Opinion: US Must Fight African Persecution of Gays

(Feb. 26) -- "It's culture, just culture" a Kenyan police spokesman explained to the New York Times when answering why an angry mob would want to stone to death attendants of the wedding party for a gay couple.

What was intended to be a celebration of love and commitment became another fearful reminder of what it means to be gay in Africa.

As of late, much of the discussion about homophobia in Africa has focused on Uganda, where the country made international headlines after a member of the governing party introduced legislation proposing the execution of gays who inhabited the country. Sadly, government-enforced homophobia has become a shared theme among many countries across a continent not often properly credited for its diversity.

Certain death is already an unfortunate reality for gays residing in West Africa, where Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh has threatened to behead any gay person found in his country.

In Malawi, police launched a formal operation targeting high-profile gays and lesbians across the southern African state. It's resulted in gay-rights supporters facing months of community service and sexually active gays being threatened with decade-long jail sentences.

The predominately Muslim country of Senegal was criticized by gay rights groups in 2009 after sentencing two men to eight years in prison for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts."

Even in South Africa, where same-sex marriage was recently legalized, lesbians live in fear of being victimized like Eudy Simelane, who was gang-raped and slain, stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs by gang members.

Is this really "just culture?"

With gay sex being illegal in 36 countries in Africa, the criminalization of a way of life has made it far too hard for people simply being themselves to lead a life that every human being deserves -- one of openness, love and, yes, even sex.

To be sure, President Barack Obama has condemned the Ugandan "Kill the Gays" bill as "odious." And U.S. evangelicals also denounced the legislation, while simultaneously refuting claims that they have helped facilitate this hostile environment for homosexuals. That accusation is rooted in pastors Rick Warren, Scott Lively and Don Schmierer, among others meeting political leaders who openly sought to combat the perceived "homosexualization" of their country.

But at the very least, the U.S. is passively supporting the persecution of gays in these countries.

Ugandan physician Dr. Paul Semugoma recently notes how the U.S. government helped perpetuate homophobia in Africa by allowing its AIDS awareness organizations to exclude terms like "men who have sex with men," which does nothing but exclude gay men from life-saving HIV research.

And to Rick Warren, who said that it was not his "calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations," I pose this question: Would Jesus take the PC approach to speaking against murder?

Admittedly, words can only go so far, especially in a continent full of people who resent foreign influences and believe that homosexuality is un-African, unnatural and a product of Western culture.

If we can't change their minds overnight, we can at least stop providing aid to those who persecute unjustly. And, more importantly, we can stop sending those with homophobic beliefs who only escalate intolerance of gays. For the people jailed, beaten and dying, this isn't "just culture." This is brutality, and we cannot contribute to it.