So the general update for the day

Sullivan continues to follow the Uganda story particularly closely. There are a few notes of interest today. particularly where the Catholic Church has remained silent on the death penalty bill, despite official opposition to the death penalty. Earlier this month, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is both a cardinal and president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Health, asserted that GBLT people "will never enter into the reign of God," effectively declaring queers to be non-people from the Catholic standpoint. I don't know whether this is related or not.

This Catholic inaction is relevant because Catholicism is the largest single religious denomination in Uganda. The second largest Church of the Province of Uganda (Anglican), who have declined thus far to oppose the bill in any way or take an official position, but did take the time recently to restate that "homosexual behaviour is immoral and should not be promoted, supported, or condoned in any way as an 'alternative lifestyle'" when asked about the bill of genocide.

The Guardian has more on the connection to US fundamentalists and the Stephen Langa-organised Scott Lively/Don Schmierer/Caleb Lee Brundidge anti-gay hate conference that lead to the bill being introduced. The seminar series focused on the need to, quote, "expose the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda." (Which, if you're wondering, was of course child rape.)

In better news, the DC City Council gave first-vote approval to extending civil marriage equality, with a second vote coming up December 15th. Congress will then have 30 days to review the ordinance, which it can override. This was in defiance of the Catholic Church's threat to withdraw all social services from the city.

In contrast to this step forward, the New York State Senate has again overwhelmingly rejected marriage equality today, and the prospects for advancement in New Jersey appear increasingly grim as - quoting the linked story - "the Roman Catholic Church in New Jersey threw its muscle into the fight. Bishops and priests spoke against it from the pulpit, and more than 150,000 parishioners signed petitions in opposition."

We see what they can do, here and now. In Uganda, we see what they will do, if they can.

here, this is amusing and informative

Douglas Wolk uses Wolverine to explain Immanuel Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgement in a surprisingly short period of time.

New York has pissed a lot of people off; also, video of Scott Lively's gay-blood-libel book at work

Back in the run-up to the 2008 elections, it was widely known that GBLT backing was having a lot to do with chances for the Democratic Party to take the majority in the New York State Senate, as per this New York Times article. So to have 25% of Democrats - many elected with strong GBLT backing and endorsements from groups like Empire State Pride Agenda - spin around and vote 'thanks for the dosh, now go fuck yourselves' has raised a lot of anger very quickly. There are a lot of links off of that second, if you want to check them out.

Warren Throckmorton, a Concerned Women for America regular who opposes the Ugandan GBLT extermination bill (and is reportedly getting a bit of flack for it) links to YouTube videos of Stephen Langa lecturing straight from Scott Lively's The Pink Swastika a week after the big anti-gay conference that triggered the Ugandan bill. (For those who don't know, Scott Lively's book asserts that the Nazi death camps were actually run by gay men, and that gay people were not a target; he also claims the Nazi party was fundamentally a gay organisation. He also wrote a follow-up book attributing every bad thing in history to GBLT people.) Scott Lively's efforts to make a gay-targeted Protocols of the Elders of Zion is doing its intended job, here. He may say that this particular bill goes too far with the death penalty - he thinks prison time is plenty - but given the amount of newtype blood libel he's spilt, I can't imagine he's genuinely concerned.

More on US fundamentalist evangelical influence in this story can be read here. Over here is an analysis of why the UN can't even condemn this action under its charter.

Incidentally, PEPFAR has said passage of the bill will not affect anti-AIDS funding to Uganda, which I suppose puts them in a better moral position than the Catholic Church, with its various threats (both pending and realised) to shut down social services in areas with marriage equality. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned laws making GBLT people illegal, but did not mention Uganda by name; an anonymous source tells the Advocate that there is serious behind-the-scenes activity on this. I am sick of anonymous sources, but hopefully this one is legitimate. I consider it unfortunate that such assurances must be made and made anonymously. I also consider it unfortunate that Mr. Obama - rather popular in much of Africa - has not been able to make the kind of forceful statement made by PM Harper on this topic, or, as far as I can tell, mention it at all, but at least Secretary Clinton has made a statement after much delay.

There are some reports - without solid sources - that some of the bill's clauses may be watered down, and the death penalty may be mitigated to life in person. There are also currently several clauses which break treaties to which Uganda is signatory, such as the section requiring GBLT Ugandans in other countries to be extradited back to Uganda for trial and extermination. It is possible these may be removed. There are unconfirmed reports that bill sponsors are calling for the pre-emptive arrest of bill opponents on charges of homosexuality, which is already illegal in Uganda, but has not been as heavily prosecuted. (I remind readers that GBLT people were still illegal - if not generally proscuted - in several US states until the US Supreme Court struck down these laws in Lawrence v. Texas (2003). This should not imply that the current situation in Uganda is merely as bad as that of the US in 2002; it is, of course, much worse, and deteriorating badly.)