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National Prayer Breakfast: Obama Slams Uganda Anti-Gay Law

by Jordan Yerman | February 4, 2010 at 07:27 am

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President Barack Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast, despite criticism from various groups opposed to the National Prayer Breakfast's organizer, conservative Christian group The Family of the Fellowship. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also attended.

Every US president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has attended the National Prayer Breakfast. The Family or the Fellowship is accused by gay rights groups of supporting Uganda's anti-gay legislation; David Bahati, the Ugandan legislator championing the bill, is a member of The Family, which tries to keep its membership secret., which Obama denounced during the breakfast.

A chorus of gay-rights groups and organizations opposed to church-state ties called on Obama to denounce the law pushed by Ugandan legislator David Bahati, who organizes the National Prayer Breakfast in his own country.

The groups say some of members of The Family or The Fellowship, a conservative Christian group which organizes the breakfast, back legislation in Uganda that would criminalize homosexuality, with the death penalty possible in some cases. A spokesman for The Fellowship has said that the group does not support the bill.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has also opposed Obama's presence at the National Prayer Breakfast, stating that it adds legitimacy to the group, which has been described as "cult-like", and strengthens its fundraising efforts. "The president and members of Congress should not legitimatize this cult-like group -- the head of which has praised the organizing abilities of Hitler and Bin Laden -- by attending the breakfast", said Melanie Sloan, CREW's director.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, has asked Obama and lawmakers not to attend the breakfast because they say The Family poses ethical concerns.

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