What's Driving Homophobia in Africa?
US News & World report
What's Driving Homophobia in Africa?
As the scales tip on gay marriage in the U.S., brewing cultural and political conditions breeds a proxy war of LGBT rights in Africa.
By Tierney Sneed and Teresa Welsh
Oct. 16, 2014
Recent court and political victories have given the LGBT rights movement unexpected momentum in the United States, but the picture is not so bright in other places in the world – namely sub-Saharan Africa, where countries like Nigeria, the Gambia and Uganda have passed laws cracking down on their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender populations.
A broadening movement to criminalize homosexual behavior, fueled by elements intrinsic to the region as well as by the encouragement of some anti-LGBT activists from the U.S., has created a complicated landscape for the international community seeking to protect the rights of LGBT people in Africa.
In places like Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, more than four-fifths of the population believes homosexuality is morally unacceptable. With polling like that, and generally bleak economic news, it’s no wonder politicians such as Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have jumped on anti-gay legislation to boost their election prospects.
Chad is the latest country to consider increasing penalties on LGBT people, with reports of a bill introduced last month that would criminalize homosexuality. In January, Nigeria’s Jonathan signed into law a measure that punishes same-sex unions with 14-year prison sentences and 10-year terms for those guilty of “promoting” homosexuality; within days, dozens of people across the country were arrested, some charged in court with belonging to a gay organization. And the crackdown has continued in months since; in March four Nigerian men were whipped publicly after having been convicted of having gay sex. In February Uganda’s Museveni, in the face of formidable political opposition in his upcoming election, signed a law that levies heavy punishments for same-sex activity, including a lifetime in prison for “aggravated homosexuality," meaning homosexual relations with a minor, a disabled person or someone infected with HIV. (The original 2009 bill punished “aggravated homosexuality” with death, a provision later dropped.) In the Gambia, lawmakers passed a similar measure in August. The laws do more than violate people's rights — they also hamper the efforts of HIV/AIDS activists. For instance, in April 2014, a U.S. funded HIV research program was raided by Ugandan officials under suspicions that it was "training youths in homosexuality." ....
MORE at http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/10/16/how-anti-lgbt-legislation-in-uganda-nigeria-and-gambia-is-shaping-africa
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I'd like to tell Rick Warren where he can stick his "Purpose Driven Drivel"... 
