Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...BBC slammed for debating Ugandan bill to kill gays
12.16.2009 5:00pm EST
(London) Politicians are criticizing the BBC for inviting debate on whether homosexuals should face execution in Uganda.
The broadcaster launched an on-line debate over a proposed Ugandan law that would punish some homosexual acts by life imprisonment or death.BBC’s “Africa Have Your Say” Web site asked for people’s views on whether Uganda has gone too far and whether there should be any laws against gays.
But several British politicians said Wednesday that the BBC should not treat the execution of gays as a legitimate topic for discussion.
Opposition lawmaker Lynne Featherstone has written to BBC executives seeking an apology and end to the Web discussion. “The BBC are only fanning the flames of hatred as many of the comments demonstrate,” she says.
It is true. Some topics should not be up for debate. The Ugandan law. Whether the Holocaust was a reality. Whether the Armenian Genocide took place. Human suffering should never be a subject for debate.
Perhaps better to debate whether British media executives should be lined up against a wall and shot.
DEAR DUMBASSES AT THE BBC: WASN’T ANYTHING LEARNED FROM NAZI GERMANY AND THE GENOCIDE OF THE JEWS NOR ANY OF THE OTHER “ETHNIC CLEANSING” ATTROCITIES OF JUST THE LAST CENTURY? THIS REALLY NEEDS TO BE DEBATED? TELL US YOU KNOW YOUR HISTORY BETTER THAN THIS! ARE YOU THAT F*CKING DESPERATE FOR A DOLLAR..(OR POUND)? WHAT AN APPAULINGLY IGNORANT APPROACH TO THE REPEAT OF HISTORY…WAKE UP!
I was looking around the BBC site concerning this, and I found a quote from the Ugandan Anglican Church that said that they support the bill, just not the part where people actually get killed. It sounds like the Anglican church in Angola supports the imprisonment and even torture of gays. Why isn’t the head Anglican dude in England condemning this? Does he agree with it? Christians are such assholes.
The BBC made a huge mistake in putting at the top of the site: “Should Uganda debate gay execution?” This shows their focus, rather than the circumstances surrounding the creation of the bill (including Uganda’s existing laws against gays).
The people that created the bill did so with the idea that ex-gay therapy works and that homosexuality is an import to their nation, rather than pre-existing within their population. I personally think the bill should not be put into law, but this is how they see it.
This does not need to be debated by some radio show, it needs to be condemned in no uncertain terms by world leaders.
It is outrageous to invite a debate on whether homosexuality should be criminalized, much less that the penalty for homosexuality should be death. The premise of a debate is that there are two sides to a question. To criminalize homosexuality is barbaric. Even the Pope, who is not noted for being an advocate of either homosexuality or human rights, has denounced the idea of criminalizing homosexuality and the Uganda bill in particular.
It is noteworthy that the Uganda Anglican Church is supporting this bill. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has not been forceful in denouncing it. This tells me all that I need to know about the so-called “Anglican Communion.” The Episcopal Church should leave the Anglican Communion, which is far more concerned with placating barbarians like the Ugandans than it is in preventing genocide. Shame.
It is unfathomable that they have taken this route. I had enjoyed BBC World News and BBC America because the news in this country is biased (IMHO). I had even begun watching the series “Torchwood”. I have stopped all that, they aren’t getting one more advertising dollar from my viewership. I think I’m gonna stick with NPR for a while.
Also… according to other Anglican Bishops and people of importance, the Anglicans that are supporting these extreme measures in Africa are in fact closeted homosexuals… I know this from several different high ranking individuals within the church… and its actually pretty widely known in a number of religious circles…. there are three closeted homosexual bishops in Africa leading this nonsense within the Anglican communion… other African church leaders like Desmond Tutu are incredibly supportive. The title is even more misleading because it suggests that this debate is not already present within Uganda but there is clear evidence that this is not the case. Of course they are debating it… its just who is winning the debate and the way it is framed in the national media does influence that I believe.
“I personally think the bill should not be put into law”
It sounds like you are OK with a country that would make being gay a capital offense. Would you also be OK if a country made being left handed a capitol offense?
@secrity
My statement made no mention of being okay with a country making homosexuality a capital offense. I think it is a terrible law that still exists in some countries, and I do not want Uganda joining their ranks.
My remarks were in trying to understand why Ugandan lawmakers were even considering such a horrible law. I think they are seriously misinformed about homosexuality and were motivated by the most recent visit of American members of the ex-gay movement.
Apparently, it’s OK for the BBC to get rich off gay people (actors, news, viewers) but maybe we should be put to death. F you, BBC.
Uganda has the viewpoint that they do solely because of US. And when I say US, I don’t mean gays, I mean Christianity and the exportation of Televangelism as a commodity many years ago, and it still goes on today.
Our Christianists encouraged them. Now the fruits are starting to show.
Wow! The drama queens are really out in force today!
What many of you fail to realize is that there is a general complacency in many so-called “civilized” and “enlightened” countries towards homophobia. It’s different in the US, where the issue remains a key discussion topic, but in countries like the UK there is a notion that homophobia is limited to the ignorant and the extremely religious.
Why is that? Because discussions about issues like this are limited to sites like this one, with a pro-gay bias, and fringe sites with a strong anti-gay bias. And so many allow themselves to believe that homophobia is not a big issue, that it’s a prejudice held by a tiny minority, that it’s bigotry that couldn’t possibly touch the so-called educated middle classes.
And what has this debate shown? That the UK is not as enlightened as too many like to believe.
It has brought the situation in Uganda to the public’s attention in a way a simple news article couldn’t. It has exposed the level of homophobia in the UK in a way no site like this one ever could. It has provoked discussion, and has shocked many who believed that attitudes like those expressed in the debate were a thing of the past.
I’ve spoken with some of my friends in the UK just this morning, and many of them were genuinely surprised that there are people in their country who still believe that homosexuality should be a crime, that gays should be put to death. They demonstrated a similar attitude to many of you when this topic was first raised here, believing that this sort of thing could only happen in a “savage” African nation, and yet the debate has highlighted for them the fact that there are many, too many, who would like to see similar laws enacted in the UK and every other nation around the world.
The debate, in short, has served as a barometer of public opinion and exposed the fact that the UK, like the US, still has a long way to go. It’s easier to see it in the US. Take it from someone who lives part time in both countries – homophobia in the UK is not as obvious. There is not the same degree of religious fanaticism. The religious groups do not have the same hold over politicians. Crimes motivated by homophobia are either less frequent or, more likely, less reported in the media. All this has cultivated the notion that homophobic attitudes are held by a tiny minority at the fringes of society.
I sincerely hope that people can get past their outrage at the BBC for daring to discuss a controversial issue like this and focus on what was actually said, on the still high levels of prejudice in many countries.
After all, when it comes down to it we discussed the issue on this site – all the BBC have really done is launch a discussion in another way, in a way that provoked people to respond rather than simply reading a news story and moving on. In my book, any discussion about these issues is better than no discussion at all.
Isaac, I’m a Brit with dual nationality and a citizen of this country. Though I don’t condone what the BBC did, overall, attitudes towards homosexuality in the UK as opposed to the US are a lot better with roughly 60% of the British public now in favor of same-sex marriage. The UK currently has civil partnerships at the national level that provide the rights and benefit of marriage (I’m not a supporter of them either); binational couples are allowed to bring in their foreign born partners with or without a legal partnership; gays can adopt children, can serve openly in all three branches of the military and in the social services such as fire and police departments. I think its a lot more enlightened than you give it credit for. Homophobia will never be stamped out as long as religious cults get a free pass which is at the root of homophobia if you look at its history for the past two millenia. What do we have here in the U.S? A paltry five states with limited same-sex marriage rights, 30 states with a ban on same-sex marriage, no DADT or DOMA repeal and no ENDA legislation yet to be passed and we’re writing off a media channel and an entire culture because of an inappropriate topic for debate? Aim your anger at the republican bigots who helped influence the Uganda legislation. I don’t hear the Democratic party issuing a condemnation of those individuals, only a mealy-mouthed acknowledgement from the conservative in the White House. At least Gordon Brown was the first western leader to condemn the appalling situation in Uganda.