Stonewall in Uganda and a Communion Divided

It is no small irony that as I write this entry, the shuffle on my CD player has landed on the 60s Burt Bacharach tune, "What the World Needs Now is Love." After all, "it's the only thing that there's just too little of."

Nowhere is that more evident than in Uganda. Friday was the funeral for slain LGBT rights activist, David Kato. Bishop Christopher Senyonjo was in attendance, a brave move given that he, too, is among those targeted in the tabloids to be hanged. Reverend Canon Albert Ogle, who runs St. Paul Foundation which supports Bishop Christopher's work to help LGBT Ugandans, reported that Kato's funeral became an anti-gay rally...

Since Kato was an Anglican, the local parish church of Nagojje was responsible for his funeral rites to be read from the Book of Common Prayer. Although tributes have been pouring into the Kato family from President Barack Obama and other international leaders, the Church of Uganda sent no priest, no bishop, but a Lay Reader to conduct the service.

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo arrived in his purple cassock accompanied by his wife Mary and let the master of ceremonies know he would like to say a few words at some point in the service. He was going to read a message from Frank Mughisu of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) where David worked tirelessly since 2004.

As an excommunicated bishop of the Church of Uganda, Christopher has no standing in the official hierarchy of the church. The Lay Reader began to make inappropriate remarks condemning homosexuality quite graphically and stating the Church of Uganda’s position that homosexuality was a sin and against the Bible.

The crowd began to cheer him on and the bishop described the event as turning into an anti-gay rally. The bishop was never called upon to speak. He felt for the LGBT community having to suffer yet another public humiliation.

This scene would have continued, but for the actions of one brave lesbian named Kasha who grabbed the microphone away from the lay reader. In Ogle's words, this (Kato's violent death and chaotic funeral) was "the Stonewall moment" for LGBT Ugandans. The reader fled the scene and David Kato's friends completed the service. They had to carry his coffin and bury him quickly as reports are that the local villagers began to assemble against them.

As life for Ugandan LGBT people is becoming more and more difficult and dangerous, the Anglican Church of Uganda has shown little resemblance to the Christ it proclaims to profess.
They refused to send a priest to lead the service, and the man they did send launches into a diatribe about homosexuality. The police in Kampala are claiming Kato's death was an "aggravated robbery" and had nothing to do with is homosexuality or his activism for LGBT rights. Will the Anglican Church of Uganda say anything? I believe the lay reader they sent said enough!

In Canon Ogle's commentary, he poses the central question:
As the Anglican Primates gather in Dublin, Ireland, the question they must ask themselves and ponder this weekend is what kind of Anglicanism are we really representing? What are we proud of from David Kato’s life and the rites our church provided over his dead body? And what are we ashamed of?

From the description of what happened, the Anglican Church... as practiced in Uganda... has much to repent of the sins committed. The Archbishop of Canterbury did issue a statement on the murder from Dublin, where he condemned the killing as "profoundly shocking".

"Our prayers and deep sympathy go out for his family and friends - and for all who live in fear for their lives. Whatever the precise circumstances of his death, which have yet to be determined, we know that David Kato Kisule lived under the threat of violence and death. No one should have to live in such fear because of the bigotry of others. Such violence has been consistently condemned by the Anglican Communion worldwide. This event also makes it all the more urgent for the British Government to secure the safety of LGBT asylum seekers in the UK. This is a moment to take very serious stock and to address those attitudes of mind which endanger the lives of men and women belonging to sexual minorities."

Our own Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, offered prayers for Kato during the eucharist in Dublin, and added that she hopes that from David Kato's life we might gain "a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone."

But I question where the heart is at all in Uganda. So successfully poisoned by white evangelical American preachers, and the fear of "others", Ugandans seemed to have suffered a massive heart attack. So what will we gain? Will we acknowledge that Kato's death... and his funeral... show us that we in the Anglican Communion can not live in harmony with one another as long as this anti-gay pogrom continues with a wink and a nod from the local Anglican Churches? Will we try to bring a new voice to Ugandan Anglicans, one that sounds more like Bishop Senyonjo? In the resurrection of Kato, will we finally have the understanding that all the kings horses and all the kings men can not put this Humpty Dumpty Communion back together again?

If this is indeed the "Stonewall moment" for LGBT people in Uganda, then something new must be created out of the chaos.