CARNAL NATION

On Monday, CarnalNation wrote about the links between American fundamentalists and the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would make being an HIV-positive gay or lesbian a capital crime, and which seems almost certain to pass. Shamefully, it seems that the inspiration for this law came from the American right wing.

This week, Rachel Maddow did two very interesting pieces on the ties between American religious figures and the bill. The first, on Monday, was an interview with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, in which he summarizes the history of The Family in Ugandan politics.

The second, from last night, is much shorter, but no less interesting; Maddow reads direct responses from Don Schmierer, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Scott Lively, the three American anti-gay activists who were featured speakers at a seminar in Uganda which began the push to introduce the bill. Schmierer and Brundidge have the good grace to condemn the legislation and say that they recommend counseling, not coercion, for people's filthy homosexual urges. Lively, on the other hand, says that the bill is "too harsh," but qualifies that by saying that the bill came about because of "a lot of external interference from European and American gay activists attempting to do what they've done around the world—homosexualize that society. One of their many concerns are the many male homosexuals coming into the country and abusing young boys who are on the streets." Lively, incidentally, is perhaps best known for his book The Pink Swastika: The Homosexual Roots of the Nazi Party. Videos below the cut.

November 30, 2009:

 December 2, 2009: