It is dark and raining outside and it is not yet noon. Us Southern Californians take our rain very seriously. We want it for out gardens but do not any mess with our daily lives, problems with driving or any interruptions of sunbeams striking through our windows. It is nothing, of course, compared to Haiti. It is unimportant compared to health care reform for women and girls, which is in the balance of electing Martha Coakley today. This one election in Massachusetts reminds me of William Carlos Williams notice on the dependence of life:
so much dependsupon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
But no matter the earthquake, special elections or my desire to spend the day knitting for my pregnant friends' expectations, I am called to keep my attention on some insane militaristic activity in a distant place, Uganda. After the hundreds of times I have advised aspiring activists to address the problem in front of them, I am listening to something very far away.
But is it? Is it so far away? It seems that American fundamentalist Christian ministers have taken their blood lust to Africa. They could not get enough traction here about their hatred of homosexuality by messing with marriage equality or DADT, so they told people in some African countries that homosexuality is a choice that people make to destroy society, that it is being exported from the West and must be stopped before it erodes the social fabric of their countries.
These ministers are right here in my backyard. St James Anglican Church of Newport Beach, All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's in North Hollywood broke away from their Episcopal roots over same-sex marriage and the ordination of women and homosexuals to join the Anglican Church of Uganda. Just one mile from my house, Paul & Jan Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network with their son Matt Crouch (who is the Uganda Consul in LA), have connections in Uganda and will not make a statement on the proposed #18 calling for the execution of homosexuals.
Maybe that is the reason I feel such urgency, local faux christians are projecting their anti-homosexual plans to anywhere on earth that they can find traction. My translation is they would do it right here if they could. Rachel Maddow tells us about the FAMILY, Truth Wins Out fights anti-gay lies, Warren Throckmorton writes about religious abuse, Box Turtle reports anti-gay news but don’t be fooled ~ it is here, the hate in Uganda is here.
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