{UAH} Regarding Uganda's impending Gay Bill .

Uganda today with a church at every quarter mile reminds me more of the Puritan states of the United states such as Massachusetts - and others in the bible belt where a similar religious fervor existed and blue laws that controlled the lives of their residents are still on the books. There is no doubt President Museveni is faced with a herculean task of removing the punitive constructs in the proposed gay bill. However, the issue of having not evolved to the levels of acceptance such as we see in America is not so strange, it will take some time. What is really tragic, is that our scientists have not been exposed enough to broaden their knowledge regarding this issue. You can read all the books in the world but you also have to go out and interview folks who clearly have a different orientation and same sex partner preference, not just out to be sexually rebellious as the President Museveni puts it, but born with such an affinity and the answer will not come from the Bible, Koran or tougher laws, it will come out of how tolerant Ugandans become in the face of folks who freely express a different lifestyle. Uganda has a long way to go to properly address this issue - I just wish our leaders had not started with such a draconian laws on the books, because it pr-empties any chances of having a well thought out dialogue on the issue. It has taken the US many years to finally publicly accept the wants of this community and it will probably take Ugandans a similar amount of time if not longer to wisely and judiciously handle the concept of an LGBT community at it's door steps. What is further disturbing is the selective advocacy that we are presently witnessing in the international community -to be virtually silent while mineral cartels and dictators decimate our societies. To date the Africa's Great Lakes Region has the largest losses in lives within the last 30 years, more than any other world community. I wish the same scrutiny and advocacy had been applied to bring value to other African lives at peril.

Tendon Kaluma

Uganda in Boston 

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 "To ask a dictator to implement democratic measures after 30 years in power is an oxymoron"