The film starts in the heart of the evangelical community of
mid-America, especially the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. The early parts of the film show young people
being “recruited” as Christian missionaries to go to the “heart of darkness” in
Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Uganda, but probably other countries, to win
over converts from Islam.
Gradually, the focus of much of the ministry shirts to
scapegoating gay people. In the end,
there seems to be no pretense of any rational moral ideology or reading of
Biblical scriptures. Making an “example” of a susceptible group of people seems
to be a way to gain political control, in a way no longer possible in the
United States or western countries in general.
It sounds like a kind of radical “Christian” fascism.
The film goes trace this transition back to change in US aid
policy following the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which, in general media reports,
was largely a heterosexual disease. At
one time, condoms were part of public health policy, but during the (second)
Bush administration the emphasis changed to abstinence only, with the idea that
all sex out of traditional marriage is sinful (even though the implications of
such a belief vary on different people)/.
Eventually, public furor over homosexuality leads to the
introduction of the “Anti-Homosexuality Law” in the Ugandan parliament in 2009,
with a sickening demonstration. This is no longer a world of “don’t ask, don’t
tell”. People are hunted down and outed
in local tabloids like the “Rolling Stone”.
The film often focuses on an appealing young couple, who
think they are preaching the Gospel and look the other way on the rumors of the
bill and anti-gay violence.
The film follows several other people. One of them is Rev.
Kapya Kaoma, who had fled Uganda and now lives in Boston. At the other end is,
for example, Rev. Scott Lively, who even claims (ironically) that the Nazi
Party was founded by gays (although rumors about Hitler have been the subject
of books and film by people like Lothar Mochtan, and the film “The Hidden
Fuhrer”. The film also shows the angry
rhetoric of Martin Ssempa.
Near the climax of the film, an angry speaker (I think it’s
Ssempa) takes on the question like, “Why is what you do in the privacy of your
own home my business?” He then shows
explicit still black-and-white photos of the most possible graphic
sadomasochistic male gay sex. The crowd
goes into a furor.
It’s well to remember, though, that the same kind of
rhetoric used to be made by people like Paul Cameron in the US during the early
years of the AIDS epidemic, especially before there was a clearcut test for
HIV. We’ve climbed a huge mountain in the west from those days toward military
and marriage equality.
The official site (Variance Films) is here.
Earlier news stories in the Metro Weekly (a gay paper in Washington DC) had reported that Ugandan (and African in general) culture emphasized the idea of having descendants because people had little economic opportunity on their own. Homosexuals, particularly males, were perceived as 'weakening" or "killing" their families by not having children. In their culture, older siblings have to raise kids because parents have died because of AIDS or other disease or violence. This viewpoint didn't come up in this film.
Earlier news stories in the Metro Weekly (a gay paper in Washington DC) had reported that Ugandan (and African in general) culture emphasized the idea of having descendants because people had little economic opportunity on their own. Homosexuals, particularly males, were perceived as 'weakening" or "killing" their families by not having children. In their culture, older siblings have to raise kids because parents have died because of AIDS or other disease or violence. This viewpoint didn't come up in this film.
In the Q-A, Williams mentioned a trip to Maldives, with
anti-gay culture, and also said that a law similar to Uganda’s bill has
actually passed in Nigeria (now having a piracy issue) even though it was
little noticed. Nigeria at one time
actually had several Metropolitan Community Church congregations.
Williams also explained how we was able to trick his way
into being able to film people with extreme anti-gay rhetoric.
See also a related BBC film about Uganda and anti-gay attitudes here Sept. 15,
No comments:
Post a Comment