Tories funding gay-rights initiatives in Uganda after giving money to anti-gay group

Am I wrong to question the timing of word that the Conservative government has been funding groups fighting Uganda's proposed legislation mandating harsh penalties for homosexuals?

Last month, the Conservatives were raked over the coals after it was revealed Christian Crossroads Communications, a stridently anti-gay organization, was getting money from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for work it was doing in Uganda.

Now the National Post reports it's learned Ottawa has been quietly funnelling money to organizations promoting gay rights in the African country and battling against a private members' bill that would toughen existing legislation against homosexuality.

The Post says Ottawa has spent $200,000 since November to fund gay rights initiatives in Uganda and Kenya. It cites a senior Foreign Affairs Department source as saying Ottawa's involvement has specifically focused on the impending Ugandan legislation.

[ Related: Anti-gay religious group's funding for Uganda program pulled pending investigation ]

Given the hermetically sealed nature of government communications in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, it's hard not to wonder if this is an authorized leak aimed at countering the bad press the Conservatives got over the CIDA money doled out to Christian Crossroads.

To be fair, the federal government has been unequivocally opposed to the Ugandan bill that would impose up to life in prison not only on homosexuals but those who fail to denounce them. The Post noted Ugandan legislators have called for the death penalty for practising homosexuals when there are aggravating factors such as being HIV-positive.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird clashed with Rebecca Kadaga, speaker of Uganda's parliament, at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Quebec City last October over his condemnation of the anti-gay bill. Baird discussed the death of gay-rights activist David Kato, who was beaten to death in his home, which Ugandan authorities labelled a "crime of passion."

“On behalf of the Uganda delegation and the people of Uganda, I protest in the strongest terms the arrogance exhibited by the foreign minister of Canada,” Kadaga told the meeting, according to Xtra, a gay and lesbian newspaper.

Baird, she said, had "spent his entire presentation attacking Uganda and promoting homosexuality.

“I was not aware that we had been invited here to promote homosexuality."

The flap over CIDA's support of Christian Crossroads surfaced in early February when The Canadian Press reported the Burlington, Ont., group had received almost $550,000 to help dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene awareness through 2014.

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The group, probably best known for the evangelical TV show 100 Huntley Street, had listed homosexuality as a perversion and a sin on its web site until a reporter raised questions about it, after which the reference disappeared.

International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino initially defended the funding, saying CIDA-funded projects are delivered without religious content. The agency also said the funding complied with its guidelines but the money flow was later suspended pending a review.

Critics have alleged the Conservatives have favoured faith-based non-government aid organizations over secular ones for funding as part of its political strategy to cement support among religious voter groups.