandans and same will get worse;
• We know Simon Lokodo, Minister of Integrity and Ethics, has a hit list of Ugandans which he will invoke;
• We know that Museveni has said he is declaring war on the gays of the world. And even worse on his own people;
• We know the EU, the UK, Canda and the USA have spoken out against the Bill. President Obama said it will complicate relations with Uganda, where we provide AID, tourism, alliances, business relations and much more.

Museveni has declared war – in his own words – on all gays in the world.

The President in the U.S.A, Barack Obama, has the backs of the LGBT community. Hence President Obama should acknowledge we are all at war at the behest of Museveni. The President, in acknowledging Museveni’s declaration of war, should indeed go to battle for us. Surely war on one group of Americans is a war on all? That means ordering the expulsion of Uganda’s Ambassador Oliver Wonekha from the U.S.A. and much more:

CNN REPORTED:  A statement, President Yoweri Museveni declared debate on the legislation over and said he was not concerned about the expected international outcry. His remarks, made during a conference of the ruling National Resistance Movement, drew loud applause from supporters.

“We shall have a war with the homosexual lobby in the world, but backed by these people (scientists) and you,” he told supporters.

Ignoring pleas from the community of Ugandans in the U.S.A.:
Let us all remember that there are many Ugandan LGBT people living in exile in the U.S.A. and other countries. Recently Ugandan gays visited the Ugandan Ambassador to the U.S.A and the ambassador refused to speak to them or address their concerns. See out very moving report here:

Victor Mukasa, one such exiled Kuchu noted with passion:
“Our national emblem up on the wall on the other side of the room. A picture of our president hung above us. The embassy officials spoke with us in our local languages. I missed home, Uganda. Right there I felt very proud to be Ugandan. I felt like I wanted to be back home to help with building our nation. We were told that the ambassador was in and that they were going to ask her to come down and chat with us. An official came down and informed us that the ambassador was busy and could not see us. I felt so disappointed. It hit me again that I am not even needed in Uganda. That I was driven out of my motherland unwillingly. That the US religious right is so merciless and heartless that they can lead to the suffering of so many people in Africa and yet sit and live with it comfortably in the US. That my brothers and sisters in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa are living in fear and suffering because they are the casualty of power struggles. That my transgender sister, Brenda Kizza, has been in detention for more than ten days and now finally in prison for being transgender in Uganda. Then I got furious and am still very furious. I am going to fight more than before. I call upon all those than still have some humanity in them to rise up and fight for all marginalized LGBT people across the world. Let’s do whatever we can do without violence. Let’s keep angry until everyone is free.”

What next? We should prepare ourselves to act fast if the Bill goes into law and demand participation in the war declared by Mseveni. Should we recall our own Ambassador from Uganda? That Embassy does not provide asylum to LGBT people in any event and barely gives Visas.  I imagine before closing such Embassy we should offer special VISAS to LGBT people who want to leave:

My LETTER TO UGANDA AMBASSADOR:

Dear Ugandan Ambassador Oliver Wonekha

President Museveni said he plans to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which underpins the persecution of Ugandans based on their sexual orientation.

Recently a group of Ugandans, forced into exile by persecution in Uganda, came to your embassy asking to speak with you and you refused to meet with them. (http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/02/06/denied-by-ambassador-exiled-ugandans-reflect/)

You have no respect for the dignity and safety of your own people and their struggle, causing them to to seek refuge in foreign lands. These are people who love Uganda as much as any other Ugandan.

You know that these loving LGBTI people are not a threat to Ugandan society. It has never been proved that a single Ugandan gay person has hurt or influenced a child. But what has been proved is that Ugandan society has turned against its own LGBT and they have been forced to leave. Now those who remain are threatened with life in prison, and that is because your Government has declared war on them through the legislation of laws based on falsity and myth.

They are a minority of people who want to live and love in peace.  The AHB is a trumped up political scape goat weapon directed like a torpedo at the hearts of LGBT Ugandans,

Gay people are not a threat any more than straight people are – and the majority of rapists and pedophiles in Uganda are heterosexual.

Your President has declared war on us and on his own people. Those were the words he used.

We do not want you in our country, especially that you refuse to dialogue with your own Kuchus and because we are now at WAR.

Please leave of your own accord, while we plan to lobby our President for your removal.

See Article http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/02/18/u-s-a-should-expel-the-ugandan-ambassador-as-museveni-declares-war-on-gays-in-world/

In Solidarity with Uganda’s defenseless – the woman, the poor, the opposition and the LGBT people,

Melanie Nathan
Private Courts.
[email protected]

What can we do:-

1)  Helping those on the ground with financial and legal support to prepare for the inevitable legal cases that will follow this – to help those arrested with defenses and also the challenges brought by activists to prove the unconstitutionality of the Bill.

2)   Advocate, pursue and fund mechanisms and easeir routes out of Uganda for those who want to leave – advocating for better asylum laws

3)   Provide funding to Rescue Fund at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rescue-fund-to-help-lgbt-people-escape-africa/x/6400968

4)   Start the Sanctions Against Uganda Process:

Aspects to consider and pursue:

Call up loans,
Recall and deny AID,

Boycott Corporations doing Business in Uganda who fail to speak out against Bill, or who fail to withdraw their business,

Boycott Ugandan Business,

Travel Bans and Boycotts,

Stop trade with Uganda,
Sports bans,

Expel Ugandan Ambassadors and diplomats,
Stop sending troops and support of defense operations to Uganda,

Resolution in United nations,

Deny Visas to Ugandans who support the AHB – including Bahati, Kadaga, and all the MPS who voted for it,

Put the scientists and doctors who supported AHB and who provided reports to support the Bill on Visa denial list, blacklisted from professional associations, conferences etc.,

5) Start protesting everything Ugandan

6) Contact your own member of Congress to ask them to speak out and to support all or some of this list of suggestions

7) Open your homes, hearts and wallets for LGBT African refugees

8) Keep an eye on these pages for more direct action

All said and done this war has just began and it is incumbent on the U.S. to exert its defense of the World gays to a maximum degree.

 PLEASE HELP US RESCUE GAY UGANDANS AT THIS CAMPAIGN:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rescue-fund-to-help-lgbt-people-escape-africa/x/6400968