Right-wing group won't condemn Uganda's 'kill the gays' law, enraging queer Democrats

The right-wing Fellowship Foundation, a.k.a the Family, has failed to condemn Uganda’s “kill the gays” law — and the Congressional Equality Caucus, which demanded to know the group’s role in the law, is outraged.

“When you’re given the opportunity to publicly oppose a law that permits the government to execute LGBTQI+ people just because of who they are, why wouldn’t you take it?” U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, chair of the Equality Caucus, said in a Friday press release.

Pocan, a gay Democrat from Wisconsin, had written to Fellowship Foundation President Katherine Crane in late January to express concern about the foundation’s relationship with anti-LGBTQ+ leaders in Africa, especially in Uganda. “Since the passage of [Uganda’s] first Anti-Homosexuality Act a decade ago, there have been numerous reports linking both bills, their authors, and the larger movement to further criminalize LGBTQI+ people in Uganda to the Fellowship Foundation/the Family, and its associates,” he wrote.

The act, passed last year, provides for a sentence of life in prison for consensual same-sex relations and the death penalty in certain circumstances. It also requires that citizens report anyone they suspect has violated the law. It replaces a similar law that was passed a decade ago, although without the death penalty provision, and was struck down by Uganda’s highest court, not because of its content but because of the manner in which it was adopted. The new law is being challenged in court as well.

Pocan received a brief response from Crane, dated February 28. “At no time has there been any authorization or interest by the International Foundation to fund, influence, or instigate any hurt or hate for anyone,” she wrote. “Just like you in Congress, we don’t control any member of congress, or even our own friends’ thoughts and words. We certainly understand political agendas in Washington and around the world, yet work to sincerely love people and pray for the work of leaders. We thank you for your letter to help us in that way.”

The congressman found Crane’s response deeply unsatisfactory. She did not address the Anti-Homosexuality Act directly, nor did she respond to questions raised about the foundation’s involvement with Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast. It helped support the event in 2023 and flew in U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican, to speak there. He urged Uganda’s leaders to “stand firm” against international critics, although he later said he did not support the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“The Fellowship Foundation’s four-sentence response to my letter — where they refuse to explicitly condemn Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act or discuss their connections to the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation—begs the question: what else are they trying to hide?” Pocan said. “The anti-LGBTQI+ activities of the Family and their associates directly threatens the safety of LGBTQI+ people around the world.”