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GetEQUAL Calls On US Senators To Repudiate Uganda Kill The Gays Bill

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In lengthy statement, LGBT activists label Anti-Homosexuality Bill “colonial homophobia,” and link its creation to American Evangelicals

GetEQUAL has just issued a statement calling on U.S. Senators to publicly repudiate Uganda‘s “Kill The Gays” bill, calling it a “horrifying law… created and supported by American right-wing evangelicals in order to impress American right-wing politicians.”

GetEQUAL also is offering a petition to help rally support to “Kill the Bill — Not LGBT Ugandans!“

The statement effectively offers both context and history, so we are publishing it in full, below:

GetEQUAL Condemns Pending Vote in Ugandan Parliament to Execute LGBT Ugandans

Calls on U.S. Senators to Publicly Condemn the Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — GetEQUAL — a national civil rights organization pushing for the full federal equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans — condemns the pending vote in the Ugandan Parliament to extend legalized capital punishment for identified LGBT persons. The legislation extends harsh punishments, including fines and prison sentences, even to persons who know LGBT Ugandans but fail to report them to authorities — including family, clergy, counselors, and friends of LGBT Ugandans.

“This horrifying law now before the Ugandan Parliament should be removed from consideration immediately,” said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL. “This law was created and supported by American right-wing evangelicals in order to impress American right-wing politicians — it’s colonial homophobia, pure and simple. The American radical-right isn’t satisfied with legal homophobia in the U.S., so they’ve taken to the African continent to kill us — this bill would expand the climate of fear across Africa, and it is unacceptable for Americans to be exporting hate with such draconian consequences.”

The law calls for execution of anyone engaging in same- sex behavior, imprisonment for anyone known to be helping LGBT Ugandans (including landlords renting out an apartment), and even possible jail time for those who fail to report someone else who has engaged in same-sex behavior – including medical personnel, counselors, and family members.

According to GetEQUAL sources, the bill could come up for a vote at any moment.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB) — or the “Kill the Gays” bill — was originally introduced by Ugandan parliamentarian David Bahati in 2009 through the aggressive advocacy of extreme right-wing Americans Scott Lively, Rick Warren and Lou Engle — Christian fundamentalists affiliated with “The Family,” a secretive organization based in Washington, DC, which serves as the chief sponsor of the annual National Prayer Breakfast held in the nation’s capital. The bill hascome up again this year, conveniently brought up by the Speaker of Parliament at the same time that massive oil-related corruption charges have surfaced against Members of Parliament. Various news outlets have wrongly reported over the past few days that the death penalty has been removed from the bill; actually, the death penalty is still in the bill as of now, and has been used as a talking point by Ugandan officials to convince U.S. officials that the bill has been “softened.”

In recent days, GetEQUAL has called upon American politicians who are known to be part of “The Family” — including U.S. Senators Jim Demint (R-SC), James Inofe (R-OK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) — to publicly denounce the bill and to urge Ugandan Members of Parliament to kill the bill.

“GetEQUAL calls on the American elected officials who have supported Uganda’s anti-gay legislation to repudiate the bill and its intent to target, arrest, or kill LGBT persons,” said Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, national field director of GetEQUAL.

In solidarity with other organizations on the national and international levels that are monitoring the situation in Uganda, GetEQUAL has staged protest actions in New York City at the Ugandan Mission and in Washington, D.C. at the Ugandan Embassy, and plans to hold protests in the near future throughout the country.

GetEQUAL has also launched a new public information campaign featuring images of activists across the country who have written the slogan “Uganda, Arrest Me Too” on their hands, urging Members of Parliament in Uganda to think about the full impact of this law on LGBT Ugandans and on those who support them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDHN_QQfctM. GetEQUAL also has a petition up on its website, encouraging pressure on U.S. Senators with connections to the Ugandan MPs who could stop the bill:www.getequal.org/uganda.

Earlier this year, Scott Lively — who has traveled to Uganda and held workshops there encouraging elected officials to legally attack LGBT Ugandans — was sued by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The legal action was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which alleges that Lively’s involvement in anti-gay efforts in Uganda, including his active participation in the formulation of anti-gay legislation and policies aimed at revoking fundamental right from LGBT persons, constitutes persecution. This is the first known Alien Tort Statute case seeking accountability for persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

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News

‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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April 23, 2024

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Republicans in the Tennessee House passed legislation Tuesday afternoon allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in classrooms across the state, thirteen months after a 28-year old shooter slaughtered three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The measure is reportedly not popular statewide, with Democrats, teachers, and parents from the school, Covenant Elementary, largely opposed. The Republican Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, at one point literally shut down debate on the bill by shutting off a Democratic lawmaker’s microphone and then smiling.

Ultimately, Republican Rep. Ryan Williams’s legislation passed the GOP majority House as protestors in the gallery shouted their objections: “Blood on your hands.”

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The legislation bars parents from being informed if their child’s teacher has a gun in the classroom.

State Troopers were called to “prevent people from getting close to the House chambers,” WSMV’s Marissa Sulek reports.

“You’re going to kill kids,” one woman had yelled at Rep. Williams from the gallery on Monday, The Tennessean reports. “You’re going to be responsible for the death of children. Shame on you.”

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Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones said on social media, “This is what fascism looks like.”

“In recent weeks,” the paper also reports, “parents of school shooting survivors, students and gun-reform advocates have heavily lobbied against the bill, with one Covenant School mom delivering a letter to the House on Monday with more than 5,300 signatures asking lawmakers to kill the bill.”

The bill, which already passed the state Senate, now heads to Republican Governor Bill Lee’s desk. He is expected to sign it into law.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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OPINION

Trump Complains He’s ‘Not Allowed to Talk’ as He Gripes Live on Camera

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April 23, 2024

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At the end of another short courtroom day that required barely three hours of Donald Trump’s time, the ex-president spoke to reporters inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building to complain about a wide variety of perceived and alleged wrongs he is suffering, including, not being “allowed to talk.”

The ex-president’s presence was required only from 11 AM until just 2 PM. Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the ex-president in a case that has already drawn a straight line through the “hush money” headlines to correct them to alleged criminal conspiracy and election interference.

Judge Merchan, for nearly two hours Tuesday morning, heard prosecutors’ allegations that Trump has violated his gag order ten times, and heard defense counsel’s claims that he had not.

It did not go well for the Trump legal team, with Judge Merchan toward the end of the hearing, during which no jurors were allowed, telling Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche, “You’re losing all credibility.”

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During the day’s hearing, jurors heard prosecutors’ lead witness, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, David Pecker, explain how he was working to help the Trump campaign.

“David Pecker testifies that, following his 2015 meeting with Trump and [Michael] Cohen, he met with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard,” MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reports. “Pecker outlined the arrangement and described it as ‘highly private and confidential.’ Pecker asked Howard to notify the tabloid’s West Coast and East Coast bureau chiefs that any stories that came in about Trump or the 2016 election must be vetted and brought straight to Pecker — and ‘they’ll have to be brought to Cohen.’ Pecker told Howard the arrangement needed to stay a secret because it was being carried out to help Trump’s campaign.”

Trump did not discuss any evidence against him with reporters, but he did complain about the gag order. And President Joe Biden. And the temperature in the courtroom. And his apparent attempt to stay awake, which has been a problem for him almost every day in court.

“We have a gag order, which to me is totally unconstitutional, I’m not allowed to talk but people are allowed to talk about me,” Trump told reporters, emphasizing the last word in that sentence.

“So they can talk about me, they can say whatever they want, they can lie. But I’m not allowed to say anything, I just have to sit back and look at why a conflicted judge has ordered me to have a gag order.”

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“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump claimed, falsely implying no criminal defendant has ever had a gag order imposed on them previously. “I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say everything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted because I have a gag order, and I’m not sure that anybody’s ever seen anything like this before.”

Trump then started to discuss the “articles” in his hand, what appeared to be dozens of articles he said had “all good headlines,” while implying they claimed “the case is a sham.”

Trump oversimplified the legal arguments attached to his gag order, as discussed with Judge Merchan Tuesday morning. The judge has yet to rule on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt.

“So I put an article in and then somebody’s name is mentioned somewhere deep in the article and I end up in violation of a gag order,” he told reporters, apparently referring to his posts on Truth Social with persecutes say violated his gag order. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional. I don’t believe it’s ever – not to this extent – ever happened before. I’m not allowed to defend myself and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very, very unfair.”

“Having to do with the schools and the closings – that’s Biden’s fault,” Trump said, strangely, as if the COVID pandemic were still officially in process. “And by the way, this trial is all Biden, this is all Biden just in case anybody has any question. And they’re keeping me, in a courtroom that’s freezing by the way, all day long while he’s out campaigning, that’s probably an advantage because he can’t campaign.”

“Nobody knows what he’s doing. he can’t put two sentences together. But he’s out campaigning. He’s campaigning and I’m here and I’m sitting here sitting up as straight as I can all day long because you know, it’s a very unfair situation,” Trump lamented. “So we’re locked up in a courtroom and this guy’s out there campaigning, if you call it a campaign, every time he opens his mouth he gets himself into trouble.”

Watch below or at this link.

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News

Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

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14 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

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Four years ago today then-President Donald Trump, on live national television during what would be known as merely the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested an injection of a household “disinfectant” could cure the deadly coronavirus.

The Biden campaign on Tuesday has already posted five times on social media about Trump’s 2020 remarks, including by saying, “Four years ago today, Dr. Birx reacted in horror as Trump told Americans to inject bleach on national television.”

Less than 24 hours after Trump’s remarks calls to the New York City Poison Control Center more than doubled, including people complaining of Lysol and bleach exposure. Across the country, the CDC reported, calls to state and local poison control centers jumped 20 percent.

“It was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings. It arguably changed the course of political history,” Politico reported on the one-year anniversary of Trump’s beach debacle. “It quickly came to symbolize the chaotic essence of his presidency and his handling of the pandemic.”

How did it happen?

“The Covid task force had met earlier that day — as usual, without Trump — to discuss the most recent findings, including the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads. Trump was briefed by a small group of aides. But it was clear to some aides that he hadn’t processed all the details before he left to speak to the press,” Politico added.

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“’A few of us actually tried to stop it in the West Wing hallway,’ said one former senior Trump White House official. ‘I actually argued that President Trump wouldn’t have the time to absorb it and understand it. But I lost, and it went how it did.'”

The manufacturer of Lysol issued a strong statement saying, “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” with “under no circumstance” in bold type.

Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks were part of a much larger crisis during the pandemic: misinformation and disinformation. In 2021, a Cornell University study found the President was the “single largest driver” of COVID misinformation.

What did Trump actually say?

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute,” Trump said from the podium at the White House press briefing room, as Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx looked on without speaking up. “Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, ’cause you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

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Within hours comedian Sarah Cooper, who had a good run mocking Donald Trump, released a video based on his remarks that went viral:

The Biden campaign at least 12 times on the social media platform X has mentioned Trump’s infamous and dangerous remarks about injecting “disinfectant,” although, like many, they have substituted the word “bleach” for “disinfectant.”

Hours after Trump’s remarks, from his personal account, Joe Biden posted this tweet:

Tuesday morning the Biden campaign released this video marking the four-year anniversary of Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks.

See the social media posts and videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Election Interference’ and ‘Corruption’: Experts Explain Trump Prosecution Opening Argument

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