The Lead

UPDATED: 12/1 1:20 p.m. below

Episcopal Church House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson has issued a statement condemning the pending Ugandan legislation that would imprison for life or execute people who violate that country's anti-homosexuality laws saying it would be a "terrible violation of the human rights of an already persecuted minority."

The Episcopal News Service reports:

Anderson was responding to a Nov. 16 request that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda and she speak out against the legislation. Anderson is the first to issue a statement.

Homosexuality in Uganda currently carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment. If passed, the bill would extend prison sentences for homosexuals up to and including life imprisonment and introduce the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which includes assault against people under the age of 18 and those with disabilities.

Opponents fear that people, including family members and clergy, who support and advise homosexual people could be prosecuted and punished under the proposed law, which also would give Ugandan courts jurisdiction over Ugandan citizens who violate the law "partly outside or partly in Uganda."

The proposed legislation is "an attempt to use the authority of the state to deprive individuals of their God-given dignity, and to isolate them from the care and concern of their fellow human beings," Anderson said in her Nov. 25 letter to the co-conveners of the Chicago Consultation, a group of lay and ordained Episcopalians

General Convention in 2006 condemned (via Resolution D005) the criminalization of homosexuality, Anderson noted.

The church's Executive Council, an elected group of 40 clergy, laity and bishops that carries out the programs and policies adopted by the General Convention according to Canon I.4 (1)(a), is expected to meet by teleconference Dec. 7 to consider a possible statement on the Ugandan legislation.

"I hope and believe that a vigorous statement will be forthcoming, and that I will be able to support this statement wholeheartedly," Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Anderson said she would encourage House of Deputies members and first alternates to contact their congresspersons through the church's Office of Government Relations to express their opposition to the bill.

Read the rest here.

UPDATE:
Dr. Anderson's letter is here

Comments (6)

Thank you President Bonnie,

"an attempt to use the authority of the state to deprive individuals of their God-given dignity, and to isolate them from the care and concern of their fellow human beings,"

We don´t want to be deprived or isolated anymore...we´ve alway been here with all of you and we aren´t going to be invisible anymore...we´re no longer afraid and you and many others give us even more courage to ¨be¨ the people that God created us to be.

Posted by Leonardo Ricardo | November 30, 2009 10:26 PM

And excellent start Madame President! I am pleased that the House of Deputies has spoken through you today and look forward to hearing from the junior house!

Posted by Michael Russell | December 1, 2009 1:07 AM

Excellent! If only more governments would follow suit.

Posted by Peter Pearson | December 1, 2009 7:38 AM

Thanks to you and to everyone who has spoken out.
It's time for The Archbishop of Canterbury, our Presiding Bishop, and all bishops and other ministers to speak out, also.

Posted by EH Culver | December 1, 2009 8:05 AM

Step 1. Excellent. Now when are the bishops going to step up and do the witnessing that is a part of their office? And when, oh when, will not only the government of Uganda be addressed, but the Church too? Why isn't anyone calling out the clergy? What is the hierarchy afraid of? If support for legislation like this doesn't get you excommunicated, what does? How can anyone smile and mutter polite platitudes and enjoy photo-ops and then even sit in church with these monsters?

Posted by Clint Davis | December 1, 2009 12:37 PM

Now when are the bishops going to step up and do the witnessing that is a part of their office?

Um, bishops that AREN'T Canadian, that is.

JC Fisher

Posted by tgflux | December 1, 2009 9:27 PM

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