AFJN Takes a Stance on Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation
Posted December 7, 2009
AFJN Executive Director Rocco Puopolo, s.x., has recently signed a statement of U.S. Christian leaders opposing Uganda's "Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009" The legislation would criminalize homosexuality in the country; homosexuals and anyone who avoids reporting them to the government would be liable to imprisonment, and practitioners of so-called "aggravated homosexuality" - those who are HIV-positive - would face the death penalty. A draft HIV Prevention and Control Bill also criminalizes homosexuality in such a way that HIV-positive gays accused of transmitting the virus could face the death penalty.
Such legislation is an affront to human rights promotion around the world. A group called Sexual Minorities Uganda said that the legislation "goes against the inclusive spirit necessary for our economic as well as political development" and described it as "profoundly undemocratic and un-African." Furthermore, any additional stigmatization of HIV/AIDS seriously undermines AIDS prevention efforts. "Our national strategic plan for HIV/AIDS aims to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care, but if people are criminalized and not allowed to exist, how can they access these services?" said Beatrice Were, a Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist. Opposition and outrage is growing around the world, including among international leaders such as UN Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, British and Canadian governments, and the wider Christian community.
AFJN stands behind the U.S. Christian Leaders' Statement on the act, which you can read below, and encourages you to contact your Senators and Representatives to let them hear your concern about the U.S. government's silence on this important issue.
Read more about the proposed Uganada legislation:
-http://allafrica.com/stories/
-http://allafrica.com/stories/
U.S. Christian Leaders' Statement on "Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009"
Our Christian faith recognizes violence, harassment and unjust treatment of any human being as a betrayal of Jesus' commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As followers of the teachings of Christ, we must express profound dismay at a bill currently before the Parliament in Uganda. The "Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009" would enforce lifetime prison sentences and in some cases the death penalty for homosexual behavior, as well as punish citizens for not reporting their gay and lesbian neighbors to the authorities.
As Americans, some may wonder why we are raising our voices to oppose a measure proposed in a nation so far away from home. We do so to bear witness to our Christian values, and to express our condemnation of an injustice in which groups and leaders within the American Christian community are being implicated. We appeal to all Christian leaders in our own country to speak out against this unjust legislation.
In our efforts to imitate the Good Samaritan, we stand in solidarity with those Ugandans beaten and left abandoned by the side of the road because of hatred, bigotry and fear. Especially during this holy season of Advent, when the global Christian community prepares in hope for the light of Christ to break through the darkness, we pray that they are comforted by God's love.
Regardless of the diverse theological views of our religious traditions regarding the morality of homosexuality, in our churches, communities and families, we seek to embrace our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as God's children worthy of respect and love. Yet we are painfully aware that in our country gays and lesbians still face hostility and violence. We recognize that such treatment degrades the human family, threatens the common good and defies the teachings of our Lord -- wherever it occurs.
Thomas P. Melady
Former U.S. Ambassador to Uganda and the Vatican
Ronald J. Sider
President
Evangelicals for Social Action
Jim Wallis
President
Sojourners
Rocco Puopolo, SX
Executive Director
Africa Faith and Justice Network
James E. Hug, S.J.
President
Center of Concern
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez
President
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Institute Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Rev. Adam Hamilton
United Methodist pastor and author
Arturo Chavez
President & CEO
Mexican American Catholic College
Dr. Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada
T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Dr. David P. Gushee
Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics
Mercer University
Marie Lucey, OSF
Associate Director for Social Mission
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Bryan N. Massingale, S.T.D.
President, Catholic Theological Society of America
Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Marquette University
Melissa Rogers
Director
Wake Forest University Divinity School's Center for Religion and Public Affairs
Maryann Cusimano Love
Department of Politics
The Catholic University of America
The Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin
Incoming President
National Council of Churches of Christ USA
The Hon. Douglas W. Kmiec
Diana Butler Bass
Author and Educator
Jim Martin, SJ
Associate Editor
America magazine
Brian McLaren
author. speaker. Activist
Rev. Christopher P. Promis, C.S.Sp.
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Promoter
Congregation of the Holy Spirit
Province of the USA
Dr. Derrick Harkins
Senior Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church
Board Member, World Relief
Marie Dennis
Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Co-President, Pax Christi International
Jim Winkler
General Secretary
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society
Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
Senior Fellow
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
The Reverend Debra W. Haffner
Executive Director
Religious Institute
Stephen F. Schneck, PhD
Director
Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies
The Catholic University of America
Geoffrey Black
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ
David Hollenbach, S.J.
University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice
Theology Department
Boston College
Richard R. Gaillardetz
Murray/Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies
University of Toledo
Alex Mikulich
Research Fellow
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Loyola University
Christine Firer Hinze
Professor, Christian Ethics
Department of Theology
Fordham University
Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston
Director
Disciples Justice Action Network and Coordinator, Disciples Center for Public Witness
Paulette Skiba, BVM
Religious Studies
Clarke College
Paul Lakeland
Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor of Catholic Studies
Fairfield University
J. Matthew Ashley
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Erin Lothes Biviano
Fellow- Theology, Center for the Study of Science and Religion
Columbia University
Rev. Paul de Vries, PhD
President, New York Divinity School
Board Member, National Association of Evangelicals
John Sniegocki
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Xavier University
Nancy Dallavalle
Chair, Department of Religious Studies
Fairfield University
M. Shawn Copeland
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
Boston College
David DeCosse
Director of Campus Ethics Programs
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara University
Bruce T. Morrill
Associate Professor of Theology
Boston College
Kristin Heyer
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Santa Clara University
Chris Korzen
Executive Director
Catholic United
Jeannine Hill Fletcher
Associate Professor of Theology
Fordham University
William O'Neill, S.J.
Jesuit School of Theology of
Santa Clara University
Michael Duffy, Ed.D.
Director,
Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought
University of San Francisco
Elena Procario-Foley, Ph.D.
Driscoll Professor of Jewish-Catholic Studies
Iona College
Lisa Sowe Cahill,
Monan Professor of Theology
Boston College
Dennis M. Doyle
Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Lew Daly
author of God's Economy: Faith-based Initiatives and the Caring State
Bradford E. Hinze
Professor of Theology
Fordham University
Kirk O. Hanson
University Professor and Executive Director
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara University
David J O'Brien
University Professor of Faith and Culture
University of Dayton
William L. Portier
University of Dayton
Terrence W. Tilley
Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department
Fordham University
Margaret A. Farley
Gilbert L. Stark Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics
Yale University Divinity School
Nicholas P. Cafardi
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
Duquesne University School of Law
Teresa Delgado, PhD
Director, Peace and Justice Studies Program
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Iona College
Maria Riley, OP
Center of Concern
Washington, DC
Victoria Kovari
Interim Executive Director
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Adam Tice
Associate Pastor
Hyattsville Mennonite Church
--
Allison Burket
Africa Faith and Justice Network
125 Michigan Ave. NE
Washington, D.C. 20017
Tel: (202) 884-9780
Fax: (202) 884-9774
Visit our website: www.afjn.org
AFRICOM campaign: www.resistafricom.org
