Get Equal Plans to Protest Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast
Get Equal announced plans today to protest the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual D.C. event attended by many D.C. luminaries, including the president, that is slated for Thursday, Feb. 3. The event has prompted protest in recent years due to the fact that it is sponsored by The Fellowship, also known as The Family, which has had connections to anti-LGBT activity in the U.S. and elsewhere, including Uganda.
It was at the breakfast in 2010 that President Barack Obama made a strong statement of opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that has been under consideration in Uganda, saying, “We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary [Clinton] mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”
Get Equal managing director Heather Cronk wrote in an email sent today to supporters, “As Americans, we must act now to prevent an entire segment of Ugandan society from being eradicated — and we must expose the Americans who are using American money and political influence to perpetuate the hysteria that will get this legislation passed. We must act now to intercede in the imprisonment or death of more of our Ugandan sisters and brothers — and to make it clear that eradicating us, whether in Africa or America, will not be tolerated.”
This year, the event is taking place in the wake of last week’s killing of Uganda LGBT equality activist David Kato, raising — yet again — the ongoing dangers of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in Uganda, as well as the role that The Fellowship has played in pushing anti-LGBT equality sentiments in the country.
Cronk continued, writing, “But we’re not letting this event take place without confronting attendees with the truth about its organizers. Will you add your name to our petitions to Members of Congress and the President, letting them know about the dangers of this group?
“This Thursday during the breakfast, GetEQUAL DC — local GetEQUAL organizers who live in the DC area — will be outside this sham ‘prayer’ breakfast. We’ll be joined by faith leaders who represent the best of world religions — those who … seek to do justice.”
Get Equal provided additional information about the protest here. In the past, Truth Wins Out had organized a counter-event, the American Prayer Hour, to voice its opposition to the National Prayer Breakfast, but no information was available immediately regarding TWO’s plans this year.
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