James Inhofe Wins GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award For His Concern For Sanctity of Non-Gay Life Only

Sen. James Inhofe

According to Sen. James Inhofe, "there is no mission more important than standing up for the sanctity of human life." Inhofe is committed to guaranteeing the "right to life" to all individuals.

Except for gay Ugandans.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has been doing some excellent reporting this week on the American connections to a Ugandan proposal to begin punishing citizens with prison or even execution for being gay. It appears that some of the publicity has shamed Ugandan officials to strip out some of the more draconian punishments in the bill.

Even with these changes, if the proposal becomes law, Ugandans could be extradited and charged with seven years imprisonment for being gay. They could be forced to undergo treatment to de-gay them, most of which is developed by quacks in the U.S. And their friends and family members could be sentenced up to three years imprisonment for not turning them in to authorities.

It's a disturbing story that becomes even more gut-wrenching when we find out that not only do some of our own politicians have the power to pressure Ugandans to put an end to such ridiculous legislation, but also that they may have been party to it from the very beginning.

It all traces back to the shadowy Christian fundamentalist group known as The Family. The organization has its tentacles in untold numbers of politicians, influencing policy worldwide.

Jeff Sharlet, the author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, researched the connection between The Family and the Ugandan legislation and found that the idea was originally floated at the annual Prayer Breakfast organized by The Family. Sharlet also found out that several members of the American faction of The Family were in attendance. On Maddow's show, he revealed that one of them was most likely Inhofe, whom Sharlet says has "been especially active with the national prayer breakfast in Uganda."

Whether he was physically present or not, he surely knows about it by now. And despite encouragement from Family bigwig Bob Hunter, who has been pressuring Inhofe and others to come out against the bill, the senator reportedly refuses to reach out to the Ugandans on this issue. But Sharlet says Inhofe is happy to tell Ugandans what to do most of the time.

"They have this influence in Ugandan government, but now they're saying, 'We don't want to interfere in Ugandan affairs.' That hasn't stopped men like Sen. Inhofe and Congressman Pitts from interfering with things like condom distribution in Uganda. They've been very active in the most intimate details of Ugandan life. But on this issue, they're stepping back," he told Maddow.

So telling Ugandan people they can't have condoms is perfectly OK. But asking their government not to carry out hate crimes on an institutionalized scale? What's wrong, Jim? Not feeling up to that whole "standing up for the sanctity of human life" thing?

No, that'd be interference. And that's why Jim "sanctity of non-gay life only" Inhofe is our GOP hypocrite of the week.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is James Inhofe's third GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. He also won on June 27, 2008 and March 30, 2007. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.