Anglican Mainstream

Church of England Newspaoer.  by Matt Cresswell

PETER TATCHELL, the human rights activist and gay rights campaigner, spoke out against the treatment of homosexuals in Africa, at this year’s Greenbelt festival. He was critical of the Archbishop of Canterbury whom he accused of colluding in their maltreatment under the Ugandan authorities.

Tatchell, however, was criticised for being wrong about circumstances surrounding Bishop Senjyonjo, whom he claimed had his pension removed by the Church of Uganda for believing in gay rights.

Addressing a crowd of more than 500 in Cheltenham, Tatchell said: “Archbishop Rowan Williams and the Anglican Church have a lot to answer for, because they have put church unity before human rights.” Tatchell called on the audience to write to Dr Rowan Williams to address these issues.

He highlighted the range of gay rights in Africa comparing liberal South Africa, which is against the discrimination of homosexuals in its constitution, with Uganda where homosexuals can face a death penalty. Britain’s constitution, Tatchell said, was responsible for some of Africa’s anti-gay laws, saying: “They’re not genuinely African laws.”

He said that one Ugandan clergyman, Bishop Senjyonjo, had had his pension removed because of his support for gay rights, Tatchell said the defrocked bishop “is now living in poverty”. But Chris Sugden, director of Anglican Mainstream, said Tatchell was wrong about Bishop Senjyonjo.

“It has been confirmed to me that no one in the Church of Uganda has a retirement pension, so how could he be stripped of one?” He added: “He was defrocked because he consecrated someone to be a bishop in the Charismatic Church of Uganda, which he formed. It was nothing to do with his views on homosexuality whatsoever.”

Colin Coward, who heads up Changing Attitudes, and will form a civil partnership with his Nigerian boyfriend next month, questioned Anglican Mainstream’s criticisms. “It doesn’t matter whether he had a pension or for whatever reason he was defrocked. What matters is that he made a bold stand on his own in Uganda in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” he said. In his talk Tatchell had addressed Anglican Mainstream, stating that the group’s boycotting of the festival had only publicised his talk further. Sugden defended his organisation’s protests. He said: “What we have yet to see at Greenbelt is a proper engagement on either the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering different views, or on the issue of homosexuality. They have had iconic figures such as Jeffrey John, Gene Robinson and now Peter Tatchell but have not yet invited someone with a differing opinion to debate with them.”

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