In Uganda, legislation has been proposed that would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans and also proposes that their family, friends and even landlords could face up to seven years in jail if they don’t report them to authorities.
Gay rights activists have decried the bill as hate-mongering and believe it is further evidence of a backlash against Africa’s gay population.
The proposal comes on the heels of a visit to Uganda by leaders of the Family, an ultraconservative U.S. Christian group that promotes “therapy” to help gays become heterosexual. One of the Family’s leaders has denounced the bill — along with both liberal and conservative Christians in the United States.
But the bill is still being debated and could undergo changes before a vote, which has not yet been set.
The Ugandan legislation as currently written would mandate a death sentence for homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. It states that “serial offenders” could also face capital punishment, but the legislation does not provide terms. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment, and anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with “religious, political, economic or social authority” that fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.
The legislator sponsoring the bill, David Bahati, is a member of the Family and said he encourages what he calls “constructive criticism” to improve the law, but insisted that these tactics were necessary to stop homosexuals — whom he believes are “recruiting” schoolchildren.
High school teacher David Kisambira told the AP that: “The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America. A good number of students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people [being] given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities.”
Uganda’s ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said that homosexuality is “not natural in Uganda,” and believes that the law was necessary to counter foreign influence.
–todd williams
