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'Homosexuality is not a human right', said the bill's author
Uganda
France and US condemn Uganda's new Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Yesterday, the Ugandan embassies of France and the United States publicly condemned Uganda's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which is designed to intensify the country's already draconian legislation.
Presently, Uganda punishes male homosexuality with life imprisonment (in 2000 lesbianism was criminalised as well), and according to Jessica Stern of Human Rights Watch, President Museveni's government "routinely threatens and vilifies lesbians and gays, and subjects sexual rights activists to harassment".
The bill would create a new offence of "aggravated homosexuality", with those convicted of having homosexual relations with disabled people or those under the age of 18 facing the death penalty. It would also criminalise any public discussion of homosexuality and penalise any individual who rented property to a homosexual.
"France expresses deep concern regarding the bill currently before the Ugandan parliament," the French foreign ministry said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse in Kampala. "France reiterates its commitment to the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."
Joann Lockard, the US embassy's public affairs officer, said in an email: "If adopted, a bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda."
In an opinion piece in Uganda's Observer newspaper on Monday, the author of the bill, Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, of the ruling party, claimed that "homosexuality is not a human right".
"The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a nice piece of legislation. It aims at holding the integrity of Ugandans high in the sky," he wrote. "The fact that the moral fabric of America and Europe has been put under siege by the supporters of this creeping evil of homosexuality should not suggest that we should follow suit."
Last week, Uganda's minister for Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, said that Uganda had no intention of heeding the advice of foreigners on the subject of homosexuality.
