By Richard Ammon
GlobalGayz.com
Jan 28, 2011
Here is a revolting story about a funeral that only deranged minister Fred Phelps could admire–and inspire.
The behavior described in this story from Reuters (below) is about as blasphemous, disgusting, irreverent and anti-Christ as one could ever expect from a Christian clergyman–as wickedly perverted as Fred Phelps of the gay-hating Westboro church in Kansas, infamous for picketing funerals of deceased AIDS victims.
But this funeral behavior by an Anglican minister is perhaps worse since he was presiding over David Kato’s farewell memorial at which deeply saddened, tearful and grieving friends and family had gathered. How base-minded can a person be to desecrate a funeral so. How ‘gone wild’ into bezerk blind dogma can a cleric be to de-humanize a deceased benevolent person with curses against homosexuality, claiming it is sin and saying David Kato should not be admired. (photo, David Kato)
It shows how low hate-filled religion can bring a person below humanity. Homophobia is a disease that has killed and will kill more in Uganda in it’s destructive path. Not that the West is clean by any means but countries who donate money and aid to Uganda should think twice when state and church sanctioned bigotry is allowed to run rampant among its society.
This is a shameful day for the Ugandan Anglican church and for the government of Uganda.
Reuters story: Scuffles Disrupt Funeral of Murdered Ugandan Gay Activist
by Justin Dralaze:
See Reuters story
Mukono, Uganda
Scuffles broke out between locals and friends of a murdered Ugandan gay activist at his funeral on Friday after the pastor conducting the service berated gay people and villagers refused to bury the coffin.
During the funeral — which was attended by about 300 people, including about 100 members of the country’s gay community — the pastor lashed out at homosexuality, provoking a strong reaction from friends of Kato.
“The world has gone crazy,” the pastor told the congregation through a microphone. “People are turning away from the scriptures. They should turn back, they should abandon what they are doing. You cannot start admiring this fellow man…”
Gay activists, wearing T-shirts featuring Kato’s face with sleeves coloured with the gay pride flag, then stormed the pulpit and grabbed the microphone. “It is ungodly,” the pastor shouted, before being blocked from sight.
An unidentified female activist then began to shout from the pulpit, “who are you to judge others?” she shouted. “We have not come to fight. You are not the judge of us. As long as he’s gone to God his creator, who are we to judge Kato?”
Locals intervened on the side of the pastor and scuffles broke out before he was taken away to Kato’s father’s house to calm the situation.
Villagers then refused to bury the body at which point a group of Kato’s friends, most of whom were gay, carried his coffin to the grave and buried it themselves.
Read Val Kalende’s fine eulogy of David.