Ugandan Pres. Says He'll Veto "Kill the Gays" Bill

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DCAgenda.com reported a few days ago the Uganda's president Museveni has said that he is committed to blocking pending legislation that would punish "aggravated homosexuality" with the death penalty.

DC Agenda's Chris Johnson reported on December 19,

Jon Tollefson, a State Department spokesperson, told DC Agenda that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged on several occasions to the top U.S. diplomat engaged in Africa that he would stop progress on the anti-gay bill.

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.

 While it's reassuring to know that the U.S. government is taking the proposed gay genocide seriously, it remains to be seen whether the Ugandan government will back down in the face of international pressure. The bill has continued its forward momentum in the Ugandan parliament over the last several weeks, despite condemnation from the world leaders a the evangelicals who set this whole thing in motion. Tollefson has said that the US government wants Museveni to make his private commitment public by condemning the bill publicly, but so far, the Ugandan dictator has not done so.

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The White House Condemns Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill (Finally!)

Following are some if the latest developments concerning the Uganda "Kill the Gays" bill.

After a week in which the LGBT blogosphere was lit up with the story of Uganda's pending "Kill the Gays" bill and non-stop coverage of the story from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (the only mainstream coverage on the issue) and a plea from snake-oil salesman Pastor Rick Warren for his latest fan base to soften the bill, the White House has issued a statement condemning the legislation.

In response to an inquiry from The Advocate for a comment on the subject, the White House responded saying, “The President strongly opposes efforts, such as the draft law pending in Uganda, that would criminalize homosexuality and move against the tide of history.”

Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin reports that John Nagenda, senior adviser to Uganda's president Museveni wrote a measured Op Ed in the government-owned newspaper, New Vision, saying,

"And that is where same-sex lovers’ haters will do their nut! The recent month I was away a parliamentarian introduced a Bill of hugely draconian measure, including heavy penalties on those who wouldn’t report same-sex lovers they knew about! In the US there was a man whose name, McCarthy, is now a synonym (as McCarthyism) for cruel witch-hunting. For him Communism was the hot issue, although he would doubtless have looked at same-sex love as a product of that political system."

"In the Inquisition period, evil prelates tortured people who deviated from current beliefs, including by saying the world was not flat but round! Now we all laugh about these odd characters. Lower down the scale, people were tortured for being left-handed (indeed called sinister for it) or being very short, or being blind: in short for not being normal. I believe, and I am raising the bar, that we must laugh at this MP and others like him: laugh and stay sane. What crime have same-sex lovers committed, per se, by being who they are? Would those who believe God made mankind exclude them, and on what grounds?"

 The UK paper, The Guardian reports this morning on the homophobic trend among African nations.

Uganda is likely to pass a law within months that will make homosexuality a capital offence, joining 37 other countries in the continent where American evangelical Christian groups are increasingly spreading bigotry.

LezGetReal reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury has finally spoken out on the issue as well. The archbishop was criticized this week by progressive Episcopalians who accused the leader of the Anglican Church of  "failing to exercise moral leadership to protect gays and lesbians in Uganda" and instead being overly focused on the controversial election of the church's second openly gay bishop, Rev. Mary Glasspool by the diocese or Los Angeles.

This Queer Little Planet: Uganda to Drop Life Sentance, Death Penalty for Gays?

I've been following the events in Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill a lot lately and reporting what I find out here, so this week's "This Queer Little Planet" post is not as unique a story as I usually like, but WTF.

That being said, Bloomberg.com is reporting a major development in the Uganda story. Bloomberg's Fred Ojambo reports that Ugandan lawmaker's have decided to drop the death penalty/life in prison part of the their anti-gay legislation, due in large part to international pressure and the urging of evangelicals (who started all this) to take a kinder, gentler approach to homophobia.

(From Bloomberg.com) Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.

The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the two punishments to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties, Buturo said today in a phone interview from the capital, Kampala.

 Details are still sketchy, but reports are that the revised bill will include conversion therapy to “attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation,” said Buturo.

It is a sad state of affairs when a government's compassion for its people is measured by its willingness to not kill them. Can't you feel the love?

Gay Ugandans Could Face Life in Prison or Death Penalty

Legislation currently being considered in Uganda would make homosexual acts punishable by a minimum life sentence in prison and the death penalty for repeat offenders or people with AIDS accused of engaging in gay sex.

The Guardian reports:

Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda's parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a "person of authority" over the other partner, or if the "victim" is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.

Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail – a scenario that human rights campaigners say will result in a witchhunt.Ugandans breaking the new law abroad will be subject to extradition requests.

"The bill is haunting us," said Mugisha, 25, chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups that will all be banned under the law. "If this passes we will have to leave the country."

 Read more at Guardian.co.uk