The Rev. Susan Russell writes in The Huffington Post on what has been happening in Africa concerning LGBT persons:
Africa in general — and Uganda and Nigeria in specific — have been hotbeds of anti-gay polemic and politics. Over the last few years, we have seen alarmingly aggressive anti-homosexual legislation taking the disease of homophobia and turning it into state-sponsored discrimination, persecution and victimization.
Russell explores some examples, along with how persecuting African LGBT persons has become an organizing tool. And then, she discovers a link back to her own Diocese:
Ironically, the very day I watched that interview, the issue hit very close to home. A clergy colleague from West Hollywood called my parish in Pasadena asking if we were the congregation hosting a fundraiser for Watoto Church — the Uganda church headed by Pastor Gary Skinner linked to the Bahati “Kill the Gays” Bill. We were not… but it turns out a neighboring Episcopal Church was.
The news spread through the grapevine — and so did the concern that well-intentioned donors were being invited to support “African orphans” by contributing to an organization with an overtly anti-gay agenda….
The church sponsoring the program posted on Facebook: “If the choir is part of a larger organization whose values are not consistent with the Episcopal Church, we will not host them in the future.” Russell says that’s a start, but then asks what’s next:
How about a proactive policy of vetting organizations coming to us for support and making sure that we talk to one another about what we know about their stances on LGBT issues. Let’s have each others’ backs when it comes to due diligence and not be afraid to take action — even canceling scheduled events if need be. And let’s work together to turn the tide of homophobia around the globe by offering leadership.
Like the leadership we got this week from Gay Jennings, the Episcopal Church’s President of the House of Deputies, in her Religion News Service (RNS) commentary, “The church’s role in, and against, homophobia across Africa:
“Western Christians cannot ignore the homophobia of these church officials or the peril in which they place Ugandan and Nigerian LGBT people,” she wrote. “The legacy of colonial-era Christian missionaries and infusions of cash from modern-day American conservatives have helped to create it.”
And we can help un-create it.