Comedian and host of HBO's Last Week Tonight John Oliver did some research on the rise of persecution of LGBT citizens in Uganda and, whoopsies, it seems as though the country's extreme attitude can be traced back to the influence of British colonialism and American evangelical nutjobs. Oliver joked, "Clearly, U.S. groups recognized the market for homophobia stateside was dwindling so they tried to sell it somewhere else. Africa isn't just where we send our losing team's Super Bowl shirts. It's also now where we send our losing political philosophies."
One glimmer of hope for Uganda is transgender human rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema. While researching the story on Uganda, Oliver found a clip of Onziema showing an unbelievable amount of restraint while being interviewed on a Ugandan talk show where LGBT people were portrayed as dangerous recruiters who have sex with vegetables. (Seriously, you should watch this clip for this segment alone.) Stick around until the end of the clip to see Oliver's interview where the activist admits that while homophobia has been enshrined in Ugandan law for over a century, the recent, even more oppressive law is due to the influence of American evangelicals.
Watch the full segment and interview here:
