Uganda Panel Gives Setback to Antigay Bill

[Judi Lynn]

Source: New York Times

Uganda Panel Gives Setback to Antigay Bill
By JOSH KRON
Published: May 8, 2010

KAMPALA, Uganda — A special committee organized by the president of Uganda has recommended that a harsh antihomosexuality bill that has drawn the ire of Western governments be withdrawn from Parliament, a senior government official said Saturday.

Adolf Mwesige, a lawmaker and chairman of the special committee, said that virtually all clauses in the legislation were either unconstitutional or redundant, and that any other clauses should be placed in another bill dealing generally with sexual offenses.

“Ninety-nine percent of all the proposals in the Bahati bill have been done before,” Mr. Mwesige said. “If we proceeded, it would definitely provoke criticism, and rightly so.”

The antihomosexuality bill, also known as the Bahati bill after David Bahati, the lawmaker who proposed it last year, has been widely criticized by human rights groups and foreign governments. It calls for homosexuals to be executed in some cases. It also says that homosexuals should be extradited and that people in Uganda must report anybody known to have committed a homosexual act within 24 hours. The bill found backing from a number of Uganda’s influential evangelical pastors, some of whom have been supported and partially financed by American churches.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/world/africa/09uganda.html?ref=world

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. "It also says that homosexuals should be extradited..."

Oh yeah, that'd be a hardship because living in Uganda is such a fuckin' treat.

[Bette Noir]

2. I think you're confusing "extradition" with "deportation."

"Extradition" means that Ugandans living abroad would be sent back to Uganda for prosecution. Not good.

[IntravenousDemilo]

3. Sorry, I assumed that the NYTimes had confused the two words, so I just went along with it.

To avoid confusion, they might have said "have them extradited back to Uganda...".

[David__77]

4. We need a third world gay liberation movement.

It cannot be seen as imported from the west or former colonial powers. Of course homosexuality exists in every country, but that is of little consequence if the opposition is able to frame things a certain way. Latin America is leading the way. In Asia, China and Thailand are leading the way.