L-R: Unidentified woman, Scott Lively, Caleb Brundidge, Don Schmierer, event organizer Stephen Langa, at the time of the March 2009 anti-gay conference in Uganda. Photo courtesy of the Box Turtle Bulletin.

According to the Times, the three spoke at an event in Uganda last March, where the agenda was "the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda,” as characterized by event organizer Stephen Langa.

For three days... the visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

Human rights advocates in Uganda say the three Americans helped set in motion what could be a very dangerous cycle.

Gay Ugandans already describe a world of beatings, blackmail, death threats like “Die Sodomite!” scrawled on their homes, constant harassment and even so-called correctional rape.

Debate on the bill, which is now before a parliamentary committee, is scheduled to begin early this year.

More than 35 African nations have outlawed homosexuality, and Egypt and Mali are likely to follow suit this year. In Kenya, being gay is punishable by 14 years in prison. Nigeria is considering imposing, among other things, a five-year prison sentence on anyone visiting a gay website or attending a same-sex marriage.

Read the full article at The New York Times.

More excellent coverage on Uganda's "kill the gays" bill at the Box Turtle Bulletin, who (giving credit where credit's due) orignally reported on the Uganda conference back in March 2009.

Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo told Reuters the revised law would now probably limit the maximum penalty for offenders to life in prison rather than execution.

Earlier this week, U.S. officials received assurances from the Ugandan president that he would work to block the anti-gay bill from becoming law, and would veto the legislation should it come to his desk.

Jon Tollefson, a State Department spokesperson, told DC Agenda that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged on several occasions to the top U.S. diplomat engaged in Africa that he would stop progress on the anti-gay bill.

Debate on the bill, which is now before a parliamentary committee, is scheduled to begin early next year when members of parliament return from their Christmas holiday.

Speaking on the subject last week, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton told an audience at Georgetown University, "We have expressed our concerns directly, indirectly, and we will continue to do so. The bill has not gone through the Ugandan legislature, but it has a lot of public support by various groups, including religious leaders in Uganda. And we view it as a very serious potential violation of human rights."

Other Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have urged President Yoweri Museveni to consider the dangers the proposals could pose to Uganda's rights record.

On Wednesday, five Republican Executive Committee members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a letter to Museveni, urging him to to reject the anti-gay bill.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, adopted a resolution condemning Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality legislation, and Sweden threatened to withdraw the £31m of aid it gives to Uganda each year if the proposal becomes law.

Under the original proposal "serial offenders", and those who commit "aggravated homosexuality", faced a death sentence.

Critics blasted the British broadcaster, saying the BBC should not treat the execution of gays as a legitimate topic for discussion.

Some readers mused if the BBC would have considered a topic such as the extermination of Jews in World War II a legitimate discussion as well.

In his statement, Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC World Service, defended the topic, saying "the program was a legitimate and responsible attempt to encourage discussion about a crucial African issue."

The original headline on our website was, in hindsight, too stark. We apologise for any offence it caused. But it's important that this does not detract from what is a crucial debate for Africans and the international community.

The programme was a legitimate and responsible attempt to support a challenging discussion about proposed legislation that advocates the death penalty for those who undertake certain homosexual activities in Uganda - an important issue where the BBC can provide a platform for debate that otherwise would not exist across the continent and beyond.

Original BBC webpage before headline was changed

The discussion comes in response to a proposed anti-gay legislation in Uganda that could lead to the death penalty for homosexuals.

Several British politicians denounced the BBC, said the taxpayer-funded broadcaster should not treat the execution of gays as a legitimate topic for discussion.

On his blog Labour Member of Parliament Eric Joyce asked:" "Is the BBC really there to provide credibility to a vile discussion around a profoundly hideous and savage piece of legislation?"

Lynne Featherstone, a lawmaker from the Liberal Democrats, has asked the BBC for an apology and an end to the discussion.

"Suggesting that the state-sponsored murder of gay people is OK as a legitimate topic for debate is deeply offensive," she said.

Of the 600 comments in reponse to the question, only 200 were deemed appropriate to be published, with 51 of those arguing homosexuals should be executed.

The BBC's World Service Africa program editor, David Stead, defended the debate. In a blog posted on the BBC Web site, he said editors had "thought long and hard about using this question" and sought to reflect the diverse views about homosexuality in Africa.

"We agree that it is a stark and challenging question, but think that it accurately focuses on and illustrates the real issue at stake," he said.

The page's title was later changed to "Should Uganda debate gay execution?" after lobbying by the BBC Pride board, which is composed of gay and lesbian staff at the corporation.

The Ugandan bill extends existing laws to make it illegal to promote homosexuality by talking or writing about it, and forcing people to tell the authorities about anyone they know who is gay.

The bill's author, lawmaker David Bahati, denied reports that international pressure might result in parts of the bill being toned down (as reported last week by Bloomberg).

He says that the proposed death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" is needed to protect Uganda’s children from recruitment by gays.

"The whole intention is to prevent the recruitment of under-age children, which is going on in single-sex schools. We must stop the recruitment and secure the future of our children," said Bahati.

The bill has been introduced into Uganda's parliament, and will be debated within two weeks. It is expected to become law by February.

There is wide support for the bill which, while being an extreme piece of anti-gay legislation, is not unique.

Nigeria has a similar bill and already allows the death penalty for homosexuality in northern states, as does Sudan.

Burundi criminalized homosexuality in April this year, joining 37 other African nations where gay sex is already illegal.

Egypt and Mali are also looking at criminalization of gays and lesbians.

Full story at The Guardian.

The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the two punishments to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties, Buturo said today in a phone interview from the capital, Kampala.

Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati presented a private member’s bill on Oct. 14 which sought the death penalty and life imprisonment for gay people in the country.

The Ugandan government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are “repugnant to the Ugandan culture,” Buturo said.

Still, it favors a more refined set of punishments, he said.

Full story from Bloomberg.