BY Observer Staff
This Thursday, several Central departments will host a screening of the documentary, “God Loves Uganda,” on the effects of American missionary work and homophobia in Uganda, in the Hertz auditorium.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion by several professors at Central, who will address the different aspects of the spread of homophobia by US missionaries to Uganda. Geraldine O’Mahony, professor of religious studies and host of the event, said that she chose the panelists based on their different specializations related to the topic.
“It’s a powerful documentary, and it’s a powerful issue,” O’Mahony said.
The film follows conservative evangelical missionaries from America, and their impact on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Uganda. Cynthia Coe, director of women’s and gender studies, will be discussing the way this relates to gender issues.
“It’s certainly the case that Uganda is seen as a place where missionaries can convert people to Christianity, and a particular brand of Christianity,” Coe said.
The Western perception that African culture has always been conservative with regards to sexuality and gender, though, is one thing the panel hopes to discuss in more detail. O’Mahony hopes to highlight the way that the importing of these missions from American churches impacts African culture.
“It’s also treating Africans, Ugandans in particular, as if they have no agency,” O’Mahony said. “It’s not like there hasn’t been homosexuality in Africa since the beginning of time.”
Lacy Ferrell, assistant history professor, will be one of the panelists, discussing the history of homosexuality in Uganda.
“The idea of homophobia, or punishing particular sex acts, was imported during the colonial era,” Ferrell said. “In the last ten years, it’s become politically convenient to use that to promote self-serving agendas.”
According to O’Mahony, the use of homophobia as a distraction from pressing survival issues has been on the rise with many politicians in Africa. The film addresses that, and O’Mahony said she has asked Todd Schaefer, professor of political science, to discuss it on the panel.
“When you think about countries like Uganda, like Cameroon or Mali where these laws are popping up, they have far greater issues, with education, with health care, with poverty,” O’Mahony said. “But governments are willing to embrace the discussion that homosexuality is evil and un-African as a distraction ploy.”
Central will be the first university in the country to screen the film, according to Ferrell. O’Mahony said her main purpose was to talk about this issue in an academic setting, to get students to think about the impact their actions have, not only in their day to day lives, but all over the world.
“The freedoms we have aren’t reflected elsewhere, and we shouldn’t be complacent about that,” O’Mahony said.
