Comments on: Earth Times: Uganda to Drop Anti-Gay Bill

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:54:17 +0000

Is Germany the only country tentatively holding back funds? Are there other countries sending their aid funds regardless of this bill? Who are they. Inquiring minds want to know.

By: anteros

anteros — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:15:14 +0000

actually, this isnt very convincing… and it’s not a new response to international pressure. the ugandan government, museveni and his ministers, earlier responded to international pressure by saying the bill was introduced into parliament by a member of parliament, and that the ugandan government has no official position on the bill. sure, the ugandan government may not “officially” support the bill (although several ministers and museveni have always been anti-gay and some of them initially expressed strong support for the bill)… but the ugandan government doesnt “officially” reject the bill either.

pretty smart. strategic fence-sitters, hiding behind “democratic due process”. they confidently tell the germans what they want to hear (the ugandan government doesnt support the bill) in order to score some aid, without officially rejecting the bill. i’m sure they tell a different version of their fence-sitting story to ugandans behind closed doors… “we dont reject the bill, it’s technically too late to withdraw the bill and it must complete its course in parliament. it’s up to democratically elected ugandan parliamentarians to decide whether to protect ugandan kids from european and american homosexual recruiters and protect uganda’s sovereignty from neo-colonialist donor nations (like germany)”. i’ve read quite a few articles rallying up support for the bill just for the sake of responding to the perceived neo-colonialism threat posed by donor nations (like the rich, generous and anti-homophobic germans) on uganda’s sovereignty.

By: John in the Bay Area

John in the Bay Area — Sat, 29 May 2010 06:40:29 +0000

Noboby ever has trusted the Museveni government.

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:43:42 +0000

I don’t trust the Museveni government.

By: Jutta Zalud

Jutta Zalud — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:10:02 +0000

A press release by the German ministry for economic relations and development says that the foreign minister of Uganda assured them in a letter that Uganda’s government did not support the bill.

In German: http://www.bmz.de/de/presse/pm/2010/mai/pm_20100528_101.html

Google translation

By: anteros

anteros — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:45:25 +0000

i wish i could change the world and end all the hate, intolerance and discrimination… and i wish ugandans were debating decriminalization. bahati pretty much set the stage for that debate. ever since he introduced that bill many people werent debating the bill as much as they were debating the relevance of law in the private sex lives of consenting adults. so, the bill presented an opportunity to challenge ignorance… at the very least, it prompted many ugandans to think about why the bill was roundly condemned and why decriminalization and the protection of LGBT rights has been a global trend for decades.
that’s gotta count for something.

just a couple of months ago… ugandan parliamentarians, ministers, religious leaders, media etc were frothing at the mouth in anticipation of the bill becoming law… were we honestly expecting them to drop their weapons and become tolerant towards LGBT ugandans and decriminalize homosexuality instead of passing bahati’s bill? i think not. these recent developments are worth celebrating because they represent significant milestones, especially when one considers the effort that went into defeating the bill, which was due to become law in february.

thanks BTB!

By: MJC

MJC — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:22:01 +0000

The law is one thing; according to a Ugandan with whom I am familiar, conditions on the ground are somewhat different. Intolerance and ignorance are of course rampant.

By: Timothy (TRiG)

Timothy (TRiG) — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:19:48 +0000

I shall be cautiously optimistic, so.

TRiG.

By: anteros

anteros — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:31:51 +0000

yayness:-D

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:05:42 +0000

Britain, Sweden, Canada and the US are all on record as potentially holding back funds. We’ve been covering the story for more than a year. You can get mostly caught up here.