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发帖数: 24887 | 1 http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/07/ugandas-anti-gay-bill-r
KAMPALA, Uganda -- The Ugandan parliamentarian who first introduced an anti-
gay bill that carried the death penalty for some homosexual acts
reintroduced the bill on Tuesday, raising concerns among rights activists
who have been fighting the legislation.
Parliamentarian David Bahati first introduced the bill in 2009 but it has
never come before the full legislative body for a vote. Though widely
supported in Uganda, the bill's progress apparently has been slowed by an
international outcry against the bill, including condemnation from President
Barack Obama.
Bahati has said that homosexuality poses a serious threat to family values
and that his bill has helped raise public awareness about what he calls "the
dangers to our children."
Bahati told The Associated Press last year that he is willing to drop the
death penalty provision if that is the recommendation of a parliament
committee, though a current reading of the bill hasn't been made public.
European countries such as Sweden and Britain have threatened to cut aid to
Uganda if the bill is passed.
Homosexuality, already illegal under Uganda's penal code, is highly
stigmatized in Uganda. Opinion polls frequently show the bill's wide support
among Ugandans. Lawmakers other than Bahati have sometimes spoken
passionately about the need for such a law, and none have condemned it.
The bill has been championed by Pentecostal clerics, who warn that young
Ugandans are at risk of being indoctrinated into gay lifestyles by gays
visiting from the U.S. and Europe. Even pastors who oppose the draft law do
so not because it is draconian or unnecessary, but rather because they
believe the police would not be able to enforce it.
"I've rejected it because it does not address Uganda's homosexuality problem
," said Solomon Male, a Pentecostal cleric who has been dragged to court for
accusing another pastor of sodomy.
"The system can't permit any good law to be enforced."
Male said that an existing law against homosexuality, inherited from the
colonial days, had not been enforced.
"It is a big problem-homosexuals are in our schools, in our churches,
everywhere, and we don't even know where to start," he said. "Sensitization
is the best."
Bahati's original bill carried harsh provisions. The original bill would
mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases
of same-sex rape. "Serial offenders" also could face capital punishment, but
the legislation did not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual
act would face life imprisonment.
Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of
homosexuality" would face seven years in prison. Landlords who rent rooms or
homes to gays also could get seven years.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/07/ugandas-anti-gay-bill-reintroduced-in-parliament/#ixzz1ljV5HlMy |
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