From Voice of America, the U.S. taxpayer-funded “objective” news outfit, comes a scary story about how Western Christian groups are harming homosexuals and the quest for “gay rights” in Africa. Let’s cut to the story, Fr. Z style, shall we?
Lesbian, Gay Rights in Africa Hit Roadblocks
LONDON — The arrest in Uganda of British theatre producer David Cecil, who staged a play about a gay man despite a ban by the country’s media authorities, has raised questions about the influence of some Western Christian groups in Africa. [Questions raised by whom, exactly? Besides reporters for Voice of America, that is.] Analysts [Analysts? Or “gay rights” activists?] say this influence has had a part to play in a number of African governments cracking down on gay rights. [Note that what the governments are doing is “cracking down” on “rights,” and not defending traditional African values from the influence of powerful and obscenely wealthy Western governments and NGOs. But we’ll get to that in a minute]
Released on bail Monday, after being arrested two weeks ago over a play about a gay businessman who was killed by his staff, David Cecil’s case highlights the recent homophobic activity across Africa. [You’ve all heard of a “framing device,” right? An image or anecdote that humanizes, dramatizes and sets the tone for an argument, article or story? And “homophobic activity” is apparently highlighted by this arrest, says the reporter. Amazing what one can find when one is looking for precisely that thing and no conflicting stories. It’s also interesting that the reporter did not choose as his framing device a speech from UK Prime Minister David Cameron threatening to cut off aid to African nations unless they got on the LGBT bandwagon. That would have been the wrong “frame” for the reporter’s argument.]
“On the one hand there is a noticeable increase of homophobia on the continent but that’s also a reflection of the growing strength of the LGBT movement,” said Graeme Reid, the Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. [This must be one of those “analysts” we heard about before. No agenda here, folks…just keep moving along.]
Phil Clarke, a lecturer [and “analyst,” we may safely presume] in comparative politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, says the main reasons behind this apparent increase in anti-gay activity are religious lobbying and African governments’ desire to express self-determination.
“I think the reason we’re seeing crackdowns in some countries is that firstly politicians are reacting to very powerful religious lobby groups that they need to curry favor with and there’s also, I think, a sense that this is one way in which African governments can express some degree of self-determination and difference from western interference,” he said. [Since Human Life International (HLI) is, we’re about to learn, one of the “very powerful religious lobby groups” implicated here, I am obliged to thank Mr. Clarke for the terrific fundraising quote. But this is also probably the right place to raise the obvious question that didn’t occur to the reporter: “Which combination of ‘religious lobbying groups’ has more money and power than the British and American governments, which together spend hundreds of millions per annum in ‘aid,’ with LGBT strings firmly attached?” We’re about to find out.]
According to a [“]report[“] released earlier this year by the progressive group Political Research Associates, or PRA, Western Christian groups such as Human Life International, Family Watch International and the American Center for Law and Justice have been building up influence across the region. [For more on this PRA “report”, which was, to put it as charitably as possible, lacking in the fact check department, click here. This “report” wouldn’t have gotten beyond a few homosexual activist blogs if the Associated Press hadn’t uncritically accepted PRA’s claims without input from the accused organizations, like HLI.]
Clarke says much of this funding is promoting homophobia.
“We’ve seen, especially in Uganda and Kenya, the very powerful influence of Western churches which have poured a great deal of funding into these anti-homosexuality campaigns in Africa,” he said. “So an anti-homosexuality stance has become very lucrative for many Ugandan and Kenyan parishes. Those churches on the ground in Africa have often made homosexuality a bigger political deal than they may have in the past.” [Again, the idea that opposing the radical homosexual agenda is “lucrative,” compared to the millions available from Western governments pushing the agenda, is absurd. It’s also interesting how the reporter doesn’t consider the possibility that homosexuality is a big deal now because it is being pushed so hard by the UN and Western NGOs and governments, forcing African governments and leaders to respond. No, that’s the wrong narrative, and doesn’t fit in the “frame.”]
Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian Anglican priest and researcher [and “analyst,” no doubt!] for the group, says African homophobia is being encouraged by American conservatives. [No mention here of the fact that Kaoma is paid by the “progressive” Western (American) activist group PRA to create “reports” on homophobia in Africa.]
“The growth of the evangelical or Pentecostal movement across sub-Saharan Africa has also brought about the growth in homophobia because of the teachings which have been promoted by the conservatives in America across Africa,” said Kaoma.
The Catholic group Human Life International disputes these claims. According to the PRA report, the group has been involved in drafting amendments and constitutions in Zambia and Kenya, as well as working against the decriminalization of abortions in the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Stephen Phelan, a spokesman [I guess I’m not an analyst.] for the Catholic group, says the group’s message on sexuality agrees with African values.
“The term homophobia is itself a Western import,” he said. “We’re the ones who tend to speak very naturally to African values so there’s little conflict in what we have to say. We just want to reaffirm them and let them know that the culture wars that we’re having in the west are sadly coming to Africa, being imposed not by Africans a lot of the time but by western governments who are much better funded than the small Christian and Catholic organizations like ourselves.” [Not included here was our invitation to debate the question of who exactly is doing more to colonialize Africa with foreign values – a few, relatively small Christian groups or a massive coalition of governments and NGOs with billions of dollars to spend. But hey, at least they called.]…
Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage.
This is getting pretty long, and you get the idea. A few suspicious and “homophobic” American Christian groups are somehow beating the great powers of the West in influencing African politics, so innocent people are being put in jail.
Look, if it’s about opposing unjust discrimination against homosexuals, we’re with you, as is the Catholic Church. But we can’t turn a blind eye while Western powers use billions of dollars to force African countries to abandon their pro-life and pro-family values and join in the suicide of the West.
We remain open to having this conversation whenever any major media outlet finally decides to treat the issue objectively and honestly.