I’ve been following the uproar over Uganda’s proposed anti-gay bill, which if passed would not only legislate life imprisonment for those who are themselves gay or lesbian, but would also mandate imprisonment for their friends and neighbors if they know homosexual people and don’t report them to the authorities. And, even more shockingly, would impose the death penalty on gays or lesbians who have the HIV virus and have sex.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ugandas-anti-gay-bill-causes-commonwealth-uproar/article1376503/
While this bill is horrifying, it’s important to note that the sponsors of the bill are also using US anti-gay propaganda as support for their cause, particularly the books written by Richard Cohen, a leader in the ex-gay movement. Rachel Maddow had the author on her show recently, and asked him about the links between his anti-gay ‘therapy’ and support for Uganda’s bill.
Here’s the video from the interview. It’s long, but totally worth watching:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/34337416#34337416 (I can’t make it imbed. Don’t know why.)
After watching the video, I was left wondering the globalizing influence of the dialogue over homosexuality in the US and the focus on ’scientific’ research. After all, Richard Cohen’s books quote the same discredited links (largely drawn by Paul Cameron) between homosexuality and child abuse that have plagued queer activists for 20 years. And yet, this same material is being used to justify putting queer people to death.
In the video, Cohen argues that he is coming from a place of love, hoping to help homosexuals who wish to ‘come out straight’ to achieve their dreams of heterosexual marriage and children. However, in this, he is ignoring his own productive power of creating the discourse about homosexuality and the impact this discourse has on others.
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