Vallejo's LGBT and Democratic community is upset that Mayor Osby Davis went to Tanzania this month for an eight-day sister city trip with a delegation of local business and religious leaders.
The Vallejo City Council approved $3,800 in public funds for the trip at its February 11 meeting.
Members of the United Democrats of Southern Solano County and the Bayard Rustin LGBT Democratic Club were critical of Davis's trip.
A resolution passed by the clubs noted Tanzania's human rights violations, severe criminalization of same-sex relationships, poor HIV/AIDS record, Davis's own poor record among the LGBT community, and traveling with fundamentalist religious leaders under the guise of an economic trip with members of Vallejo's business community.
The democratic organizations also requested the City Council severe its 20-year sister city relationship with Bagamoyo, Tanzania, due to the country's LGBT and other human rights violations.
"They really have no concept of the problems that this poses, especially for LGBT people and others being oppressed in Tanzania," said David Crumrine, a 53-year old gay man who is vice president of United Democrats of Southern Solano County.
Tanzania is well known for its safaris, but it is also notorious for its human rights violations, particularly against LGBT people. Gay and bisexual men can be punished anywhere from 30 years to life in prison, based on a colonial-era law that cites same-sex relationships as "gross indecency" and "carnal knowledge against the order of nature."
In Zanzibar, an island that is part of Tanzania but governs itself, same-sex relationships are punishable by between five and 14 years in jail.
The laws are rarely enforced, but there are also no protections or support for LGBT people from abuse from community to authorities in health care, law enforcement and government, said Neela Ghoshal, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Ghoshal, a 36-year-old bisexual woman, based in Nairobi, Kenya, authored, "Treat Us Like Human Beings: Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania," with the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition. The coalition is a network of groups representing men who have sex with men based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city.
The 98-page report, published last June, documents abuses including torture, rape, assault, arbitrary arrest, and extortion of LGBT Tanzanians and other at-risk communities.
Davis, who sees Vallejo as a "city of God," has a mixed record with the LGBT community. In 2009, he told the New York Times that his faith informed him that gays are "committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven."
He continued, "But you don't hate the person. You hate the sin that they commit."
Davis later apologized for his comment, but that hasn't stopped him from forming a close relationship with the Reverend Ed Silvoso, one of the key players in Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act (see item below).
Silvoso is the head of Harvest Evangelism and founder and CEO of International Transformation Network and has hosted gatherings in Vallejo where he preaches about transforming economic relationships through faith in God.
Davis denies being homophobic. He reiterated his position about the LGBT community and his relationship with Tanzania during the February 11 City Council meeting.
"I don't think it should be assumed that because one visits a country that they in fact condone the policies or laws of that country," said Davis. "To make it very clear, so that no one will doubt it again, I do not condone, nor have I ever condoned or endorsed or supported, the condemnation or oppression of any member of the LGBT community anywhere in the world or any other human being anywhere in the world."
Davis didn't respond to the Bay Area Reporter 's multiple requests for comment prior to his departure.
A handful of supporters came out to back Davis's trip to Tanzania. Only one detractor spoke out against it at the council meeting.
Crumrine told the B.A.R. that the agenda item caught North Bay Democrats and LGBTs by surprise at the last minute and there wasn't an indication that there would be public comment on the issue, so community members didn't appear at the meeting.
Davis, Vice Mayor Robert Sampayan, and Councilmembers Pippin Dew-Costa and Rozzana Verder-Aliga voted to fund the trip. Katy Meissner and Robert McConnell voted against it. Councilmember Jess Malgapo was absent.
Council members who voted in favor of Davis's trip expressed concern over Tanzania's LGBT and human rights abuses as well as Vallejo's fragile economy since the city emerged from bankruptcy.
"I have some real conflict with a government or a group of people that do not respect the human rights of others. That really, really bothers me," said Sampayan. "I would hope that Mayor Davis and the delegation addresses that issue that they make it very clear that we are a tolerant group of individuals that live in Vallejo."
In spite of his statements, local LGBTs and Democrats are suspicious of Davis's intentions.
"I think it's a Christian missionary trip [that] succeeded in getting the taxpayers to pay for it," said Craig Scott, a 51-year-old gay man who is the interim president of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Democratic Club. "My understanding in those other countries, Christians are very active in fostering homophobic legislation and it is my great concern that this is what this trip is about."
The next step is to hold Davis accountable by following the paper trail after he returns, Scott said.
Uganda's anti-gay bill signed into law
Amid worldwide protest, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law this week, potentially creating dangerous conditions for LGBTs in the African nation.
The bill, which had been revised and stalled in Parliament since 2009, now calls for life imprisonment �" rather than the death penalty �" for "aggravated homosexuality." Much of the rest of the bill remains the same, however, other changes include a no-bail option; so-called propaganda of homosexuality is also illegal.
Since parliament passed the bill in December, Ugandan LGBTs have been fleeing to refugee camps in Kenya, where their situation isn't much better, reported Gay Star News.
Worldwide condemnation
Up until last week LGBT Ugandans didn't quite believe Museveni would sign the bill.
His action is a complete turnaround from last month when he met with a U.S. delegation and retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who joined the meeting by phone. At that time, Museveni didn't have any intention of signing the bill, according to Santiago Canton of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, who attended the January 18 meeting.
Several human rights and global LGBT rights organizations called upon Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama to discontinue business as usual with Uganda and to recall U.S. ambassadors to Uganda.
"We need a better strategy," Julie Dorf, senior adviser at the Council for Global Equality, told the Associated Press. "We do believe that our government here in the U.S. needs to ramp up the potential consequences that countries might face for these regressive anti-human rights measures.
"I have no doubt that President Museveni watched very carefully what happened after President Jonathan signed the Nigeria bill," said Dorf. "And the truth is, there wasn't much of a reaction."
Last month Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) bill into law.
It appears that the U.S. is beginning to look at stronger tactics.
"As President Obama stated, this legislation is not just morally wrong, it complicates a valued relationship," Kerry said in a statement expressing his disappointment and concern over the enactment of the law. "Now that this law has been enacted, we are beginning an internal review of our relationship with the government of Uganda to ensure that all dimensions of our engagement, including assistance programs, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and reflect our values."
To read Ghoshal's report, visit http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/06/18/treat-us-human-beings-0. Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at 00+1-415-221-3541, Skype: heather.cassell, or mailto:.