Ugandan Media: Rick Warren Denounces Gay Rights

The Kampala Monitor reports:

Dr [Rick] Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. “We shall not tolerate this aspect at all,” Dr Warren said.

Warren was speaking in support of Ugandan Anglicans who intend to boycott the forthcoming Lambeth Conference, and this harsh rejection of tolerance for gays and lesbians may have serious consequences in a country where homosexuals face harrassment and and the threat of imprisonment.

Warren’s comment is of a piece with his support for Martin Ssempa, the Ugandan evangelist who has been a keynote speaker at a Warren conference, and who has received US global AIDS prevention funds. As I wrote in August, Ssempa wants to ensure that homosexuality remains illegal and that gays and lesbians are identified in the public mind as sexual abusers. Ssempa calls for media censorship against opposing views and the dismissal of dissenting academics, and last summer he organised a rally with the theme “A Call for Action on Behalf of the Victims of Homosexuality”, at which he railed against “molestation and sodomy.”

Another past Warren conference delegate is Janet Museveni, wife of Uganda’s increasingly autocratic president. I discussed the dubious consequences of Mrs Museveni’s evangelical approach to HIV and AIDS on Talk to Action here; Esther Kaplan has explored the issue in further depth. Warren is just one American evangelist to enjoy links with the Musevenis; soon after President Museveni dispensed with term limits Morris Cerullo declared his leadership to be blessed by God.

Warren is also influential across the border in Rwanda, which Warren wants to be the world’s first “Purpose-Driven Nation“. I explored Warren’s links with President Paul Kagame here.

UPDATE: In December 2009, Warren claimed that the Monitor had misquoted him:

What I said in an interview in Uganda was that there is no civil right to gay marriage guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

19 Responses

  1. I am an African, but most impoprtant of all a Ugandan. Here in Africa such issues of homsexuality and lesbianism are completely foreign and unheard of in our traditions. Infact my grand dad would consider such actions as completely abominable and blasphemy in our society. So the issue is not because ssenpa is a pastor that he advocates agaist such unthickable, inhumane acts of shame and atmost disgrace but hte issue is because we are A

    • The reason you never hear of it is because gay people live in fear of their lives. people like you are human rights abusers and opress gay people. I am a gay man and I was born gay. I am very proud of that fact. You are the sick one. You!!

  2. Actually homosexuality is a 4 point crime: 1)It is a law against biology: one can not echange the excretory system with the reproductive system. 2)It contradicts nature`s laws: In nature male goes with female. 3)It contracdicts our AFRICAN culture: Africans always want increase(children). There is no hope for genuine child birth in homosexual relationships. 4)It contradicts GOD`S laws: The most revered holy scriptures `BIBLE AND QURAN` both clear indicate that God almighty hates and doesn`t allow homosexuality. A scenario is quoted in both of of these holy scriptures of a people who were completely wiped out from the face of the earth (SODOM & GOMORAH)because of homosexuality.

    So Martin Ssempa is not the problem but the problem is with the so called human righ activists that claim that homosexuality is a basic human right, infact it is a HUMAN WRONG. Ps martin ssempa is just being a responsible citizen by constanatly reminding the state that our constitutuion clearly spells it out that Homosexuality is a crime in Uganda. THUMBS UP TO OUR 1ST LADY MRS. JANET MUSEVENI AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR ETHICS AND INTERGRITY, MR.NSABA BUTURO.

    FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY. GOD BLESS UGANDA.

  3. I totally agree with Henry, homosexuality breaks two laws and for that matter, Evang. Ssempa is being a concerned responsible citizen to fight this evil. As a Ugandan, I will add my voice to many who say homesexuality is sin, evil, abomination and a form of defilement to our land.

  4. So who put you guys in charge of what all Africans are supposed to think? And why should Ssempa and other religious figures have control over people’s private lives?

  5. Non put me as a spokesperson for Africans however I can not see rot in the house and keep quiet because Iam not a house helper. You homosexuals have missed the point, there is a thick veil that has covered your eyes. Why shouldn,t we use the gas outlet gas inlet? In Africa, we will not entertain such rubbish. Bartholomew, there is hope for you. You can overcome this homosexuality. Just stanby by a mirror and see the diphers/ cotton wool tucked in your behind. Is that the way society wants you to be? Do not construct what is detrimental in your life. History and Science will hold you responsible for the extinction of human race. You homos need to know this. I know of homos who have come out of that filthy act. They are decently married now. You can be one too. Rise up to the challenge Iryn and Henry have given you. If you miss this chance, you may never recover your real humanity–this is not to scare but in reality you will. Your rectum will definately be destroyed. Pupu will run like a tap from your behind……all these terrible things. Please wake up. Jemcie

  6. Non Put but Iam responsible. I can not see society degenerate and I keep quiet. That will be the greatest mistake. Homos break all those four laws listed above. Come out of it please. Jemcie

  7. Homos away form Africa.

  8. Thank you for your concern for my rectum, you will be relieved to learn that I am in fact heterosexual. I just happen to believe in equal rights and a free society.

    And I should add that it is quite possible for gay men and lesbians to engage in sexual activity which is not harmful, just as heterosexuals can do things which are unhealthy and dangerous.

  9. if ‘freedom’ of society is going to threaten the existance of the entire human race, then i’d rather be in ‘bondage’ and have the society live!Remember as an African, life for me is useless without community! Iam because we are, so what goes on in my life is every one’s responsibility,even to my bedroom! And secondly if you are sane enohugh to remain heterosexual why are u advocating for poisonung of of others? You are crying for ‘rights’ you don’t practice! c’mon style up!

    There’s no such thing as ‘sexual activity which is not harmful’ as far as homosexuality is concerned because, in the first place, you are using the right part for the wrong purpose! Design suits purpose! I think our brothers and sisters need some sort of therapy to help them discover that their ‘reproductive gadgets’ were not so by accident and should therefore not be exchanged for the excretory organ. Science tells is that opposite poles attract and like poles repel. this is a simple law of nature that must be obeyed on order to sustain the equilibrium. A sewage pipe cannot produce drinking water! simple common sense!

  10. […] (Time’s word) in Rwanda (as I blogged here and here) and Uganda (where Warren recently expressed his strong support for laws against homosexuality). Now Warren has apparently brought much of the […]

  11. […] blogged this here; and I’ve some background on Uganda’s absurd Ethics and Integrity Minister, James […]

  12. […] also blogged previously on Nsaba Buturo, and I noted Museveni’s links to American evangelists here. Links between the US Christian Right and Africa are also the subject of a report which was […]

  13. […] drawing on work by Warren Throckmorton), and last year Warren gave support to Ugandan Anglicans with a statement that gay rights should not be accepted (although he just recently distanced himself from one of […]

  14. […] of homosexuality, and he deals with a quote that was atttributed to him in the Kampala Monitor in March 2008: Dr [Rick] Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. […]

  15. African prejudice against homosexuality is symptomatic of the continent’s ongoing inability to come to to terms with modernism. Such prejudice, intolerance and absolute rubbish being spoken here is a disgrace. You sound as hateful and irrational as a racist southern evangelicals in America.
    ENOUGH ALREADY YOU HATEFUL BIGOTS!

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