Although I am portrayed in this story as a pastor, I am also a lawyer. I majored in International Human Rights in law school and have practiced as a human rights consultant in numerous countries. I also hold a Certificate in human rights (1997) from the U.N. administered Institute of International Human Rights in Strasbourg.

I agree that the Ugandan law is overly harsh on its face, but this is typical of African criminal law across the continent. Poor countries with limited criminal justice systems tend to rely on the harshness of the letter of the law to be a deterrent to criminals. In practice, the sentencing is usually pretty lenient. Kenya, for example, has the death penalty for burglary, but burglars are definitely not being executed there. I’ve explained this phenomenon to over two dozen journalists at top media outlets that have interviewed me over the past couple of years, but none have included this perspective in their stories. I guess it would undermine their efforts to bolster the “gay” cause.