By Jennifer M. Haralambides
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – New anti-gay bill in Uganda proposes the death penalty and long prison sentences for homosexual acts.
According to Canada.com, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper told reporters that he met privately with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the Commonwealth leaders’ summit to express “Canada’s deep concern and strong opposition to the bill.”
Additionally, Harper told Canada.com reporters, “We deplore these kinds of measures. We find them inconsistent with any reasonable understanding of human rights.”
This bill proposes execution for AIDS-infected gays and lesbians who have sex and makes it mandatory for all Ugandans, including family and friends, to report such sexual activity to authorities within twenty four hours. Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex.
Human rights activists say this bill will result in a which hunt.
“The bill is haunting us,” said Frank Mugisha, chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups that will be banned under the law. “If this passes we will have to leave the country.”
Steven Lewis, Canadian HIV-AIDS activist came to Trinidad in order to protest the bill. He claims the bill is designed to demonize homosexuality and it intensify the stigma suffered by all AIDS sufferers in Africa and drive gay men and women underground.
“It will diminish dramatically the prospect of counseling and testing to establish HIV status,” he said, “and make it virtually impossible to reach homosexuals with the knowledge and education and condoms that prevent the spread of AIDS.”
There is a rooted base of homophobia in Uganda. This movement is also aided by US-linked evangelical campaigns who are trying to stop gay men from “recruiting” school children, and are trying to “cure” those who are inflicted with homosexuality.
“We are talking about anal sex. Not even animals do that,” said James Nsaba Bururo. He added that he was personally caring for six “former homosexuals” who had been traumatized by their experiences. “We believe there are limits to human rights.”
The Prime Minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning dismissed the bill as an “internal matter” stating that it had no place on the summit agenda, and should not have been discussed.
Of the fifty three Commonwealth member states, over forty still criminalize same-sex relations. They criminalize otherwise law abiding citizens and contribute to a hostile social atmosphere which demonizes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as though they are unnatural, abnormal and criminal.
For more information, please see:
Canada.com – Harper Slams Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill – 29 November 2009
Guardian.co.uk – Uganda Considers Death Sentence for Gay Sex in Bill Before Parliament – 29 November 2009
The Star – Harper Scolds Uganda on Law that Would Jail Homosexuals – 29 November 2009
Daily Mail – Gordon Brown Caught Up in gay Rights Storm as Uganda Debates Death Penalty for Homosexuals – 30 November 2009
