Tuesday, March 02, 2010

You lose, Harry Jackson! Now go away! Gay marriage will happen in D.C.!

Excellent news from the Supreme Court today regarding gay marriage in Washington, D.C.:

The Supreme Court has refused to stop the District of Columbia's gay marriage law.

The court on Tuesday turned down requests from gay marriage opponents to stop the law, which will take effect on Wednesday.

Opponents of the law had argued to Chief Justice John Roberts that D.C. voters should have been allowed to vote on the issue. Local courts have rejected the opponents' arguments. Local courts have rejected the opponents' arguments.

The city has said Wednesday probably will be the first day same-sex couples can apply for marriage licenses. Couples still will have to wait three full business days for their licenses before exchanging vows.

The Supreme Court was a last ditch effort of opponents for D.C. marriage such as Pastor Harry Jackson:

Bishop Harry Jackson, along with others opposed to marriage equality coming to Washington, filed a last-minute request at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, March 1, seeking to stop the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 from becoming law on March 3 so that he can proceed with his referendum effort.

Aided by lawyers from the national organization Alliance Defense Fund, Jackson filed a request for an immediate stay of the law with Chief Justice John Roberts, who is responsible for hearing appeals coming from the District. Roberts has the ability either to make the decision himself or to turn the matter over to the full court for a decision.

Now that he has lost, maybe Jackson will stop trying to exploit the lgbt community in pursuit of the limelight.

Of course, who am I kidding with that wish?



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Ugandan anti-gay bill is worse than you think and other Tuesday midday news briefs



My online buddy Rob Tish of the blog Waking Up Now has created a video which breaks down the Ugandan anti-gay bill and introduces some new facts which you may not be aware of it. The bill is more lethal than what we have been led to believe.

460,000 Ugandans sign petition opposing the gay genocide bill - Deal with THAT, Martin Ssempa!

'Stop stealing our act,' says unbiased science's biggest sidestepper - NARTH (the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) is attacking the APA. Good luck with that, boys and girls!(heavy, heavy, HEAVY sarcasm alert)

HRC's Solmonese Signals Softening Of Gay Rights Support - Naturally I'm not happy about this.

Porter's May Day Rally Designed to Break the Curse of President Obama - Someone needs to pray, I mean really pray for Janet Porter. She is so far off the deep end I think she has gills to breath underwater.


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Martin Ssempa claims to be misunderstood

Martin Ssempa, the proponent of the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill wrote Pam's House Blend claiming that he has been misunderstood:

Dear Maura and Pams House friends,

I thank you for discussing my blog and the news that I am available online. It turns out we have just got connected to fiberoptic internet..for the first time in History ..and the good news is that we can now talk. I regret that I have been misrepresented but I do hope we can learn more from each other.

First Maura I did respond to your posting on my blog. I hope you got it..The negative birth rates in Western nations shoud concern all of us. For us in Africa, dying without giving birth to a child when it was in your power to produce is a curse. It is a betrayal of the ancestors because we the living are the link to the descendants. That in a sense why homosexuality is deemed as a curse and an abomination. Even before Christianity, our culture abhors anything that does not produce life.

Secondly, the anti homosexuality bill is a Ugandan effort, by Ugandans for Ugandans. A lot has been spoken about the death penalty creating hysteria among some of you that we propose to run around and round up anyone who practices sodomy. No such thing..The death penalty is specifically proposed in cases of aggravated defilement which is the equivalent of statutory rape of minor or a handicapped person against their wish. I do not support or will not support any bill which seeks the death penalty for homosexuals. On the other hand we will not be deterred from making the bill which is intended to protect our children from recruitment and propaganda. Hey now with internet we can talk more on this.

Finally kindly tell your fellow blogger to mind their manners when they are discussing. Continue to challenge their racial bigotry which makes it look like an African cant have a PhD or be able to blog! Some of these comments are vulgar, obscene and totally lacking objectivity with which constructive debate can be engaged in.

Hope you don't mind me joining this great debate.

Martin Ssempa PhD

What Ssempa does here is the equivalent of offering a plate of cow manure covered with icing and trying to pass it off as cake.

Here is what he omits about the bill. It would:

* Expand the definitions for homosexual acts, making conviction easier. Current law requires evidence of penetration. The new law would expand the definition of homosexual activity to”touch(ing) another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.” Touching itself is defined as “touching—(a) with any part of the body; (b) with anything else; (c) through anything; and in particular includes touching amounting to penetration of any sexual organ. anus or mouth.”

* Affirm Uganda’s lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of homosexuality.

* Define a new crime of “aggravated homosexuality” for those who engage in sex with someone under the age of 18, who are HIV-positive, who is a “repeat offender” (so broadly defined as to include anyone who has had a relationship with more than one person, or who had sex with the same person more than once), or who had sex with a disabled person (consensual or not). The penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is death by hanging.

* Require anyone arrested on suspicion of homosexuality to undergo HIV testing to determine the individual’s qualification for prosecution of “aggravated homosexuality.”

* Criminalize “attempted homosexuality” with imprisonment for seven years.

* Criminalize “promoting” homosexuality with fines and imprisonment for between five and seven years. This overly-broad provision would criminalize all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda . It would also criminalize any attempt to repeal or modify the law in the future, as those moves could also be seen as “promoting” homosexuality.

* Criminalize “aiding and abetting homosexuality” with seven years imprisonment. This provision could be used against anyone extending counseling, medical care, or otherwise providing aide gay people.

* Criminalize the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.

* Add a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment for up to three years.

* Penalize people who run “brothels” with five to seven years imprisonment for renting to LGBT people. However, it defines a brothel as “a house, room, set of rooms or place of any kind for the purposes of homosexuality” instead of the more normal definition of a place where commercial sex work takes place. Anyone’s bedroom would be a “brothel” under this definition, placing landlords and hotel owners in jeopardy for renting to LGBT people.

* Add an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad. (Editor's note - this means a Ugandan gay or lesbian living in America can be "called back" to Uganda for prosecution.)

* Void all international treaties, agreements and human rights obligations which conflict with this bill.

Oh yeah - that claim about gays recruiting children? It's not true. I also noticed that  Ssempa didn't comment about his penchant for showing pornography in church as a way of stigmatizing the gay community.

But he does take care to "explain" the death penalty. However, his explanation contradicts what is actually said. Plus, it gives me pause and it's something that's been on my mind for a while.

Taking into account Uganda's already oppressive environment towards the gay community, just what would prevent the Ugandan government (if this bill passes) from rounding up a group of gays and lesbians and executing them on the pretense of "aggravated homosexuality?"

Things like this have happened before. History unfortunately is filled with stories of genocide committed on the pretenses of "best intentions" and I'm afraid Uganda will be yet another march in this direction, with Ssempa leading the way.

Ssempa should be aware of the old proverb "it's better to be thought of as a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

But in this case, the word "fool" should be replaced with "genocidal maniac."



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