Thoughts on the fallout of Amendment One

By Adam Carlson

Well, the amendment passed and now the opinions are flying left and right like shit being hurled from the monkey house at the zoo.

There have been a lot of people who voted for this amendment stating that they did so and that they are proud of their choice to vote their beliefs. Furthermore most have also pointed out that they feel persecuted because those with progressive views (not to mention those of us who are actually educated and informed) are calling them ignorant for it.

For the record, if you voted pro Amendment One believing that it was really about blocking homosexual marriage from attaining legal status in North Carolina you did vote out of ignorance. Also, if you voted pro Amendment One believing that it was legislation to MAKE homosexual marriage illegal in North Carolina, you ARE actually ignorant (by definition). Gay marriage has never been legally recognized in N.C., part of this amendment was simply blocking the ability of any one judge to overturn that by writing it into our constitution. And that was just the bait!

Junk science breeds ‘Kill the Gays’ bill

By Nicole Navarro

Proposed legislation in Uganda may have adverse side effects and can result in death. The proposed “Kill the Gays” bill was brought to Uganda’s political forefront after three American evangelical Christians, who claim gays can be “cured,” visited the country earlier this year.

In a three day anti-gay seminar, the American activists discussed making gay people straight, the connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, and the “gay agenda” as a whole.

Not long after their visit, Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Bill of 2009 was born.

If the bill is enacted, here is some of what homosexual Ugandans can look forward to. If convicted of engaging in same-sex acts and you are HIV-positive, you receive the death penalty. Being convicted of engaging in same-sex acts if you are not HIV- positive lands you life in prison.

If you know someone who is engaging in same-sex acts and you don’t report it to the government within 24 hours, you get three years in jail. Those funding or sponsoring homosexuality or related activities get a seven-year sentence. Uganda also plans to extradite their citizens back to the country to stand trial if they commit the offense of homosexual activity elsewhere in the world.

How could these American activists have such an influence on Uganda’s Parliament? The fact that the men were represented as experts in the field of homosexuality certainly helped their cause. But maybe more importantly, Ugandans often blame Westerners for turning their children gay, so when those same Westerners show up to spread an anti-gay message, Ugandans listened, especially when one of the leading speakers was a westerner “cured” of being gay. Richard Cohen, author of Coming Out Straight and Gay Children, Straight Parents, is one of the activists blamed for supporting the bill.