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In the winter of 2009, 5 years ago today, actually, a small blog in this country got a very big international scoop. it was february 2009, so thats just one month into the barack obama presidency. right? and while most people in this country were fixated on the freefalling global economy, and whether the new president and newly elected democrats would be able to arrest that freefall and bring us back from the brink of depression, three activists here in the united states were making preparations...

That group, that american religious group it turns out has ties to the specific ugandan legislator who introduced the anti-homosexuality bill. the man who introduced the kill the gays bill in uganda is a member of the family, yes? >> yes. a young member of parliament, david bahati, rising star who has been over to the united states for our national prayer breakfast and has taken something of an organizing role in the ugandan national prayer breakfast and has been involved in the family for some ...

Even though these american activists were trying desperately to distance themselves from the kill the gays bill when it came out, prominent ugandans aware of how the bill came to be were crediting the same americans for helping with and inspiring the legislation. one priest we spoke with said members of the ugandan parliament present at the march conference left the meetings saying they needed to draft a new law to deal with the homosexuality issue. we learned it was not just the three american ...

Obama presidency. right? and while most people in this country were fixated on the free-falling global economy, and whether the new president and newly elected democrats would be able to arrest that free-fall and bring us back from the brink of depression, three activists here in the united states were making preparations for big overseas trip. the blog in question which is called the box turtle bulletin, they got advanced word about this trip. five years ago today, they posted this blog item. w...

>> wow. when you say that the u.s. is definitely not going to take away that foreign aid money, even though the government put out a statement today saying they would review it, we also saw president obama review it, we also saw president obama put out a statement in advance of the bill saying he hoped the president wouldnt sign it, but obviously he did. what do you make about the statements of objection and the pressure from the u.s. government sneer. >> a lot of human rights organizations are ...

Theres an idea that you here again and again, which is that homosexuality is a disease that comes from america. but theyre quick to say but the cure comes from america, too. they see the cure in the form of these sort of right-wing ideas that they adopt whole cloth from american right-wing think tanks, american right-wing evangelical organizations. >> jeff, do you see parallels in the type of american activism that led to this in uganda and whats happened in russia? we know that some of the anti...

Small blog in this country got a very big international scoop. it was february 2009, so thats just one month into the barack obama presidency. right? and while most people in this country were fixated on the free-falling global economy, and whether the new president and newly elected democrats would be able to arrest that free-fall and bring us back from the brink of depression, three activists here in the united states were making preparations for big overseas trip. the blog in question which i...

Members of the ugandan parliament present at the march conference left the meetings saying they needed to draft a new law to deal with the homosexuality issue. we learned it was not just the three american activists who had a front-row seat to what was happening in uganda. remember "c" street? a swanky town house in washington, d.c., run by a secretive religious group called the fellowship or the family. lots of conservative members of congress from both parties are believed to be members of the...

In it. hes a fellow at the nice institute. his latest article "inside the iron closet" about underground homosexuality in russia, in the february edition of "gq." jeff, mr. charlotte, its great to see you. >> good to be with you, rachel. >> last month the president in uganda was calling this bill fascist. now hes signing it into law. what happened? >> it was an incredible act of sort of political jujitsu. he had been cornered by political rival who knew it was difficult for him to sign the bill ...

That doesnt include the sentence of death for being gay this time but does include lots of the other prison sentences that attracted so much international outrage years earlier. the ugandan parliament passed this bill in december and then earlier today, earlier this afternoon, you ugandas president signed the bill into law, calls for lifetime imprisonment for the crime of -- for being in a same-sex marriage, seven years in prison for attempting to commit homosexuality. this bill at various times...