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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyPosts Tagged As: Anti-Homosexuality Bill
December 24th, 2009
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, who was born in Uganda and has a brother who is a prominent Pentecostal there, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today to denounce the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Act that is now before Parliament. Among its many draconian provisions, the proposed bill would provide the death sentence for LGBT people under certain circumstances (including so-called “serial offenders” or where the accused is HIV-positive), outlaw all advocacy on behalf of LGBT people (with seven years’ imprisonment) and criminalize the failure to report LGBT people to police within 24 hours (with three years’ imprisonment).
Archbishop Sentamu said:
I want to go back to the Dromantine communiqué of 2004 by the Primates of the Anglican Communion when we said we wish to make it clear that our discussion and assessment of moral appropriateness of specific behaviors, we continued to be unreservedly committed to pastoral support and care for homosexual people. The victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered toward people of the same sex is anathema to us. “We assure homosexual people that they are people of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship.”
…I am fully opposed to the death penalty. I am also quite unhappy when you describe people with the kind of language you find in this private member’s bill which seems also not only victimizing but diminishment of individuals.
The Archbishop also talked about the growing gulf between the Church of Uganda and the rest of the Anglican Communion:
The gulf can actually grow when it seems as though we’re having a dialogue with the deaf, and the reason why Canterbury and I haven’t actually come out publicly with anything is not because we don’t want to say anything because the position is very clear, but rather because we’re trying to help. And we’re trying actually to listen.
…And I’m absolutely committed that the church of Uganda — and I can only speak about the church of Uganda — is committed to the pastoral care which is in the Dromantine Communiqué, and is also committed to the listening process with the experience of homosexual people. And people may have clear, what I call “traditional” views about sexuality, but we as a Communion actually committed to listening to the experience of homosexual people. You can’t do that on one hand and then have language which in many ways seems to suggest all these people are not children of God. I mean, they are valued by God, they deserve the best we can give in pastoral care and friendship, and I’m quite sure that the response the Church of Uganda will make in due course will have to take account of all these realities.
The interview is available on the BBC web site.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 23rd, 2009
Thanks to an anonymous reader in Uganda, BTB has been able to obtain cell-phone video of a Ugandan news broadcast showing Tuesday\’s anti-gay demonstration in Kampala by pastors Martin Ssempa, and David Kadaga in support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament.
This clip begins with Seempa, Kadaga, and others entering the Parliament Building from a rally at Makerere University (Ssempa’s home turf). At one point in the clip, Ssempa is shown (either at Parliament or at the rally) saying “We also express support for our president Museveni, the minister of foreign affiars, the people of Uganda for stainding strong against this evil.” He later condemned the White House for its statement against measure which would provide the death penalty for LGBT people. Speaking on behalf of the National Task Force Against Homosexuality, Ssempa said:
They (the task force) have condemned the efforts of the American president, Barrack Obama, and Hilary Clinton, for using the pulpit of the white house to preach a gospel of sodomy. We have said No!
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
Click here to read a transcript of the UBC Tonight Broadcast.
December 23rd, 2009
Thanks to an anonymous reader in Uganda, BTB has been able to obtain cell-phone video of a Ugandan news broadcast showing Tuesday\’s anti-gay demonstration in Kampala by pastors Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male and Michael Kyazza.
This clip of a NTV News broadcast by the independent NBS television on Dec 22 begins with a short description of “aggravated homosexuality,” as “when one subjects a minor to gay acts or deliberately infects them with HIV.” This repeats the persistent mischaracterization of the actual text of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Parliament. The bill would actually include anyone who is HIV-positive (whether they “deliberately infect” someone or not), and it also includes anyone who is a “serial offender,” which could conceivably ensnare anyone who has had more than one lover, or who had sex with the same lover more than once. In recent days, MP David Bahati, the prime sponsor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, has mischaracterized the true of the bill numerous times, as has Pentecostal pastor Martin Ssempa. These lies are now being repeated in Uganda’s media.
The clip shows scenes of an anti-gay rally organized by Ssempa, Male and Kyazza. I don’t know if this is the same rally shown in the Platinum News clip uploaded earlier today. It then cuts to a video of Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo defending the bill, while raising the possibility of adding a forced conversion clause to the measure. This forced conversion idea was first brought up during an anti-gay conference put on last March by three American anti-gay activists.
From there, the report shows a “pressure group” (one of whom is Pentecostal pastor Martin Ssempa) meeting with the Deputy Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to urge swift passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The reporter observes that Kadaga “appears to back the bill,” but the Deputy Speaker then read a passage from the existing law against homosexuality which already provides for a life sentence.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
Click here to read a transcript of the NTV Tonight Broadcast.
December 23rd, 2009
Thanks to an anonymous reader in Uganda, BTB has been able to obtain cell-phone video of a Ugandan news broadcast showing Tuesday’s anti-gay demonstration in Kampala by pastors Solomon Male and Michael Kyazza.
This clip of a Platinum News broadcast by the independent NBS television on Dec 22 begins with an update on a veritable circular firing squad among rival Pentecostal pastors we first reported in May. In this update, Male and Kyazza are shown outside a court house discussing a case in which the two pastors accused another rival pastor, Robert Kayanja, of homosexuality. Male and Kyazza, in turn, were accused of plotting to trespass Kayanja’s Omega Healing Center and being behind the alleged kidnapping and beating Kayanja’s personal aide in an attempt at extracting an accusation against Kayanja.
The court house appears to have served as the location for an anti-gay rally, which set the stage for a quick report on the current status of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, who had earlier promised to remain silent for the remainder of the debate, went back on his vow and strongly defended the bill while hinting that the death penalty might be dropped. In denouncing the international pressure against the bill’s passage, Buturo said:
I’ve lived in those countries, and I know how important that issue of aid is. They give, most people there, give in the belief they are helping the poor. Now, you dont help the poor by teaching them about homosexuality, do you?
Buturo was also irritated at the government-owned New Vision, among other media outlets. New Vision had recently published an op-ed by a senior adviser to President Museveni calling on Parliament to drop the bill.
We will have more video clips posted through throughout the day.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
Led by religious leaders, Ugandan protesters marched to demand that the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill be passed. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
Several hundred people demonstrated in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Tuesday against gays and lesbians, and expressed support for the country’s impending tough anti-homosexual law.
The protesters, led by born-again clerics, cultural leaders, and university undergraduates, marched to the parliament where they presented a petition.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
Five Republican congressmen have sent a letter to President Museveni of Uganda asking him to oppose the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill: Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh “Joseph” Cao.
That’s good.
They also felt compelled to inform Museveni that they endorse the Manhattan Declaration, a document that defines “Christian” in terms of whether one is an anti-gay activist.
That’s not so good.
Frankly this smells less like concern for the plight of gay Ugandans and more like an opportunity to prove that they both love the sinner (“don’t penalize a single act of homosexual conduct with a life sentence”) and hate the sin (“but boy howdy to we endorse anti-gay declarations”).
Unlike others, this group found it necessary to temper their opposition to an evil bill with endorsements of discrimination, and refused to oppose the criminalization of homosexuality, something that even Rick Warren felt to be within his Christian conscience.
Further, they lied. The Manhattan Declaration was not, as they state, “signed by more than 140 leaders representing every branch of American Christianity.” Liberal and moderate branches were excluded. But, then again, I suspect that Pitts, Smith, Wolf, Franks, and Cao all believe that those who oppose the Manhattan Declaration aren’t really Christian anyway.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
An Australian LGBT newspaper reports that a diplomatic representative based in neighboring Kenya has personally protested the Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to the Sydney Star Observer:
A Foreign Affairs department spokeswoman confirmed the Head of Mission at Australia\’s High Commission in neighbouring Kenya had made personal representations to the Ugandan Government over the bill. The Head of Mission also wrote to the Speaker of Uganda\’s Parliament, outlining the Australian Government\’s concerns.
Australia doesn’t maintain an embassy or diplomatic mission in Uganda. The Australian mission in Kenya is also accredited to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
Last November, the Australian Senate considered but rejected a motion calling on Uganda to withdraw the proposed legislation.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 21st, 2009
While Martin Ssempa and company are pressing full steam ahead in their take-no-quarter defense of Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, other religious leaders may have begun to distance themselves from the controversy.
A few weeks ago, we had reported on a meeting of 200 religious leaders who met in Entebbe as part of the Inter-religious Council of Uganda’s discussion of the anti-gay bill. The Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper (and one of the more reliable news sources in Uganda) reported that one of the resolutions approved at that meeting read, “Government should cut ties with donor communities and other groups which support ungodly values such as homosexuality and abortion.” As for the bill itself, the The group’s secretary general, Joshua Kitakule, defended it to The Daily Monitor: “The Bill is OK. But it has been misunderstood. We need to educate people on this proposed law.”
All that has changed. In a press release dated December 20, 2009, the Council now asserts that no such resolution was approved:
The idea that development partners should refrain from interfering in the process of legislation regarding the bill or that Government should cut ties with countries supporting homosexuality was not in any way a conclusion but part of the debate on the floor during the Assembly. We understand the Homosexuality Bill is a Private Members bill which is yet to be tabled before Parliament. As of now, IRCU does not have a common position on the said bill. Under any circumstance, our services including HIV/AIDS interventions are open to all persons with out discrimination.
This newly-stated position might begin to knock some of the wind out of the bill’s supporters’ sails. The earlier reports on the IRCU’s position was cited by Martin Ssempa and three other pastors in their recent letter to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. The letter, which calls on Warren to apologize for condemning Uganda’s proposed anti-gay legislation, justified their position this way:
Please note that on Friday 11th December, more than 200 of Uganda\’s top religious leaders met and supported the legislators in strengthening the law against homosexuality. (Church leaders back anti-gay bill.) The issue is, we all want the law on homosexuality, the only debate is on what penalties are appropriate.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 21st, 2009
A Martin Ssempa and three other Ugandan pastors have written to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren demanding an apology for his statement opposing Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
In a letter sent sent to Warren, with copies provided to Christianity Today and Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton, the four pastors write on behalf of a task force which met in the offices of the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, who has been an ardent supporter of the bill. The pastors say that the bill has been “greatly misrepresented” and describes Warren’s opposition to the bill as “unwarrented abuse.”
This bill has been greatly misrepresented by some homosexual activists causing hysteria and we take this opportunity to give you the background, facts and response to the concerns you raised. A special meeting of 20 denominational heads met on Thursday 17th Dec in the offices of the minister of Ethics and Integrity, examined your letter and formed a joint task force to respond to you as well as help support the parliament in the passage of this bill. We are further distressed by your unwarranted abuse of our duly elected officials who are in the process of making laws in the fulfillment of their mission and make demand that you biblically issue an apology for having wronged us as demonstrated by the facts of this letter. [Emphasis in the original]
The letter is very similar to a separate letter sent to Christianity Today, complete with wholesale misrepresentations of what the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would actually provide. We have posted the full text of the bill online where you can see its provisions for yourself. They include:
There is an additional ominous note in this letter that is not found in the previous letter published by Christianity Today. In describing the developments in Uganda which they say justify the draconian measure specified in the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, they single out an individual Ugandan blogger, GayUganda:
d) creation of organizations whose sole purpose is to promote homosexuality in Uganda; (e.g. (Sexual Minorities Uganda); (Gay Uganda); (Integrity Uganda).
This latest letter, which is reproduced on Warren Throckmorton’s web site, demands that Warren issues an apology and sets a deadline:
Your letter has caused great distress and the pastors are demanding that you issue a formal apology for insulting the people of Africa by your very inapropriate bully use of your church and purpose driven pulpits to coerse us into the “evil” of Sodomy and Gaymorrah. This is expected within seven days from this date.
The letter, at least as it is reproduced on Throckmorton’s web site, does not appear to be dated.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 21st, 2009
Lou Engle at TheCall in Nashville, 2007
Bruce Wilson at Talk To Action has uncovered some very troubling information. Lou Engle, organizer of TheCall who believes that gays are possessed by demons, may be planning on taking his violence-laden rhetoric to Uganda in 2010.
Wilson uncovered a couple of indications that plans are in the works for a massive stadium rally in Uganda for late spring of 2010. Jo Anna Watson, founder of Touching Hearts International, says her November 2009 ministry newsletter:
I attended the International Call Summit, October 28 -30 hosted by Lou Engle and Stacey Campbell. Over 20 participants for other nations were gathered who are interested in holding a Call in their nation. This summit was very informative as we were filled with the DNA of the CALL and encouraged to follow through with what God has placed on our heart. On October 30th I flew to Chicago to attend the last two days of Pastor John Mulinde\’s prayer summit. We met on Saturday to discuss in more detail and make preparations for the CALL Uganda to be held May 29, 2010. I will arrive in Uganda on January 6 and will be living in Uganda to partner with Pastor John Mulinde as we prepare and mobilize this Sacred Assembly, similar to the one described in Joel 2. I ask you to keep theCall Uganda and our team in prayer and if possible to fast one day a week or month, along with us, in preparation for the Call Uganda on May 29, 2010.
According to the Touching Hearts International web site, Watson has been traveling to Uganda yearly since 2002. According to a note on THI’s home page, Touching Hearts International will partner with Kampala-based World Trumpet Mission, which is headed by founder John Mulinde. World Trumpet Mission also has extensive staff in Orlando, Florida under International Director Mark Daniel.
Three weeks ago, we discussed reports by Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton and Talk to Action’s Bruce Wilson describing the importance of the Seven Mountains Mandate and Transformations theology as key connections between many U.S. evangelical anti-gay extremists and current events in Uganda. Mulinde is an adherent to Transformations theology, which calls on churches to establish theocratic control over governments and civil society. Another Transformations adherent, Julius Oyet, heads the Kampala campus of U.S. based College of Prayer International and has been identified as a key supporter of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill which is now before Parliament.
If a rally by TheCall takes place in Uganda, this is the sort of reckless, fear-mongering and violence-inducing rhetoric we can expect:
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 19th, 2009
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni
DCAgenda, the Washington, D.C. LGBT newspaper that rose from the ashes of the venerable Washington Blade, reports that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has committed to preventing the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill from becoming law on at least two separate occasions. According to U.S. State Department spokesman Jon Tollefson:
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson received this assurance from Museveni on Oct. 24 during an in-person meeting with the president in Uganda and again during a phone conversation with Museveni on Dec. 4, Tollefson said.
…Asked whether it\’s the understanding of U.S. officials that Museveni would veto the legislation should it come to his desk, Tollefson replied, “Right, that\’s a commitment that he\’s made. He made that personally to the assistant secretary on that first meeting that he had on Oct. 24 and again on a call on Dec. 4, and so we\’re going to continue to expect that.”
Tollefson also said that the State Department wants Museveni to make a public statement against the legislation, but so far the Ugandan president has not done so. While Museveni has not made his position known publicly, he has allowed Ugandan government controlled or owned media to publish two op-eds calling on Parliament to drop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in recent weeks. The second op-ed was written by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and appeared in the government-owned New Vision which is Uganda’s largest newspaper.
DCAgenda’s report greatly expands on the hint that was dropped in yesterday’s AFP article which I discussed earlier today. When I wrote that post, I settled on the headline “Will Musevini Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” I vacillated between that headline and its alternate, “Will Museveni Veto the Anti-Homosexuality Bill?” It appears now that perhaps I should have gone with the more optimistic question. But until Museveni makes his views known publicly, it is still an open question.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 19th, 2009
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni
Timothy Kincaid and I both posted yesterday’s statement by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson about the U.S.’s concern over Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Timothy relied on a Reuters article, while I used a report from AFP. When I prepared my report, I overlooked this potentially important tidbit from AFP:
He [Carson] added that it is premature for US government to consider withdrawing aid from Uganda because (President Yoweri) Museveni himself said he does not support the legislation and the battle is not yet lost. [Emphasis mine.]
This is missing from the Reuters article, which says instead:
Museveni has been quoted as saying that homosexuality is a Western import, joining some Ugandan and continental religious leaders who believe it is un-African.
As I said on Michelangelo Signorile’s show yesterday, it is extremely difficult to read the tea leaves from some 9,000 miles away. We have no idea whether the AFP report, which paraphrases Carson’s statement, is an accurate representation of what the Assistant Secretary actually said. It’s not not a direct quote and Reuters didn’t mention it. [Update: A State Department spokesman now confirms that Museveni committed privately on at least two occasions to block the anti-gay bill.]
This lends more support to what we’ve observed earlier. On Dec. 10, we noticed an article posted on the official governmental Uganda Media Centre web site questioning Parliament’s priorities in debating the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. This is significant because the UMC serves as the official press office of the Ugandan government, and it’s hard to imagine this article appearing without approval, at the very least, from senior governmental officials if not President Museveni himself. As of today, that article is still on the UMC web site, and accessible from the UMC front page.
The next day, we saw an op-ed published in the government-owned New Vision by John Nagenda, a senior advisor to President Museveni. Nagenda was clearer, saying “Parliament should not pass this bill.” I have been following New Vision since the current Ugandan controversies began last February, and this marks the first time that I can recall the government-own paper publishing anything remotely critical of anti-gay efforts.
Then, almost we week later we learn through the Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, that Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has vowed, according to the paper, to “remain silent about the proposed law until it has been passed or defeated.” Buturo had been an extremely loud proponent of the bill, pushing for “strengthening” Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws ever since the American-led anti-gay conference in Kampala last March. This same Monitor article led of by mentioning President Barack Obama’s statement opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, giving ordinary Ugandans their first exposure to Obama’s position. Obama, whose father was of the Luo tribe which lives in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, is revered in Uganda and throughout East Africa.
According to all reports, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is almost certain to pass Parliament, and will probably do so unanimously or by a vote very close to it. It would then by up to President Museveni to either sign or veto the bill. On one hand, I can’t imagine Museveni vetoing the bill while one prevalent argument for the bill is to stand up to pressure from colonial powers. In addition to being deeply homophobic, Uganda is also a very proud nation and many of the bill’s supporters have vowed not to “bend low” before international pressure. On the other hand, there are good, although admittedly tentative and circumstantial signals being sent that this may in fact happen.
There are hopeful signs, but in the end it’s all up to Museveni. And his decision will likely be based on what serves his political interests and not what’s best for the people of Uganda. A Mr. O. Kalinge-Nnyago, writing yesterday for The Monitor, says that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would provide Museveni’s 23-year-old government with a powerful new tool to use against his political opponents to maintain power:
If we let this ill conceived and absurd law to pass, we should also be ready to see it selectively applied to the regime\’s opponents who would be framed when it suits the regime. This is not the first time political opponents have been framed in this country. Former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye was framed for rape.
Who will be the next opposition politician to be arrested for suspected aggravated homosexuality or suspected concealment of homosexual practices? Because homosexuality is an abomination in Uganda, the regime, when it decides to frame you, does not have to prosecute you successfully. It is enough that your name has been dragged in the mud, you have been discredited and that possibly your political career is destroyed. I wouldn\’t trust this human rights abusive regime with any far reaching law.
The question is not whether Parliament will pass the bill. If the bill remains tabled, its passage is assured. The real questions are whether Museveni prevails upon his party in Parliament to withdraw the bill (he controls more than two-thirds of Parliament through his party and the military’s seats) or he vetoes it once it passes. Those questions are much more difficult to answer.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 18th, 2009
AFP is reporting that Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, told reporters that he has met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni twice since October to urge him to “to do everything he can to stop this particular legislation.” But that urging comes without an important stick:
He added that it is premature for US government to consider withdrawing aid from Uganda because Museveni himself said he does not support the legislation and the battle is not yet lost. “We won’t make any threats (about withdrawing aid) but we are strongly opposed to this legislation,” Carson said. “And we’re looking to President Museveni to show the same kind of leadership that he’s shown in the fight against AIDS, in the fight to protect the rights of all adults,” whatever their sexuality, he added.
The European Parliament yesterday passed a resolution warning that Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill would put at least part of the EU’s $250 million development aid to Uganda in jeopardy. Sweden had made a similar announcement last month, putting its $50 million at risk.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 18th, 2009
The British medical journal The Lancet has just published an article warning about the detrimental effect Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill would have on that nation’s fight against HIV/AIDS.
Reporter Zoe Alsop describes a talk that MP David Bahati, the prime sponsor of the anti-gay bill, gave before a cheering audience at Makerere University in Kampala (subscription required):
Before ceding the podium, Bahati had one last point to make. “This is not a Ugandan thing”, he said, his chest swelling with indignation. “Homosexuals are using foreign aid organisations to promote this. If an organisation is found to be promoting homosexuality, then their licence should be revoked.”
Shoulder to shoulder with Bahati’s supporters a half dozen or so Ugandans listened quietly. Several were doctors who had spent much of their careers toiling against a disease that has taken the lives of more than a million Ugandans. Their faces were stoic as they contemplated the implications of Bahati’s bill for the fight against HIV/AIDS not just among gay men but also among the wives and children of men who also have sex with men. They considered the long, lean years that had been spent quietly setting up networks to disburse information on HIV/AIDS to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex Ugandans.
“As a doctor, the law infuriates me”, said one general practitioner, who is much sought after by sexual minorities for his willingness to treat them, and who asked that his name not be used for fear that he would be arrested for working with sexual minorities. “We are only now getting to a point where people understand there is a problem. This law is going to erase all of that.”
Zoe reports that in much of Africa, where AIDS is predominantly a heterosexual disease, many people including doctors believe that it’s impossible for gay people to become infected with HIV. Bahati’s proposed legislation, which would impose draconian penalties including death on anyone who is gay, would have a chilling effect on LGBT people seeking medical care from health authorities. And the bill’s provision requiring anyone who knows someone who is gay to report them to police within twenty-four hours would only serve to reinforce those fears among Uganda’s gay community.
All of that is only compounded by another provision of the proposed bill which punishes anyone who “promotes or in any way abets homosexuality and related practices” with seven years imprisonment. Medical doctors providing safe-sex information or who simply treats someone who’s gay can be seen as promoting or abetting “homosexuality and related practices.” These proposals have already had a chilling effect on HIV/AIDS workers:
In past years, Wamala says, Icebreakers (Icebreakers Uganda is an LGBT HIV/AIDS service organization) travelled around Kampala to meet with sexual minorities and sex workers. They offered counselling, condoms, lubricant, and medical referrals. This year, though, has been different. People seen attending meetings were blackmailed by neighbours, who threatened to report them to the police. “Nowadays, people are hiding”, Wamala said. “The blackmail and the arrests skyrocketed and we saw that it was not safe. At meetings we saw the number had really fallen, and even for those who came we were not sure whether we should be able to come the next time.”
Other groups say they have been able to work as long as their activities are carefully disguised. Thomas Muyunga, a doctor in the Most at Risk Populations Network, says he always makes sure that testing and counselling events include people who are heterosexual. “Originally we wanted to go to these people directly”, Muyunga said. “We realised that it was impossible. So the disguise is to address that. That’s why we have managed to even work today.”
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 18th, 2009
While it’s not without precedent, it may seem odd for an American municipality speaking out on foreign affairs. But Minneapolis has a special interest in the Anti-Homosexuality Bill due to its “sister city” status Minneapolis maintains with Kampala. Today, the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution condemning Uganda’s proposed legislation.
Click here to read the full resolution by the Minneapolis City Council.
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