Anti- homosexuality activists in Uganda have derided the US for the denial of Ndorwa West MP David Bahati to attend a conference in Washington D.C because of his stand against homosexuality. Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church described the action today as an indication of intolerance and self centeredness of USA gay activists.
Bahati was barred from attending the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management Conference aimed at discussing how emerging international standards are being adopted to bring transparency in public financial management. He was set to attend the conference with five other Ugandan MPs, but he was barred.
This followed sustained pressure and a petition by US gay rights activists to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Bahati to be denied a US visa and to the conference organisers to deny the MP any opportunity to attend and possibly address the conference.
After failing to prevail on the US government to deny Bahati a visa, several US groups turned their pressure on the ICGFM not to allow Bahati to attend the conference, and they succeeded.
The ICGFM conference spokesperson Doug Hadden confirmed that although Bahati was registered to attend, the Ugandan MP will not be allowed to the conference.
“In my volunteer role as VP of Communications for ICGFM, I can confirm that he is not at our conference, nor will he be permitted to enter the conference. As you can imagine, from a very non-political organization, doing good work in sharing good practices in public financial management, we have been placed in a very uncomfortable position,” Hadden said in a statement.
Bahati attracted international ire for proposing the Anti Homosexuality bill in Uganda’s Parliament which seeks stiffer punishments for those engaged in or promoting homosexuality in Uganda. But Ssempa says while strongly disagreeing with Bahati might be understandable, stopping him from attending a conference is going overboard.
“It is a tragedy that homosexuals have taken their pitchforks to try and attack David Bahati. It shows that western civilization is ruled by a mob of people committed to sexual deviance,” Ssempa said in an interview with Ultimate Media on Wednesday.
“It is amazing that Bahati, a man who has never killed or injured anyone, who is treasurer of Uganda’s ruling NRM party is denied entry into a financial conference because of his stand on an issue,” Ssempa adds.
He says the stopping of Bahati from attending the conference showed the intolerance of some Americans, and he described the action as racist and one that” smells of apartheid”.
“It is like American conferences are only for homosexuals and their partners or supporters,” Ssempa said, adding that the action was reminiscent of the times when blacks were not allowed into white people organized conferences because of the fact that they are black.
But many gay rights activists argued that it would be improper to allow Bahati to attend a conference in the US despite proposing what many believe is an intolerant legislation against gay minorities. Among others, gay rights activists are concerned about the proposal of a death penalty for those convicted of homosexuality with minors, as well as a prison sentence for whoever knows about and doesn’t report a homosexual.
But Ssempa accuses the critics of the bill of exaggerating the proposed sentences and for intimidating whoever opposes homosexuality, a practice he says is not permitted in African societies and is being imposed by westerners.
However, David Kato of Sexual Minorities Uganda says the bill goes against the inclusive spirit necessary for Uganda’s economic as well as political development and will result in abuses of rights of gay people. He says the constitution of Uganda forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, and gay people have a right to practice their sexual orientation.
Ssempa insists that whatever the differences in opinion and belief on the issue of gays, it was uncivil for ICGFM and gay activists to deny Bahati attendance without even hearing him out.
“All family loving Americans should stand up and at least ensure Bahati is given a chance to explain his views,” he says. Bahati will be hosted on the Rachael Maddow show on MSNBC TV tomorrow.
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