Chris Blattman

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The awful origins of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill

Sharlet recently traveled to Uganda to speak with Bahati, the bill’s author.

…”Bahati said: ‘If you come here, you’ll see homosexuals from Europe and America are luring our children into homosexuality by distributing cell phones and iPods and things like this,’ ” Sharlet recounts. “And he said, ‘And I can explain to you what I really want to do.’ ”

Sharlet accompanied Bahati to a restaurant and later to his home, where Bahati told Sharlet that he wanted “to kill every last gay person.”

Shalet writes about his meeting with Bahati, and the gay movement in Uganda, in the latest Harper’s. The above quote is from a conversation with NPR.

Disgusting and frightening. Is Bahati really so influential? I’ve written before about some of the more hopeful aspects of being gay in Uganda. Perhaps my optimism is misplaced. Even today, Uganda’s Anglican Church is saying some deeply disturbing things about homosexuality.

h/t: @michellepoulin

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