Bishop Christopher Senyonjo
Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, often referred to as the Desmond Tutu of Uganda, is an outspoken advocate for human rights. He has taken great risks in defense of LGBT people in his country, a nation where lawmakers recently considered imposing a death penalty on homosexuals. He will travel to the U.S. to address worldwide homophobia and the draconian antigay movement and legislation pending in Uganda.
Christopher served as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1998. Just when he retired in 1998, Uganda's President Museveni called for greater criminalization against homosexuality. At the same time, a priest in his diocese asked Bishop Christopher if he would consider counseling some young gay men. Having an interest in human sexuality since his seminary days, Christopher agreed.
He started counseling five of them, one by one. He discovered that they were frightened and unhappy, felt rejected, and wondered whether God loved them since they were being called sinners by their teachers and peers. He realized during those sessions that they did not choose to be gay, that they were born that way. He helped them find ways to accept themselves and urged them to keep their faith because God loves them.
After a few meetings with Bishop Christopher, these gay men decided that they should start a support and advocacy group. This was the beginning of Integrity Uganda. They asked Bishop Christopher to be their chaplain and chairperson of the new group. He accepted, feeling it was a calling. He had no idea how risky and hard it was going to be.
In March 2001, the Anglican Church of Uganda denounced Integrity Uganda and Christopher was vehemently attacked personally for his support of the group. He received death threats which prompted him to flee to the U.S. for sanctuary where he was taken in for 6 months by Integrity President Michael Hopkins and his partner, John Clinton Bradley.
In his absence, the bishop was effectively inhibited from performing his duties as a priest and bishop in the Church of Uganda. Many of the bishops who had been close contemporaries and friends of his turned against him and shun him to this day. One of the ways a retired bishop in the church makes money is to do services as a "fill in" throughout the church. His colleagues stopped inviting him to do any church services and this left him financially strapped and emotionally devastated. Integrity USA made a commitment to provide Bishop Christopher with income and expenses for an office where he could counsel and pastor to the LGBT community. His office continues to be a meeting place for Integrity Uganda.
Bishop Christopher says that what has sustained him during what he calls "the big storms of life" is his deep belief that the Gospel of Christ does not discriminate against anybody. He continues to spread the message that God loves everyone equally. Knowing this truth, he says, has set him free.
His ministry with Integrity Uganda could soon outlawed by the government, and Bishop Christopher could be put in prison for his support of LGBT Ugandans if Uganda's proposed "antihomosexuality" bill becomes a law. He has strongly condemned the bill as a violation of the U.N.’s Declaration of Human Rights and a violation of the sacred bonds of the Ugandan extended family system. He calls the bill inhumane and was recently a part of a delegation to the speaker of the house to reject the bill. The "antihomosexuality" bill features several provisions that human rights groups say would spur a witch hunt of homosexuals in the country:
• Gays and lesbians convicted of having gay sex would be sentenced, at minimum, to life in prison
• People who test positive for HIV may be executed
• Homosexuals who engage in homosexual sex more than once may also receive the death penalty
• The bill forbids the "promotion of homosexuality," which in effect bans organizations working in HIV and AIDS prevention and gay rights
• Anyone who knows of homosexual activity taking place but does not report it would risk up to three years in prison
Many religious leaders in Uganda support this bill. A poll this past July found that 95 percent of Christians and Muslims in the country are opposed to legalizing homosexuality. The bishop has remained consistently critical of this legislation and is calling upon the international community and faith communities to oppose its passage and implementation. He continues to speak out: "I want to assure you that there is no turning back on this road to full inclusion and pastoral sensitivity to all God's people in our church and therefore, I call upon the good leadership of my church in Uganda to respond pastorally and quickly to all these unfortunate and open-ended forms of anarchy, which only serve to dent the good image of the Church."