LGBTI Activists in Uganda Denounce Acting Intelligence Head Richard Grenell and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo For Silence as Ugandan Newspapers Incite Violence Against LGBTQI-Affirming Church

LGBTQI-Affirming Christian organisations call Grenell's 2019 campaign to decriminalize LGBTQ people "a failure" in Uganda, and launch 'Our freedom is Your Freedom' campaign to stop persecution of LGBTQ people in Uganda

On February 21, 2020, two prominent Ugandan newspapers, Trumpet News and Red Pepper, published inflammatory photos and video of a pro-LGBTQI church in Uganda, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) Uganda. The church was targeted for persecution by a premeditated media campaign to silence and erase this progressive ministry.

Photographs of the two newspapers are attached to the bottom of this release. The Trumpet News article with video is also posted online: https://trumpetnews.co.ug/video-ugandan-girl-weds-another-girl-in-kampala-church/.

Leaders and members of the church have gone into hiding, fearing violence, vandalism and destruction for their building and their lives. The newspaper photos and stories are reminiscent of the 2010 publication of photos of suspected members of the LGBTQ community with a banner reading "HANG THEM" in the Ugandan magazine Rolling Stone.

This comes on the heels of local politicians resurrecting Uganda's "Kill the Gays Bill" first introduced in 2009 and signed into law in 2014 to international outcry, only to be struck down by Uganda's Constitutional Court. The Ugandan Parliament threatened to reintroduce the bill In 2019 resulting in a year of well-documented murders, arrests, and violent attacks of LGBTQI Ugandans.

Sexual Minorities Uganda's Executive Director, Frank Mugisha, said: "The TFAM church in Uganda was founded about the same time as the "Kill the Gays" bill was exhumed by the Ugandan Parliament. Outsiders infiltrated the worship services and collected videos and photos for a campaign of hate. This is part of an outright effort to erase LGBTQI advocacy in Uganda and to destroy all progressive movements."

This hate campaign has been met with silence from President Trump and the U.S. State Department, despite President Trump's perported global effort in 2019 to for decriminalize homosexuality.

In 2019, Trump appointed Richard Grenell, the out gay man who serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, to lead a highly-publicized campaign to decrminalize homosexuality in countries where being LGBTQ is against the law. The narrowly focused campaign, mainly focused on the execution of a gay man in Iran, was to involve U.S. Embassies across Europe, as well as the US State Department.

A year later, the only result is systematic targeting of LGBTQI people in Uganda. Now, the ineffective Grenell has been identified to be the acting head of all US intelligence agencies.

TFAM Global International Minister, Bishop Joseph W. Tolton, said: "Dozens of Christian LGBTQI people found a home where they could worship and be accepted. Where is Brownback and Pompeo to defend their human rights and their freedom of religion? Where is Donald Trump's support of LGBTQI people now? In 2018, I met Ambassador Brownback after watching how he had lobbied for the position of Ambassador for Religious Freedom. I urged him to protect Christian minorities. He assured me that his office would be even handed. His silence now, shows us that is not the case."

The Fellowship for Affirming Ministries is using this violent episode to launch the 'Our Freedom is Your Freedom' campaign, to bring together progressives around the world to defend LGBTQ lives, and to promote the ideals of justice and social inclusion globally.

"'Our Freedom is Your Freedom' will bring together progressives around the world to defend the lives of LGBTQI Ugandans, even as we defend yours," Mugisha said.

Pastor Simon Mpinga, said: "While the US is fighting to preserve its democracy, we know first hand that your fight for freedom is connected to ours. Americans, you must fight to be who you are so we can fight to be who we want to be. It is time for affirming Christians around the world to get behind the 'Our freedom is Your Freedom' campaign and tell Ugandan and USA leaders to stop the persecution of LGBTQI people."

BACKGROUND:

Introduced in 2009 and eventually signed into law in 2014, the controversial LGBTQ criminalization bill would provide life imprisonment for LGBT people, and stiff prison sentences for anyone who knows and supports an LGBTQI person, including parents, clergy, doctors, and other care professionals.

The law was struck down by Uganda's Constitutional Court later the same year, but anti-LGBTQ sentiment has continued. In 2016, Ugandan police raided a Uganda Pride event held in the city of Kampala. Among those arrested were Dr. Frank Mugisha and Pepe Julian Onziema, leaders of Sexual Minorities Uganda. Another 16 were arrested in a raid in 2019 and another was killed in his home, while anti-LGBTQ actists called for the resurrection of the "kill the gays" bill.

About The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries

TFAM, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, is a Pan African network of LGBTI ministries around the world.