The Three U.S. Evangelicals at the Heart of Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill

Meet Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Don Schmierer. You can call them the Three Amigos of the evangelical movement in Africa. Together, they are quite the trifecta. When they aren't having their research and positions on homosexuality denounced by health professionals, they are traveling to places like Uganda, speaking before the masses and saying things like "gay men sodomize teenage boys," or "the gay movement is an evil institution."

What's that biblical principle of loving those you disagree with? Looks like these three evangelicals might have missed that day of Sunday School.

Instead, these three leaders -- all vibrant parts of the anti-gay movement or ex-gay ministry movement here in the United States -- have become ground zero in the discussion over Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Turns out that these three evangelical leaders were a part of a conference about ten months ago that crystallized efforts to move forward with repressive legislation in the African country. And now that their actions have resulted in a proposed law that would kill some gay people, lock up many others, and prosecute straight folks who support gay rights, all three of these evangelical kingpins are looking for cover.

They don't deserve it. If the Uganda bill passes -- in any form -- these three should wear that as a scarlet letter. Or maybe they'll see it as a badge of honor.

The New York Times notes that barely one month after these three leaders spoke in Uganda, legislators in Uganda -- including our worst villain of 2009, Ugandan parliamentarian David Bahati -- introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Their inspiration? The comments that Lively, Brundidge, and Schmierer made.

Schmierer and Brundidge talked mostly about how LGBT people can "unlearn" their same-sex attractions, and how it's mentally deficient to identify as LGBT. Their comments served to further stigmative LGBT people, sending a message that LGBT people need to be "corrected."

Cue Scott Lively, who pounced on the words of Schmierer and Brundidge, met with Ugandan legislators, and proceeded to tell folks in Uganda that LGBT people would attack African families and destroy African children. Mix all of that homophobia together, and you get not only the sentiment, but the very impetus for Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

And maybe the guilt of all that is getting to these three evangelistas. Schmierer told the Times that Uganda's bill was horrible and that "some of the nicest people I know are gay people." Brundidge condemned the bill, too.

But color this condemnation a bit too late. Traveling to Uganda, selling homophobia, and telling a country full of people that queer folks prey on children and destroy families ... what did these three evangelical leaders expect?

It's probably a safe bet that these three cats are familiar with the phrase, "You reap what you sow." In this case, these these three religious leaders have done just that. They planted the seeds for the Uganda bill, and now after a year of sowing, the country is on the precipice of something really bad. Like it or not, these three evangelical leaders own part of this bill.

(Photo courtesy of D3 San Francisco's photostream on Flickr.)