In God Loves Uganda, Academy
Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams takes a close look at the
forces behind Uganda's anti-gay movement, some of which can be traced
back to America.
The documentary premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in January. Now, the film is starting to roll
into theaters: New York last Friday and Los Angeles on Friday,
October 18.
In 2009, Ugandan lawmakers introduced a
bill that proposed the death penalty for people who engage in gay
sex. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which has yet to become law, has
attracted worldwide condemnation and protests.
In the film, Williams explores the role
of the American Evangelical movement in fueling Uganda's anti-gay
law.
“American evangelicals have done a
lot of great work,” Willams told NRP's All Things Considered.
“But it's a certain type of fundamentalist evangelical ideology
that came in there and basically instilled in a lot of the young
people in Uganda this message that biblical law is above any other
law.”
Williams said that evangelical leaders
in America are increasingly looking abroad to pitch their message.
“Everyone I've talked to in my film
has said, 'You know, look: America's lost.' As marriage equality has
passed, America is lost to them, but they are winning the war in
Uganda,” Williams said.
(The film's trailer is embedded on this
page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)