Television personality Montel Williams
has weighed in on anti-gay bills in Uganda and Arizona.
On Monday, Uganda's
president signed a harsh law that increases the penalties for
being gay in a nation where gay sex was already illegal. At the same
time, opponents of a bill in Arizona that purports to protect
religious liberty by allowing individuals and businesses to refuse
service based on their faith are calling on Arizona Governor Jan
Brewer to veto the measure.
(Related: Arizona
Gov. Jan Brewer will reportedly veto bill allowing businesses to
discriminate.)
Appearing on CNN's
Piers Morgan Live, Williams told host Piers Morgan that he
opposes both bills, saying that they “use religion to justify
hate.”
“And that's the antithesis of
religion, isn't it? Because religion is about love and about
respecting others and, you know, about respecting your fellow man and
doing to others as they would do unto you,” Williams pointed out.
“How can you stand under a veil of
God, a veil of love, and turn around and propagate such hate?”
“Isn't it insane that earlier today
had you just walked around the streets of New York and listened to
people who heard that press conference held by the president of
Uganda – people were disgusted. Where's the same disgust from our
own citizens about what's going on here?”