In the Life: Ep. 1909, "Intersections of Church & State"

in the life is funded in part by the H man a meringue and foundation arcus foundation the state of richard w island skill foundation erodes in leona be carpenter foundation and these funders and by the annual Sport of in the life members like you the First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects religion from government influence at the same time it ensures that government is protected from religious influence this is known as the separation of church and state however the fundamental rights of some Americans are under attack LGBT people are being targeted by religious organizations that are often closely affiliated with the government tonight on in the life documenting the people and the issues shaping the gay experience we investigate religious organizations that use their money power and influence to sanction homophobia both here at home and abroad you may God grant us wisdom and may he watch over the United States of America the Religious Right really wants a theocracy really wants the laws of the country to reflect they're often very narrow-minded religious ideas I once asked you from your prayers and now I give you mine god bless the United States of America and God bless america people who claim we're approaching a theocracy I think just don't they do not know what a theocracy is by and large LGBT people have not taken the whole concept of the separation of State in church very seriously and often don't even realize how much that is a part of our struggle separation of church and state is a constitutional guarantee that says that we're going to keep a decent distance between the institutions of government and those of religion because ultimately that will be good for both governments won't have to make religious decisions and religion will be relatively free of government entanglement there are actually two religion clauses in the First Amendment what's known as the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause and they really work hand-in-hand the Free Exercise Clause protects religious exercise and religious expression and the Establishment Clause ensures that the government's not promotes one faith over others or favor religion in general I knew from the beginning that they were conservative Baptists which is why i said in my second interview that I was gay and what returned was is she the best person for this job and if she is higher the pedrera case involves a Baptist group home in Kentucky that takes in troubled youth youth that are in the custody of the state's this group makes no bones about the fact that it has a great degree of religious content to its programming I was hard by what was then called Kentucky Baptist homes for children in march of 1998 and it's now called sunrise children's homes and i was hard there is a counselor to work with behavior disordered boys we would have to pray for meetings and I was uncomfortable with some of that but I also knew that I was working for them so if you're their rules then you follow their rules this is an organization that is largely funded by federal and state dollars in fact since 2000 they've received over a hundred million dollars in state funds alone in theory faith-based organizations are not supposed to be using tax dollars to proselytize to try to convert people to their own religion but the general accounting office looked at dozens indeed hundreds of these organizations over the past few years and found that most groups don't even know that they're prohibited from evangelizing and even if they do know it they sneak evangelism in any way I'm guessing it was somewhere in this area right here and I remembered the dis gentleman stopping to take our photograph so I remember turning to him and smiling and and that's that was the click a photo of me and my then-girlfriend was placed in the fair here locally the Kentucky State Fair nothing risque or bad about it anyway but thousands of people go to the fair and hundreds of them were Baptist and so it got to the president of the Kentucky Baptist humps of children and he started making calls and it came down to my boss and he said it's gonna be okay it's gonna be okay and I remember looking I'm saying I don't think so the average lifespan of a homosexual male was 39 and it's not just aids that kills these people we have some very basic values that are very dear to us in organization and they're basically the judeo-christian traditional family values currently under federal law there is no LGBT protection in the civil rights statutes and as a result the claim in this case was that she was fired for failing to conform to her employers faith her claim in that regard was dismissed Kentucky Baptist homes for children received public money and so for everyone who sees themselves as a participant in the tax system or even just a member of this community that I think really got a lot of people angry when I heard about what was happening in her case I was I must say I was enraged been a black man in being 75 years old I knew what prejudice prejudice was have from my own experience so my conscience wouldn't allow me to sit back and do nothing about this at one time it was okay to discriminate against a person because of race or color and then we became enlightened I have a dream we became more sensitive we changed our standards we actually changed our laws to help us to evolve as human beings to be more open now I think race is actually quite different there is absolutely nothing wrong discriminatory or invidious about a religious group consisting that its leaders share a fundamental goals views principles we don't ask sunnah gogs to have baptist rabbis everyone certainly is entitled to their own view of what what god does or doesn't dictate however they lack a right to have the government support that and what does this country mean to you well this country has a great heritage and part of that heritage is the judeo-christian value and the one nation under God that is built a strong historically about twenty percent of americans admit they are members of the religious right they are people who would be more comfortable in a christian nation with christian laws and they represent a huge portion a largest single subgroup of voters in this country whenever Uncle Sam gives a church or religious institution some money it frees up other money to be used for any cause good or in the case of something like proposition 8 very bad citizens are entitled to vote their beliefs including their moral convictions it is not a theocracy if religious citizens have opinions and prevail in the ballot box just as an environmentalist citizens of Rotarians citizens or anyone else marriage means a mom and a dad prop 8 had a number of proponents who were certainly motivated by their faith now that in and of itself is is not problematic but when we're getting the state involved and we're stopped talking about a state-created institution the state has no business telling a same-sex couple that that it lacks the same basic human right that all others have many ministers and pastors who do want to perform same-sex marriages and are entitled to do that within the theology of their own churches are not allowed to do so by the power of the state they're unrecognized their second or third class events and I think that violates the religious freedom rights of many of those pastors myself included as a Unitarian Universalist marriage is a spiritual act and so as a spiritual act for me to be prevented as someone who has been given the authority the legalized marriage is a violation of my religious freedom I'm a straight man I'm a pastor I'm a Christian and I have found that this is a very easy and clear position based on my faith I will not perform weddings until proposition 8 has been repealed religious freedom it's a very simple concept I have the right we all have the right to practice the religion of our choice and the government will not interfere with that and not only will the government not interfere with our religious freedom the government will not establish any one particular religion over another it's part of our religion that everybody is equal and everybody has the right to choose who they marry whether it's a boy or a girl people of faith have the right to speak to speak and be a part of this democracy my religion however does not dictate the terms of your existence as a fellow human being as a fellow citizen that's why we have a constitution to help protect and preserve the rights the liberties the mobility of all the citizens of this country so that no one group can dictate the terms over another group when others rights are infringed if that photo had never been taken I have no idea what my life would be like I mean I want to say oh it really hasn't changed a whole lot but that would be a lie I don't I think it's changed me in so many ways that I can't even tell you and even recently I met some young people in their mid-20s and you know royal God love him he was so cute he was like ah I had walked into the office and he was like I remember what happened you I was 16 you know when it happened and he said you're the reason I'm in social justice that's why I did it writing to elected officials emailing them phoning the White House these things sound trivial unfortunately the only way for the LGBT community to make it clear that they don't want to fund the kind of bigotry that is often funded with tax dollars now is to make it clear to this administration that they're not going to tolerate discriminatory hiring with tax dollars they're not going to allow evangelism with government funds are their father in heaven we have lost some very important big stones out of the wall of separation between church and state and the question is in our next generation will we put the stones back or will we blow up the walls Christ amen on februari 14 2010 the Ugandan Unitarian Universalist Church took a stand in Kampala against legislation proposed by the Ugandan Parliament that would impose the death penalty on serial offenders of homosexual acts three days later pastor Martin sampe held the demonstration supporting the 2009 anti-homosexuality act for three minutes then I'm sorry that you got some coffee and then after that we are going to take on another three minutes just to weave together for the children that's a people African Special cigarette you coming back down by a pillow we redeem us from this evil soon you cannot separate Christianity like in Uganda with politics because they are almost the same there's no separation between church and state the important thing to remember about what's going on uganda is all these right-wing fundamentalist in America that have been trying so hard to pass their agenda and persecute us here they haven't been able to so they're exporting this agenda overseas on the morning of februari second 2010 a Ugandan man seeking asylum in the US spoke at a press conference for the American prayer our an LGBT inclusive alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast I feel so uncomfortable when I stand here before such good people great people and hide myself hide my face hide my identity it hurts Moses oh my garden I'm gay and so I i have actually a lot of fear fear of course for for my life and fear of exposure two days later government officials from around the world attended the National Prayer Breakfast organized by the fellowship foundation each year at the National Prayer Breakfast all these politicians the president senators members of Congress world leaders business leaders that go the National Prayer Breakfast I think it's some benign event they have no idea that the group behind us is this radical dangerous organization for too long the American people have been in the dark about the fellowship foundation more commonly known in Washington as the family the family is the oldest and arguably most influential Christian conservative organization in Washington and one of the very few that's really international I lived with the group for about a month and then after that spent literally researching in archives and interviewing people and and trying to put together the whole history and chronology of this of this organization the family is not typical of American evangelism it's a very elite group it's a network its primary focus appears to be foreign policy Jeff Charlotte's research reveals the family's influence on Uganda the dictator of autonomous evony has been the family's key man for Africa since 1986 and he's their guy they began in the early 90s building a broader base and I think they were sort of the vanguard of the great sort of American evangelical intervention in Uganda they helped set up a Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast they run a parliamentary prayer group and the men who run that all family members and these are the guys who are responsible for the 2009 anti-homosexuality Act homosexuality is illegal in Uganda it has been illegal since the coronial times before this bill came out homosexuality was illegal and it was punishable by 14 years EG if this bill were actually to become law in Uganda consensual conduct would be subjected to life imprisonment with the possibility of the death penalty for certain homosexual acts or repeat offending acts all Ugandan would be required to report any suspected homosexual to the police within 24 hours it would criminalize any discussion expression any outreach to LGBT communities including health-related outreach I grew up fighting all these feelings in me because any slight mistake you find yourself in jail any slight mistake you family rejects you excommunicate Co I remember when I was rapped by this policeman there was no way I could go to a doctor I remember spending a whole week without eating it bed terrified I knew if I did told the health workers they would of course not give me help it was so traumatic another Ugandan man is publicly speaking out against the sanctioning of homophobia in Uganda when I was first told that you're going to be the leader of smug sexual minorities Uganda so it did not does not mean the leader of swag alone this means the leader of the Ugandan LGBT community that means I'm going to be in the media every day that means i'm going to to be discriminated even more that means every person in my family is going to know about me already got a USA under at the time is an image after airport Brian Boston Massachusetts you being an African and gay at the same time it really are contradicts with our word actually many Africans believe as being the known the issue of homosexuality was in Africa because looking in the past when the British colonists came to Africa and introducing laws they had to include a lot on homosexuality meaning they were condemning that something something that was already existing so being African and being a homosexual is like being anywhere and being a homosexual the notion that the current criminal law that's in place that criminalizes consensual homosexual conduct is somehow a traditional African value is really quite preposterous it has its origin in very racist misogynistic views about human sexuality and so it's a colonial import to begin with foreign influences continue today in 2009 Reverend dr. capilla coma of political research associates attended anti-gay seminars in Uganda in his report he describes the link between these seminars and the anti-homosexuality bill so ahead that the Evangelic up christian right is coming to your gun de to hold this anti-gay seminar but when I hit that I took that opportunity to go and listen to what was being said one of the speakers at the anti-gay seminar was American Scott lively who calls himself one of the most knowledgeable and articulate opponents of the homosexual agenda they mislead people and I kept on saying these guys are lying to people in the name of region talking about our dangerous gay in this world they are violent people they're out to kill they are the ones who are responsible station of kids in the world the other ones who are responsible for HIV all sorts of evil we are put on this small group of people he also met with the Parliamentarians of your grinder for four hours teaching them about this international gay agenda to take over the world and why Uganda should stand up against it the bill which came from Uganda is the direct product of this hit seminar which was held in Uganda for us we always thought people from America from Europe who from the West a kind of liberal and very more understanding to the issues of sexuality and sexual rates but then I was very surprised when Reverend capilla Koroma soul being bispo actually here to condemn homosexuality and cities it is really not acceptable this is what has made me question what is the agenda of my brother and sisters in the evangelical movement when it comes to Africa do they really care what happens to other people's lives no I don't think they do they are interested in using Africa for their own political gain Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma longtime family member and one of the very few that's extremely candid about what he does with them he goes over to Uganda traveling with lots and lots of money he can say it's a private trip you're a u.s. senator when you go to a foreign country our embassy meets you there it's not a private trip you're a representative of the most powerful nation on the earth and you say you hate gay people and you say you have money to share and here's uh really truly believe you're desperately poor nation it's pretty conservative anyways they're gonna go along with that the Member of Parliament who introduced a 2009 anti-homosexuality act is a guy named David Bahati it's recently come to light that that member of the Ugandan Parliament David Bahati who sponsored this legislation is affiliated with the family tax documents from the family show millions of dollars have gone into programs linked to David Bahati mr. behati is also Secretary of the family's parliament fellowship in Uganda the family did take steps to oppose the bill much too little and much too late and mainly to protect their own image and this is what David Bahati says he says look when they would call me to talk about it they didn't tell me to withdraw the bill they talked about damage control they talked about appearances and that really came to a head in February on the National Prayer Breakfast the speaker for the prayer breakfast was supposed to be the prime minister of Spain zapatero and at the last minute they made the main speaker Hillary Clinton and I recently called President Museveni whom I have known through the prayer breakfast and expressed the strongest concerns about a law being considered in the parliament of Uganda and she denounced the bill in pretty strong terms and so did barack obama but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are and i think the family said we've done what we needed to do and meanwhile at that point the bill was cysteinyl still hurtling toward passage i know for swallow our embassies in Uganda began speaking up publicly against the bill the u.s. ambassador started speaking publicly on the record opposing the bill it looks like the bill is locked up in committee now and that does have to do with the 70 realizing that this was going to hurt him internationally but on top of it he'd gotten all the benefits like whipped up a witch hunt he had convinced Ugandan that he was standing up for the decadent West he wins and Uganda loses it hurts me that I can't go back to my country but I think I need to be happy I think I need to be happy I need to start a new life all together I'm going back to Uganda to us the gutter girl names to cushion the religious groups that are spreading a lot of hate and homophobia if what they are doing is not bringing a genocide in Uganda and it's about time the government of Uganda ask these religious groups are you here to preach love or I appreciate thank you for watching in the life to watch more from democracy or theocracy and exporting hate or to learn how you can get involved with issues raised in tonight's episode visit our website at in the life TV org people that's it Uganda I say no Obama on our behalf that the religious leaders in Uganda house in CI pimp III Barack Obama's on in the light is funded in part by the HP hammering and foundation arcus foundation the state of richard w island Gill foundation erodes and Leona be carpenter foundation and these funders and by the annual Sport of in the life members like you you you