Published: April 1, 2023
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Last week, all but two of the 389 members of the Ugandan Parliament voted to make homosexual acts in Uganda punishable by death.
Quakers continue to work in Uganda under these extremely difficult conditions. Several Friends have been beaten severely, trying to save others from lynching. Previously, one worship group leader was murdered, and nine Quakers were tortured, eventually forcing them to leave the country.
Bulungi Shade Tree Friends Meeting – which uses North Pacific Yearly Meeting's book of Faith and Practice and is the only unprogrammed, welcoming, and affirming Friends Meeting in east Africa – is essentially under siege, with many of its members in grave danger.
If you listened to Friends World Committee for Consultation, you wouldn't even know they exist.
[The website of FWCC’s Africa Section does report on a 10/15/2022 meeting of Friends Church Uganda, but neither the report nor the website generally mentions any LGBTQ-affirming efforts by Friends in Uganda.]
Let's remember that the original author of this legislation, Uganda’s LGTBQ death-penalty, was Scott Lively, president of the anti-LGBTQ “Abiding Truth Ministries,” based in Temecula, California.
from David Albert, Olympia Friends Meeting (3/26/2023)