Fundamentalists

Malawi Cops Hunt High-Profile Gays

U.S. missionaries blamed for anti-gay fervor.

Malawi police are hunting down high-profile gay men and women in the African country in a new operation. Anti-gay fervor is spreading across the country and in much of Africa, a problem many blame on the influence of American fundamentalist Christian missionaries. Malawi recently prosecuted a gay couple seeking marriage—the men could get 14 years in prison—and Uganda saw thousands of protesters demonstrating in favor of a new law that would institute the death penalty for some convicted of having homosexual sex. A 60-year-old man was arrested Monday after a younger man alleged he sodomized him. A woman was driven from her town despite being acquitted of having sex with two girls. In Kenya, police arrested five men for being gay (two were reportedly beaten). Human-rights groups are worried, and blame U.S. influence. "It's very well calculated," a gay-rights campaigner said. "We have proof of American evangelical churches driving the religious fundamentalism in Uganda."