PEPFAR Props Up Anti-Gay Bill

President Musevene awarded a $40,000 SUV to Anglican and
Catholic bishops during Orombi’s reign as Archbishop.
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America's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has had a number of controversies over the years.

One of the main ones being their focus on A + B, skip the C. For those not in the know, that's the focus of funding for HIV/AIDS prevention on ABSTINENCE, BEING FAITHFUL and (using condoms - shhhh!).

Ask many African HIV/AIDS campaigners, they laugh and say: "Why teach us that when it's the other way around in the West? For you it is condomize, be faithful, and - last resort - abstain."

For more of an overview, check out: The Politics of PEPFAR

Still, it's a brand new approach to reducing HIV/AIDS by financially supporting the murder of LGBT people in Uganda: African architect of homophobia supported by PEPFAR?

While visiting the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda last week and accompanied by a delegation of LGBT service providers who are in need of PEPFAR and USAID resources, I met the retired Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, as he was exiting the compound. He was either meeting with U.S. officials to discuss funding for his $15 million new Orombi Foundation or seeking a visa to return to the USA where he will raise money from American taxpayers and faith communities for his work in Uganda and throughout Africa.

While the LGBT community globally struggles to find funds for basic human services and HIV prevention we are discovering disturbing trends in the allocation of PEPFAR and USAID funds to Christian fundamentalist organizations that are often in the front lines of encouraging the further criminalization of homosexuality. My recent visit to Uganda also uncovered a disturbing trend among religious NGO’s who have agreed to serve most vulnerable populations including LGBT and men who have sex with men (MSM), signed contracts with the U.S. government but define their own vulnerable populations excluding these two target populations. There is no recourse when these contracts are not fulfilled. A recent report from amfAR shows how this problem is affecting eight southern African countries and may be systemic in many of the countries we are supporting with PEPFAR and USAID funds.

Well said Rev. Canon Albert J. Ogle. This is an issue that has gone unchallenged for far too long.