English professor Jeff Sharlet's investigation of anti-gay persecution specifically Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill, which would make homosexuality punishable as a capital offense earned first and second place awards for Excellence in Journalism for feature writing in 2011 from the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. His two articles, "Straight Man's Burden," which was published in Harper's Magazine , and "Dangerous Liaisons," published in The Advocate, both delve into the American evangelical community's ties to the roots of the Ugandan bill and the African nation's culture of homophobia.
"Sex, politics and religion are different words for the same thing," Sharlet said. "One of the great blind spots of public writing is either the exclusion of thinking about sex, sexual identity and desire, or treating them as trivial."
Sharlet traveled to Uganda to investigate the bill and its supporters and opponents in April 2010 after being warned by Americans never to set foot in the country, whose regime he had criticized. After receiving an invitation from David Bahati, a prominent member of the Ugandan parliament and author of the bill, Sharlet felt he could not ignore the opportunity, he said.
While in Uganda, Sharlet spoke with sources ranging from conservative politicians and American evangelical missionaries in favor of the bill to gay Ugandan men in fear of persecution.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill would introduce the death penalty for "convicted" homosexuals, those who are HIV-positive and those who engage in homosexual acts even outside the country. The bill would also make failing to report known homosexuals a crime, according to its text.
In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal, American evangelical Christian influence is a major force behind the government's radical proposal, Sharlet said.
Sharlet's two articles, which describe a "ground-zero for an explosion in violent homophobia across Africa," have been used to refute claims by major British and American media outlets that the bill was defeated by the Ugandan parliament, he said. The Economist, The New Yorker and other well-respected news organizations published false information describing the bill's irrelevance, he said.
"The Economist reported that the bill had been defeated and that Anglican churchmen would never let this thing get too far," Sharlet said. "The bill was not defeated and its author was a member of the most prominent Anglican church in Uganda."
Sharlet said he believes the combination of international disinterest in African issues and general unconcern with LGBT issues contributed to the inaccurate reporting of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Sharlet said the press and the general public tends to trivialize issues involving sexual identity.
"With a lot of LGBT issues there's a sense among the press that you can't trust their claims, that what they say is part of an agenda and not fact," Sharlet said. "This is a human rights issue, not just an LGBT issue."
Sharlet said his articles were inspired in part by the American connection to the bill.
"I'm not an activist journalist, but I think it would be good if we don't have a genocide," Sharlet said. "I think it's important to recognize that this guy [Bahati] is serious, powerful and deeply influenced by American rhetoric, and that our culture wars ripple out across the world."
As a journalist, Sharlet subscribes to an ethic of "empathy," he said. In Uganda, he applied his method to understanding those individuals explicitly intent on enacting genocide.
"I tried to understand what it feels like to be David Bahati by using not sympathy, but empathy," he said. "I tried to understand how he made sense."
Sharlet described visiting Bahati in his home and meeting his children.
"For a while I had movies of Bahati's kids on my iPhone," Sharlet said, explaining that he had let Bahati's children play with his phone so that he and the politician could speak uninterrupted.
Once in a while, Bahati would call Sharlet to ask about his daughter, or encourage Sharlet to visit Uganda again, Sharlet said.
After publishing his articles, Sharlet was never directly threatened by Bahati or his political allies, he said. Instead, the result was a "weird truce" intimidating enough to discourage Sharlet from returning to Uganda.
Sharlet, who became a professor at Dartmouth in Summer 2010, specializes in creative nonfiction writing.
Emily LaFond '12, a creative writing minor, said Sharlet's approach to teaching has changed the way she learns.
"Professor Sharlet is an infinitely better writer than I could ever hope to become, but he never makes his students feel like amateurs and is instead incredibly supportive and encouraging in a way that I have never encountered before," LaFond said. "He's very open to sharing his experiences and frustrations as a writer, which is inspiring."
LaFond said she thinks Sharlet's writing is unique in its combination of narrative and political and religious history.
Sharlet's interest in religion's role in promoting homophobia began as he conducted research for his book "Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible." After visiting churches, mosques, synagogues, Buddhist retreats and other religious centers across the United States, Sharlet found that homophobia was the "common denominator" among religious groups, he said.
Religious homophobia in Uganda has been amplified by American Christian influence and anti-gay sentiment is widespread, often violent and systematically used as a political tool, he said.
"In Uganda, homosexuality is a political category for all a politician's enemies," Sharlet said. "Politicians say the gays control the banks and the media. This is attractive to people with no power and also to those with lots of power."
Regarding the state of homophobia in the United States, Sharlet said the acceptance of gays in the country is analogous to that of Jews in the 1950s.
"People know we have to change our ideas, but we don't know how," he said. "We don't have a framework for ending homophobia."
Sharlet compared New York's recent legalization of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court's famous Brown v. Board decision in 1954, which legally abolished segregation in public schools. While Brown v. Board established landmark legal precedent, Sharlet said, segregation and racial tension did not end in 1954.
Sharlet is the author of "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy" and "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power."
His next book, "Sweet Heaven When I Die," a chronicle of American outlaws, anarchists, fanatics and saints, will be published in August, according to a College press release.
Sharlet also won the 2011 MOLLY National Journalism Prize for his article in Harper's Magazine. In May, Sharlet was awarded the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's 2011 Outspoken Award, which honors the leadership of an ally of the global LGBT community, according to the release.
