Here in the United States, gays claim to be fighting for equal rights. They seem to forget that, with the exception of marriage, they can do exactly the same things straight people can do. They can work, or not work. They can drive cars, play sports, vote, run for political office, go to college, raise families. Many gay and feminist activists like to pretend that gays are subjected to horrible amounts of violence… but isn’t everyone else as well? I mean, jeez, how many women are murdered every year who aren’t lesbian or transsexual? How many straight men are murdered? I’m pretty sure there’s more of us being killed. Does that mean that, as a straight white woman, I can run around screaming about how there’s an influx of hate towards “my people”? Yeah, I get the whole “hate crimes” thing, but I’m pretty sure murderers hate all of their victims, regardless of their reasons for killing them. Maybe they killed them because they were gay. Maybe they killed them because he was a straight guy who had a lot of money. Murder’s a hateful crime in general, so I don’t think that the hate crimes argument really passes the test. All in all, I’m pretty sure that gays have a pretty good life here. We’re a pretty tolerant country, and while there are surely incidents that pop up here and there where someone might get teased in high school or something, on the whole we’ve moved past caring about teh gays. For all their yelping about gay marriage, they forget that they have the same rights as everyone else — save marriage. But at least they are free to practice their love here. It could be much, much worse.

If they want an example of what a truly homophobic country is, and how much worse it could get, they should take a look at Uganda.

Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.

… The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. “Serial offenders” also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with “religious, political, economic or social authority” who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

This is abhorrent and apalling. No one should have to live in fear because they are gay, and thankfully, we don’t have that kind of bigotry here. It’s curious that gay activists here don’t focus very much on the treatment of gays in countries like Uganda, where they really are persecuted. They complain about self-esteem issues and gay marriage, while there are gays who are in fear for their lives, just for being who they are. It’s a lot like feminists who complain about abortion and the mythical wage gap (that doesn’t exist) but never confront the lives of women in the Middle East who have to live under sharia law.

Another layer of this story is just who is apparently to blame for this. And look: its the Christians.

The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues. The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.

… Buturo played down the influence of foreign evangelicals, saying the proposed legislation was an expression of popular outrage against “repugnant” practices. But activists like Cato argue anti-gay attitudes are a foreign import.

“In the beginning, when the missionaries brought religion, they said they were bringing love,” he said. “Instead they brought hate, through homophobia.”

Get it? It’s not the fault of the back-asswards country or their legislators. It’s the westernized evangelicals who are bringing in the homophobia. If it wasn’t for those darned Christians, then the Ugandan legislators never would have come up with the idea of hating homosexuals.