Frank Musgisha, the spokesperson for Uganda’s leading LGBT rights organization, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), will tour the United States this month to speak about the human rights crisis currently facing queer Ugandans, and the role conservative religious forces from the United States have played in that crisis.
Mr. Musgisha will appear at public events in New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C. and the details of each event are below.
While homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, a new anti-homosexuality bill currently under consideration could inflict penalties as severe as the death penalty for being gay or lesbian, and would provide for the imprisonment of friends or family members who fail to report their LGBT loved ones. Well-known U.S. evangelicals were recently proven to have been involved in the legislation in Uganda as well as similar initiatives in Kenya and Nigeria.
Mr. Musgisha was among the first gay Ugandans to come out publicly and to fight for the recognition of LGBT rights in Uganda. Mr. Musgisha has been arrested, threatened and discriminated against but continues his advocacy, working internationally with religious leaders, NGOs, and diplomatic missions not only to stop the latest anti-homosexuality bill but to restore full rights for all sexual minorities in Uganda and elsewhere. He is a moving speaker on the crisis in Uganda and on international human rights.
He will be accompanied by Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma, author of the recent report published by Political Research Associates, Globalizing the Culture Wars, U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia. Rev. Kaoma attended the now-infamous anti-gay conference in Uganda in March 2009, collecting undercover video footage and thereby proving the complicity of U.S. conservative religious forces in encouraging homophobia and shaping the legislation.
Rev. Dr. Kaoma has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and CNN International; been cited in media such as the New York Times, Time Magazine, and Newsweek; and he has testified before Congress and the United Nations on how U.S. evangelicals are exporting homophobia to Africa.
Event Calendar
NEW YORK:
March 22, 2010
6-7:30 pm
Astraea Foundation
116 East 16th St., New York, New York 10003
(212) 529-8021
March 23, 2010
7-9 pm
The Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10027
(212) 870-6700
BOSTON:
March 26, 2010
7-9 PM
Harvard Epworth UMC Church
1555 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA 02138
(617) 354-0837
March 27, 2010
12-2 PM
Cathedral Church of St. Paul
138 Tremont St., Boston MA 02111
(617) 482-5800
WASHINGTON, DC:
March 30, 2010
7-9 PM
Foundry UMC Church
1500 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036
(202) 332-4010