David Bahati, a religious leader and parliament member in Uganda, doesn't like gays.
In fact, he has proposed a bill in Uganda that seeks to jail people for life or even execute them if they are found to be gay.
Bahati's bigotry is cloaked by his "passion for children," which he revealed during an interview on 'The Rachel Maddow Show' this week.
In measured, conversational tones that belie his hateful message, Bahati, said that homosexuality may be a human right in many parts of the world but not considered in Uganda.
He said that gays recruit children into the lifestyle and added that 95 percent of the Ugandan population opposes the gay lifestyle.
Perhaps the most explosive charge raised by Bahati is that foreigners were coming to Uganda to recruit children into homosexuality.
When Maddow asked Bahati for evidence, he only said he had "facts" to prove his assertion and that $15 million was being spent in a campaign to fight his bill and for gay child recruitment but provided no proof.
It was a bit sad to watch Bahati duck and dodge the questions offered by Maddow with his vague non-response responses and the all-purpose reply of "we want to protect the children of Uganda."
I might give Bahati a more fair hearing if he could prove one shred of evidence that gays were actually recruiting children. If that were the case, maybe even his heavy-handed measures would be justified.
It seems that people like Bahati should have a lot of other issues to worry about in Uganda other than limiting gay rights.
In the absence of any evidence of massive gay child recruitment plots, whatever two consenting adults do in their bedroom is their business.
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