Credit: Photo via Watoto press kit

Credit: Photo via Watoto press kit

In January, CL got all touchy-feely about an appearance from a U.S.-based iteration of the Watoto Children’s Choir.

Readers, however, were quick to point out that the church’s influence has long made Uganda one of the most dangerous places to be a member of the LGBTQ community. Prison sentences aren’t uncommon there, and an original draft of the overturned 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act proposed the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” We’re not too keen on politicizing a bunch of kids singing their hearts out (the concert supports orphans), but it’s only fair to air concerns about supporting the church in the open.

In a phone call from CL, Bethel Church Tampa refused to issue a statement about Watoto’s anti-LGBTQ tendencies back in Uganda.

Watoto Children’s Choir. Fri. March 8. Bethel Church, Tampa. watoto.com.

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This article appears in Mar 7-14, 2019.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...