Gay Man Claims ¨Pastor Martin¨ Ssempa Paid Him To Say He Was ‘Ex-Gay’; Ssempa’s ‘Ex-Gay’ Also Testified in Favor of Anti-Homosexuality Bill Under What Appears to be Coercion and Duress
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Truth Wins Out today called on Ugandan authorities to investigate anti-gay activist Martin Ssempa for potential extortion, perjury and fraud, following the New York Times’ discovery that Ssempa may have paid and pressured a witness to give false testimony in favor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
In a last ditch effort to bring the “Kill the Gays” bill up for a vote, Ssempa brought so-called “ex-gay” activist George Oundo to a meeting with the speaker of Parliament, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. In the meeting, Oundo said that he had gone from gay-to-straight and strongly urged the speaker to pass the notorious measure.
HERE
The New York Times reports HERE that Pastor Martin Ssempa bribed George Oundo $42 to provide testimony in support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 to Uganda Speaker of Parliament Ssekandi.
In a secretive debriefing after his testimony, Oundo stated that he was against the bill and that “David Kato was murdered; it was a plot.”
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| ¨ Brenda and Georgina¨ |
Mr. Oundo, 26, a transgender person who used to go by the name Georgina, went next.
“I used to call myself the Queen Mother and Lady of the City,” Mr. Oundo said. “I was recruited into homosexuality many years back, when I was 12.”
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| ¨Pastor¨ Martin Ssempa ¨incites anti-gay genocide¨ HERE |
“When I joined Mr. Ssempa, I told him all my problems,” he said. “I had to come out and join the struggle.
“Please help us; let the bill pass,” he said.
But an hour later, in a quiet hotel, Mr. Oundo recanted much of what had been said at the meeting.
“David Kato was murdered; it was a plot,” Mr. Oundo said. “
I don’t support the bill.”
As for being a “former homosexual,” that, too, was not true.
“I’ve always been gay,” Mr. Oundo said, in a timid but growing voice. “I didn’t choose it.”
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| Anglican Gay Activist, David Kato, murdered, RIP |
“David Kato was the first one who taught me to protect my human right,” Mr. Oundo added.
Mr. Oundo said that his presence alongside Mr. Ssempa at Parliament had been to “protect” himself and that he had been contacted only that morning by Mr. Kagaba about the meeting and offered about $42 to attend. He said Mr. Ssempa had offered him about $2,000 in 2009 to repent and switch sides in the debate, but later reneged. Either way, Mr. Oundo became a poster-child for Mr. Ssempa’s anti-homosexuality movement.
Mr. Ssempa declined to comment on the allegations.
Mr. Oundo admitted that he had picked up boyfriends at high schools and universities, what the antigay movement calls recruiting. But he said Uganda’s gay population was full of “natural-borns,” like himself.
“If I live or die, I am gay, and if I am buried, bury me gay,” he said.
At the end of the meeting in Parliament, Speaker Ssekandi thanked the delegation but warned that there had been “very different reactions” to the bill, and that it was unlikely to be debated before Parliament’s session ended.
HERE
Pastor Martin Ssempa's blog has George Oundo's "ex-gay" story, the one that earned him $2,000 in 2009.
HERE
You can read more about the Oundo saga on Gay Uganda's blog.
HERE
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| President Museveni, Uganda, ¨encouraged by committee members to withdraw anti-Gay legislation¨ |
In other news, it appears that President Museveni setup a sub-committee meeting with MP David Bahati about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. He was encouraged by committee members to withdraw the legislation since it overlapped the current penal code and other bills in the committee.
HERE
· Thanks to Truth Wins Out, sidebar
· Thanks to Wayne Besen
· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to
THE NEW YORK TIMES
· Thanks to Gay Uganda
· Thanks to George Oundo
· Thanks to President Museveni, Uganda
· Thanks to Box Turtle Bulletin, sidebar
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices
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