Rwanda:Gay Rights - When Perversion Turned to Orientation

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Kigali — The New Times reported on Wednesday December 23 that the parliamentary committe on poitical affairs had recommeneded the removal of homosexuality from the penal code.

One would have expected an avalanche of protests from anti-gay groups. None has come. The proposal will probably go without much public notice and debate. The penal code will be amended and homosexuality will be decriminalised.

It is a courageous step seeing that homosexuality is an emotive issue that generates some of the most heated, divisive and extreme positions.

One needs to look across the border to Uganda to see how divisive the issue can be, or at what is happening in the Anglican church.

In Uganda, parliament is debating a bill that would, in certain respects, turn homosexuality into a capital offence. As expected, this has raised a lot of noise. It has been headline news on BBC and CNN and other major western media. Politicians and other western leaders have been quick to denounce the bill as a violation of human rights.

On the opposite side, the evangelical churches have been the most enthusiastic supporters of the bill. They have shouted themselves hoarse against western support for gays.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200912290068.html

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