Ugandan 'Kill the Gays' Bill Becoming an Issue in Kansas
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue May 04, 2010 at 05:01:36 PM EST
The Kansas Democratic Party is calling on gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) to denounce Kansas City based religious right leader Lou Engle for his apparent support for the infamous proposed 'kill the gays' legislation in Uganda.  Engle addressed several hundred followers at a rally organized by The Call, an organization he heads.  The rally was covered by covered by The New York Times.

Religion Dispatches today also published a first hand account of the rally, which reported that Engle tried to position himself as not endorsing the death penalty and police state provisions of the bill, but not quite opposing the bill either.

Responding to criticism that Sunday's The Call Uganda would push the bill and incite further violence and hatred against homosexuals in Uganda, Engle issued a press statement on April 28th professing a lack of previous knowledge about Bahati's bill and pledging a message of love to those "struggling" with homosexuality. "We do not see the character of Christ reflected in some key aspects of the language of the current bill," the statement says, "therefore The Call, though continuing to be held in Uganda, will not promote this bill."

Despite Engle's pledge, though, he was sandwiched between two speakers who openly supported the bill.

 

Engle is trying to have it both ways. And the Kansas Democratic Party wants to know what Sen. Brownback has to say about Engle's involvement.

Here is the full text of their press release (see original for links to source material):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2010

Kansas Democratic Party Calls on Brownback to Denounce Close Advisor and Former Roommate for Supporting Execution of Gays

Controversial Kansas City Minister close to Sam Brownback

TOPEKA- Controversial evangelical leader Lou Engle arrived in Uganda from Kansas City last week.  His trip coincides with a rally in support of a bill that suggests life imprisonment, and the death penalty in some cases, for homosexuals and prohibits the advocacy of gay rights.[1]

Before departing for Uganda, Engle released a statement suggesting the timing of his trip and the rally were coincidence and he would not support the bill[2].  However, on Sunday, standing on a stage before Uganda politicians he praised their "courage" and "righteousness" for supporting a bill that targets homosexuals with the death penalty.[3]

In 2007 Sam Brownback contacted Lou Engle and asked to live in his Washington DC condo.  According to Engle, the two shared space in the condo for seven months.[4]

 "This is the type of despicable stunt one would expect from Fred Phelps -  not from someone who has the ear of Kansas' most ambitious politician. We are calling on Senator Brownback to denounce Lou Engle for his hateful rhetoric and extreme agenda," said Kenny Johnston, Executive Director of the Kansas Democratic Party, "If this is the sort of company Brownback keeps, it speaks volumes about the kind of Governor he would be."

-###-

Paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party, www.ksdp.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

[1] Anti Homosexual Bill: Memorandum.

[2] Kansas City Star: Evangelist is criticized for attending rally in Uganda, which is considering death penalty for homosexuals

[3] New York Times: In Uganda, Push to Curb Gays Draws U.S. Guest

[4] YouTube:  Roommates: Lou Engle and Sam Brownback




Display:

WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (164 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.