Facebook has shut down, at least temporarily, one of the largest and most diverse groups opposing genocide in Uganda — without explanation.
The group disappeared sometime Friday and, despite numerous inquiries by members, has not been restored to service.
In the description for a new group formed to demand restoration of service, conservative Christian professor Warren Throckmorton says:
On Friday, January 29 Facebook removed the group Speak Out Against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. There was no warning or explanation. Multiple inquiries have been made by many members of the group with no replies as yet.
Whatever the reason, please join this group if you would like to see the group returned. The group was the original effort to bring together a diverse group of people to speak out against the bill.
The URL of the Speak Out group is www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198541255168 and had over 15,000 members when it was removed. Please write Facebook and ask for an explanation and for the group to be reinstated.
The original group was created by Throckmorton and by Andrew Marin, author of Love Is An Orientation, with voluntary support from Exodus co-founder Michael Bussee, who is now an openly gay man.
The group faced opposition from multiple directions: Conservative U.S. “Christians” including Peter LaBarbera who favor the mass execution of LGBT people, and LGBT activists who felt that Throckmorton was using a legitimate human-rights issue to confer legitimacy upon his program of “sexual identity therapy.”
Facebook still features many anti-genocide groups, including several created by equality activist Lisa Talmadge. A quick search suggests that Facebook may have cracked down on a multitude of pro-genocide groups — I found only a couple of survivors this morning.
