Uganda

American Prayer Hour a Success



Hundreds of people of faith gathered on Thursday, February 4th in more than 20 cities around the country for the American Prayer Hour, an interfaith response to the National Prayer Breakfast, which also took place on Thursday morning. The National Prayer Breakfast is organized by the conservative and secretive religious group, The Family (also known as The Fellowship).

Members of The Family have been linked to the “Kill the Gays” bill, legislation proposed in Uganda that, if passed, could mean mandatory imprisonment or even the death penalty for anyone accused of being homosexual or protecting someone who is. The organization Full Equality Now, DC sponsored a Wednesday night protest at the Family’s headquarters on Capitol Hill that was covered on The Rachel Maddow Show.

Civil rights advocates had asked the President not to attend the Prayer Breakfast because of the Family’s ties the Ugandan legislation. Although President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did attend the event, they took the opportunity to speak out against the use of religion to justify violence and cruelty. The President decried the targeting of gays and lesbians anywhere in the world and expressed his disgust for laws that would do so in Uganda and elsewhere.

Back in Washington, D.C. a diverse group of religious leaders and people of faith attended the American Prayer Hour at Calvary Baptist Church. Imam Daayiee Abullah of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, which serves bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims, called the event a “rebuttal to cruelty and violence in God’s name,” and Rabbi Elizabeth Richman of Jews United for Justice declared that each one of us will not be safe, secure and valued until we live in a society where everyone is safe, secure and valued.

Rev. Elizabeth Lerner, of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, (pictured above right with Sharon Groves, a member of All Souls Church, Unitarian), said that Thursday’s service reminded us that the only family that truly matters is our human family, and that the gathering made “a powerful statement condemning the strategies and bigotry of ‘The Family,’ and affirming that [the] persistent and triumphant message across the world’s religions is always transparent love in service of human dignity and peace.”

May that spirit of peace and dignity accompany all those in Uganda and around the world whose lives and families are endangered by those who would seek to silence and harm them.

Posted by:

BGLT Equality, International Peace & Human Rights

American Prayer Hour – Protesting the National Prayer Breakfast

This week, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists and faith communities are uniting in Washington DC and around the country to protest the involvement of members of the international organization The Family, (also known as the Fellowship) a religious group with disturbing ties to proponents of anti-LGBT legislation in Uganda.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is currently under consideration by the Ugandan parliament. The bill was put forth by parliamentarian David Bahati and initially backed by President Yoweri Museveni. If passed, the new law would unleash a vicious campaign of persecution against LGBT citizens in Uganda. Bahati and President Museveni are key members of The Family in Africa. The Family hosts the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which is scheduled to take place this year on Thursday, February 4th at the Washington D.C. Hilton. President Obama is scheduled to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast.
A coalition including Faith in America, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Full Equality Now DC, an organization the emerged from the National Equality March, is responding with the American Prayer Hour. On the morning of February 4th, people of faith across the country will gather at American Prayer Hour events to affirm our inclusive values and show that cruelty and extremism have no place in our communities. A list of events is available at the American Prayer Hour website.
A press conference announcing the National Prayer Hour will take place at the National Press Club on Tuesday, February 2nd. Scheduled speakers include Moses, a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in the United States, Bishop V. Gene Robinson of the Episocpal Church, and Harry Knox, director of the HRC Religion and Faith Program.
Full Equality Now DC has also organized a protest and rally on Wednsday, February 3rd at 5:30pm at the Family’s “C Street House” headquarters at 133 C Street SE, Washington, DC.
If there is an American Prayer Hour event in your city, please consider attending. If you are in Washington, DC, please come the rally on Wednesday night as well. For more information, see www.americanprayerhour.org.

Posted by:

BGLT Equality