- Tuesday, January 6, 2015

In some ancient cultures a person or animal was ostracized and forced to suffer undeserved scorn in the belief that the casting-out would heal a particular community. This suffering by one was thought to replace the suffering of others, and in so doing somehow salve the wrath of punitive gods. Today we are witnessing the scapegoating of Uganda on the issue of LGBT discrimination.

There are some who want to make an example of Uganda for its recent descent into radical and repulsive homophobia, in spite of the fact the Uganda is far from alone in this regard. What Uganda needs now is enlightened leadership from the West, not condemnation. Ironically, withholding much-needed aid to Uganda is eerily similar to the fundamentalists’ view that punishment cures all. Treating Uganda as a unique international pariah is little different from the Ugandan persecution of the LGBT community.

Like many countries — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait, Kenya and China, to name a few — Uganda has laws and customs that through the lens of modernity seem cruel and discriminatory. In more than a dozen states there are laws on the books that blatantly discriminate against the LGBT community. So what makes Uganda so different that it deserves U.S. condemnation? In a world where political inconsistency and hypocrisy are the norm, the singling-out of Uganda stands as an abject example of the worst in political expediency. The United States and others are making Uganda the scapegoat on LGBT abuse simply because they can.

Americans should not be confused. Discrimination against and abuse of the LGBT community are wrong, but when that moral outrage is targeted at the weak and vulnerable and not directed to the rich and powerful, the case can be made that those critics of Uganda are not friends of the LGBT community, either. Uganda should change its policies, but so should 78 other nations and half a dozen U.S. states.

FRED MCKINNEY

President & CEO

Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council

Boston

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