Oregon Citizens Alliance's Scott Lively has a new target: GLBT Ugandans
Karol Collymore
Please, deliver Uganda from Scott Lively.
I'm sure to many Oregonians, this name is familiar. For those who are scratching their heads, Lively used to be the communications director for the Oregon Citizens Alliance. The Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) is a conservative Christian political activist organization, founded by Lon Mabon. It was founded in 1986 as a vehicle to challenge then-Senator Bob Packwood who was a little too liberal for their Republican tastes.
Back to Uganda. The Ugandan government wants to put people to death if they are accused of homosexuality, are HIV-positive, and asserts that they may be extradited for punishment back to Uganda, and includes penalties for individuals, companies, media organizations, or non-governmental organizations that support GLBT rights. This bill is said to have been influenced by American Evangelical Christians who have claimed homosexuality is a direct threat to African families.
Guess who went to visit the Ugandans? Scott Lively. From the Eugene Register-Guard:
...Lively has surfaced again, this time in Uganda where The New York Times reports that Lively and two other U.S. fundamentalist Christians gave a series of talks last March warning about “the gay agenda” and the threat they said homosexuals pose to Bible-based values and the traditional African family. Thousands of Ugandans, including national politicians, police officers and teachers, attended the three-day presentation by Lively, who has written several books against homosexuality; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars,” and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality.”
Sigh. He's done attempting to hurt Oregonians and now is taking his show worldwide.
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Jan 9, '10
These people are like cockroaches. No matter what you do to them, you can't get rid of them.
Any info about Lively belonging to The Family?
And they say MY moral foundation is corrupted because I am a non-theist. Give me a break.
Great job Karol at bringing this local connection to our attention.
2:33 p.m.
Jan 9, '10
The guy is definitely not a member of The Family, which of course doesn't detract from the fact that The Family has been using the Ugandan government like their own personal tinker toy set in their efforts to foster theocracy as a viable form of government.....
Rachel Maddow has been all over this for the past several months, but you can always count on Lively to insert himself and to angle for the "Most Despicable" award in any of the culture war situations dating back alt least to his days at the OCA.
3:01 p.m.
Jan 9, '10
if he travels to other countries and speaks in favor of harming their citizens, isn't that a violation of U.S. law? aren't there restrictions on what you can do while traveling with an American passport? or are you allowed to whatever is legal "there"? would reporting him to the State Dept have any effect?
any legal authorities here on this matter?
Jan 9, '10
Well, he is certainly espousing hateful speech which here in the U.S. might be considered a hate crime. However I doubt that the U.S. has jurisdiction outside our borders for citizens.
Just saying I'm wishing he would go back to his cave.
Jan 9, '10
Well, he is certainly espousing hateful speech which here in the U.S. might be considered a hate crime.
If it's not incitement, fraud, or intended to cause panic and harm (yelling "fire" in a crowded theater which is not burning), that sort of thing, then no, speech alone is not a crime, certainly not a "hate crime".
Speech can be entered into evidence in a hate crime trial in an effort to prove that a violent act was intended to terrorize a group, rather than an isolated act against an individual.
As much as this has been discussed to death here on BO, I'm amazed at how often people think that "hate speech" alone is a crime.
Jan 9, '10
Back to talking about Scott Lively -- I'd like to recount an encounter I had with him many years ago, via a call-in radio show.
Back in the early '90s I was involved in student media at Oregon State University, and had produced a number of public access shows and an evening newscast on campus station KBVR. There was also a radio station, same call letters, and one of the DJs was doing a phone interview with Lively, representing the OCA. I think this was in conjunction with the Benton County local measure, but it may have been at the time of Measure 9.
I called in to the show (the screener put me right through) and got into a back-and-forth with Lively over the matter whether homosexuality was a "choice". I really tried to pin him down on whether he believed that anyone could "choose" to be gay in terms of what gender you are drawn toward, arbitrarily, and how much was related to internal desires versus conscious choice.
He then surprised us by stating that humans were basically bisexual and that indeed one could focus their attraction. That's when the light bulb went on for me: I asked Lively if he thought, deep down, he was a bisexual who had made the "choice" to be straight, and he said "yes".
When I saw that he was traveling around with "ex-gays", this brought back the exchange in my mind. I've long wondered if the so-called "successful" ex-gays are individuals who are just bisexual enough to have meaningful heterosexual relationships while suppressing their gay side.
Unfortunately, I can't pin down the date or the name of the DJ, and no tape exists that I know of. So all that we have is my slightly foggy recollection.
Jan 9, '10
It should also be noted, for people who are unfamiliar with Mr. Lively's antics in Oregon, that he has perpetrated a bit of violence in his history as well:
As mentioned in the post, Mr. Lively was a member of a group called the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA). This group had seen a series of successes and failures in attempting to pass statewide and multi-county anti-gay measures in Oregon. The leader of the group was the (infamous at the time) Lon Mabon.
Mabon spent time in jail for contempt of court after failing to pay fines incurred for a judgment in favor of lesbian reporter Catherine Stauffer -- who was roughed up by Lively and drug out into the street at an OCA campaign event.
Here's an article from Willamette Week (scroll down to the 2nd half) about Lively finally having to pay the first half of a $20,000 judgment:
There was a great documentary of this time period called Ballot Measure 9. There is some info on Mabon, Lively, and the OCA on the documentary's resource document page:
Jan 9, '10
Thanks for putting this out there Carol. It's amazing how little the mainstream media is covering this. The Box Turtle Bulletin has good coverage of this.
Let's also not forget that Rick Warren from the Saddleback Church, who delivered the invocation at Obama's inauguration, also went to Uganda to be apart of this conference with Scott Lively.
Unfortunately, I doubt that Scott or the rest of the OCA klan are done with Oregon. I'm sure they'll be back spouting their vile, disgusting, hate speech when we finally repeal the ban on same-sex marriage in 2012. We need to be ready to tell them hate doesn't belong in Oregon.
9:05 a.m.
Jan 10, '10
Bob R:
Really excellent information, especially on the documentary. As we work to bring equality for all Oregonians--it's so important that we learn everything we can about those who oppose it.
Thanks for posting.
Jan 10, '10
In another Willamette Week article from about ten years ago, (which I can't find online) there were quotes from Lively that left me with the impression that he had paid off his judgments and moved on with his life and was no longer working to deny people rights. I was stunned when I saw the video of the Uganda conference on Rachel Maddow.
Scott Lively, Rick Warren and the rest this crowd of so called Christians need to be exposed. Karol - thank you.
Jan 10, '10
It's time to start asking the gay-bashers if they support the death penalty for gay people.
Jan 10, '10
Carol, back in 1997 I was attacked my a Ugandan lesbian zebra bitch by the name of Hutu-Murumba. I was able to thwart the attack by running a snake pattern between lions and tigers narrowly avoiding a poisonous lizard. Ugandan lesbian tribes can be violent and often engage in cannibalism. This is why I believe the penalties you mention are harsh. These attacks must stop.
Jan 10, '10
Ugandan Bum Bonkers Tracker Sheet - Click for details <img src="http://www.blacklooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/redpepper_2.jpg"></img>
Jan 10, '10
We need HIV/AIDS education. It's very important!! CDC has granted CSU $1.9M for HIV/AIDS education. The number of members on the largest HIV dating&support site == Positivefish.com (if I spell the site correctly) has reached 500,000 members OMG! Why so many guys and girls on the site are very sexy? Why so many people are infected by HIV? There is no doubt that we need SEX-ED