As we enter World's AIDS Day, I find myself conflicted. I've always thought the only good thing GW Bush did was with PREFAR – combating AIDS in Africa. In the past, I’ve seen evidence that it is one of the few successfully run government programs. That’s a good thing.

It's a noble cause indeed. Yet, today, I see how countries like Uganda can use those funds for evil purposes. I still support PREFAR, but think maybe some tighter provisions are called for in such places.

Exterminating gay men will not end AIDS. It will only take the human race closer to extinction. And if we’re down to exterminating people for such, then maybe we deserve extinction. 

As a gay man, I am often accused of being perverted, sick, mentally ill, an affront to God and all that is holy, and so forth. Yet I and my brothers and sisters are not the ones trying to execute people with a disease or incarcerate for life an expression of love (or lust) between two people of the same sex. In my life I’ve discovered those who have held on most tightly and righteously to the concept of moral values are the same ones that are completely void of goodness.  

I am not a believer in Christ or any of the known deities. I accept the fact that I don’t have the answers about the beginning of life or what comes after. I don’t buy that anyone else does either. Yet I do have an understanding of what Christ, be he the son of a god or a mortal man, stood for. Whichever it might be, I don’t imagine him doing anything but weeping, when mass murder is done in his name.

From the information currently known, it looks like The Family (The Fellowship), a group of mostly American politicians like Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn and evangelicals like Rick Warren,  have exerted their evangelical influence to convince the Republic of Uganda to pursue the passage in its parliament a bill called the ‘Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2009’. The author of the bill is a parliament minister named David Bahati, who was brought into The Family along with Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Once in The Family, Bahati was taken under the wing of Inhofe – and an evil time was had by all.

As the evangelicals got their grips around Uganda, which now has a Christian population of 87 percent (the majority being Catholic with Anglicans quickly gaining), there was no light that shined on the country. The Christian leadership did not exercise Christ-like beliefs. Instead they continued already rampant human rights abuses and now want to take it a step further and purge the East African country of homosexuality. Their moral code justifies the lifetime imprisonment of another human being for expressing an act of love or desire towards someone of the same sex. They want to take gays with AIDS and not pray for their healing or presenting them with an act of love or compassion, but to put them to a swift death.

I don’t measure up to these types of Christians and I hope I never do.

Some are saying it is a model they wish to impose on America. We can sit around and believe that it would never happen here, but that relies on faith and not reality, because history has shown it damn well can happen here. It’s not just far off Uganda that wants to kill gays. We can deceive ourselves and think the majority of Americans wouldn’t stand for it here, but the reality of it all is time and time again we can see a small group controlling a large populace. Being American does not make us immune from being human. Besides we only have to look at recent events to see that most Americans are quite willing to deny some of their fellow citizens civil rights. And once you deny a civil right you’ve taken one step closer to denying them a human right such as freedom and livelihood.

America always has its blinders handy. People forget that it was a short eight years ago that this country did start rounding up thousands of members of a minority for a period – Muslims. It took one episode on one day to put America on such a path. Sure they stopped and reason prevailed, but what about next time? There are calls to start doing it again after the Ft. Hood murders. This country wasn’t on edge before that September day, but it is a powder keg now. What happens if another major attack occurs?

Just as important is once we go down that path then what group comes next? As the Sally Kerns out there convince others that homosexuals are to blame for them losing their job or having their home foreclosed on and that God will not favor America until it is put back on its moral Christian path, what happens then? Do you need reminding of the pink triangles?   

In the morals that I hold as a non-Christian, I believe the evangelical assault on Ugandan gays to be most vile and evil acts. I don’t need Jesus to tell me what is right or wrong and I don’t need to use him to try to sate a desire for power that expresses itself in the commission of inhumane acts against my fellow man. Whoever you are you must know those things are wrong and if you do not show remorse for doing them or understand that it is wrong, then you meet the criteria to be declared a sociopath. Were they to commit such acts beyond the name of Jesus or another deity, society would consider them criminally insane and a danger to others.

Holding a Bible in front of you might not repel vampires, but it damn sure deflects accusations of severe mental illness.

Uganda was in earlier days considered one of the success stories for PREFAR. They turned around the rate of AIDS infections and became a model for other African nations. But suddenly, the country started rounding up condoms and First Lady Janet Museveni began an abstinence only campaign. By 2005 other world groups, like the Global Fund for AIDS, began pulling funding as the Uganda AIDS program spiraled into crisis. Coincidently or not, it was after the time Sen. Inhofe became intimately involved with the country’s president and started turning him and his wife to The Family’s teachings and it coincides with him taking Bahati under his wing.    

Since 1999, Inhofe has charged the U.S. government (according to the Oklahoman) nearly $200,000 for trips to Africa. He claims to have paid for his first visit to the country in 1998. Those trips were taken on behalf of The Family, not the nation. Inhofe has himself called them “a Jesus thing” and believes he has visited Africa more than any other senator in history. His most recent trips to Uganda have been to deal with their AIDS program. His connection and mentorship of David Bahati suggests it is Inhofe and The Family behind the desired extermination of gays in Uganda. Inhofe began his journeys into Africa at the request of Doug Coe – the head of The Family.

A news article appearing in the Oklahoman on Dec. 21, 2008, said that Inhofe had made at least 20 trips to Africa. Yet seven months prior to that story Inhofe revealed he’d just made his 97^th visit to Africa. As his trips began in 1999, that averages out over the then 9-yr-period to a visit every five to six weeks instead of the twice a year trips the newspaper claims. There are other notations easily found where Inhofe recites the 97^th visit claim in April 2008, so it’s unknown how the Oklahoman was so far off in their count. As Inhofe readily admits his travels to Africa are funded by American taxpayers, questions arise on the total cost of 96 such trips. The Oklahoman interviewed Inhofe for the report, so it seems odd that they would’ve gotten the number of trips and their costs so far off.  

America gave the Republic of Uganda $274 million this year. Next year it is scheduled to give them another quarter of a billion dollars in U.S. foreign aid. That is a significant part of their economy. And though I wish for money coming from programs like PREFAR to assist in the efforts to combat the spread of AIDS, I’m struck with a certain reality: Through the influence of American politicians and The Family, Uganda uses the funds for abstinence only education. Condom distribution is curtailed; the distribution of evangelicalism and homophobia is not. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is one of their solutions to control the spread of AIDS. If you execute gay men, they can’t give others AIDS. Some will buy into that logic as being a justifiable method of disease control. I do not. Not being blinded with evangelical furor, I understand AIDS is a problem that transcends the gay population. If it was not, then they could just stop battling AIDS and let the gays die, now couldn’t they?

So the question has to be asked, as U.S. foreign aid and PREFAR funds in Uganda make up such a large piece of their national resources, just what part of it will be used to murder gay men?

I believe it is time we suspend all aid to the Republic of Uganda immediately until they reign in their human rights abuses and pledge a more proven approach towards fighting AIDS.  And it is way past time to haul Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, and the rest of their gang of evangelical thugs in front of a special Congressional hearing to investigate their connection to subverting democracy in foreign countries against the security interests of America and their involvement in aiding a potential genocide of homosexuals and other evil acts.

It is my belief that Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has committed acts of treason against the United States of America and has been personally involved in constructing a plan to commit genocide against homosexuals in Africa. So far, the facts coming out have done nothing but confirm my beliefs. Now let whatever justice we can manage to come up with in 2009 America address these issues.

In December 2008 Jim Inhofe released the following statement:

“Today, as we mark the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day, we acknowledge how far we still have to go to heal the world of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” Senator Inhofe said. “World AIDS Day brings aid and awareness to the issue, and this year specifically encourages leaders to ‘take the lead’ to stop AIDS from destroying their countries. This week, I will be traveling to several African nations meeting with key African leaders who are on the front lines in fighting HIV/AIDS in their countries.  

“I will meet with Ugandan President Yoweri Musevini who has worked in combating HIV/AIDS in Uganda by instituting prevention programs particularly concerning mother-to-child transmission, along with recently launching a partnership program that targets at-risk groups such as refugees, internally displaced people, disabled, and those that are ‘hard to reach.’ 

“I am going to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and First Lady Azeb Mesfin who have also been very involved in fighting the disease. First Lady Mesfin is known for her aggressive work to teach rural Ethiopians about the issues of HIV and advocating for more women’s rights.  She started the organization ‘Ethiopian Coalition of Women against HIV/AIDS’ and continues to work closely with community leaders to ensure the rights of women and fight against harmful traditional practices and HIV/AIDS.   

“I look forward to meeting with these leaders who understand that finding a way to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS is essential to bringing stability and development to the region. I will also reaffirm my pledge to carry their stories back to Washington and make sure that the spotlight is not taken off of our obligation to show compassion and aid to those who need it most.” 

Congressman Robert Aderholt said: “The Bush Administration has worked very hard to help people living with HIV/AIDS within the US and abroad. The United States has devoted record-levels of support to AIDS education, treatment and prevention in Africa, and the US is the largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria since 2001.  I anticipate the opportunity to discuss the progress in the global fight against AIDS with leaders of the African countries we are visiting and I hope that the US continues our support of Africa in the fight against this horrible disease.” 

Senator Inhofe’s work in Africa has revolved around his senior position on the Senate Armed Services Committee and building global partnerships through security cooperation efforts, but it has also been a personal mission. His compassion and heart for this extraordinary and often overlooked continent keep him returning to fight for their aid, build relationships between adversaries within and among the nations, and ensure them that they have not been forgotten in America. He has traveled to dozens of African countries developing relationships with people from all walks of life, from Prime Ministers to peasants and everyone in-between. He normally visits 5 or 6 countries on each trip.  

In addition to meeting with African leaders on the economic and social challenges that they face, Senator Inhofe will look into the newly launched USAFRICOM. He fully supported and has been instrumental in the formation of the African Brigades, the African Union’s regional military standby brigades and the development of USAFRICOM as a way to combat the spread of terrorism in vulnerable regions.