Consequences of 2nd-Class Citizenship

Today mark's the 8th day since the start of my blog.  Looking back over the last week, you'll notice that many of my posts deal with the issues of marriage equality and human rights for GLBT Americans.  I trust my current circle of friends and family to understand why this is important to me, but those of you who are old acquaintances from high school or my days in the U.S. Air Force may be perplexed or downright apathetic.  You might be asking yourself...

What's the big deal?
Why do "those people" keep harping about "special rights*?"

I can't speak for everyone, but I'll tell you my reasons why.

First they came for...

Have you heard about the pending legislation in Uganda that outlaws homosexuality?  That actually punishes consensual gay sex with the death penalty or life imprisonment?

What's truly horrific is that it's being done with support and encouragement from American evangelicals and politicians.  We're sending our tax dollars to a country that thinks the best way to combat aids is to kill all the queers.

Rachel: The culmination of these efforts -- this massive focus on Uganda -- is a piece of legislation that`s been introduced in that country now that attempts, it says, to tackle the AIDS problem in that country and the problem of homosexuality all at once. It`s a bill that calls for the execution of any gay Ugandan who is HIV positive, who is caught having gay sex -- death by hanging specifically. And it`s not just gay Ugandans who are HIV positive who are being targeted, the sentence just for being gay is life imprisonment.

The sentence for knowing somebody who is gay and not reporting them to authorities, presumably so they can be prosecuted, is three years in prison. This bill was written by a Ugandan legislator purportedly taken in by Republican Senator James Inhofe and the Family here in America.

 Full transcript of this broadcast is available from Lexis-Nexis.

Thanks go to Crooks & Liars for bringing some much needed attention to this horrible piece of legislation.