There are no gay people in Uganda, and more on homosexuality and the African church

One of the more inventive analysis of Uganda’s dreadful anti-gay legislation, which the country’s parliament seems to dangle over the heads of the international community to watch that community jump, comes from the Rt. Rev. Godfrey Makumbi, Anglican Bishop of West Buganda. He doesn’t see a need for the law because he doesn’t believe there are any gay people in Uganda.

“I also don’t condone it, but sincerely it is overshadowing other problems,” he said, according to the Ugandan Observer. “Our prime problems are on everyone’s fingertips; corruption, dishonesty, impudence and impunity, human [child] sacrifice, poor service delivery and absolute poverty.”

It seemed that at last there was a voice of reason in the conversation about homosexuality in Uganda — that someone with real influence was pointing out that the law is absurd and at best a waste of time and resources.

But then he continued.

“Realistically this is not in our culture,” he said, “Because our African sexual values are completely heterosexual, I personally have never seen people fancying it here.”

By denying that homosexuality in Uganda exists at all, he’s taken it beyond thinking that there’s something wrong with a person who’s gay, to thinking that there’s something wrong with a society in which it’s possible to be gay.

Meanwhile, the Primate of Kenya has issued a terse statement on the Church of England’s decision to allow gay men who do not have sex with other men even if they have entered into a civil partnership, to become bishops. As Jerome Taylor reports in The Independent, he’s not keen on it.

“It is common knowledge that active homosexuality on the part of Church of England clergy is invariably overlooked and in such circumstances it is very difficult to imagine anyone being brought to book,” Dr Wabakula stated. “It cannot be right that [gay men] are able to enter into legally recognised relationships which institutionalise and condone behaviour that is completely contrary to the clear and historic teaching of Scripture.”

Here’s a ten cent bet that not five percent of the Kenyan church cares about this issue. Conservatives in the Church of England, who lead the organization that Dr. Wabakula chairs, however, care about it very much.

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