Posted on 12/21/2013 6:26:53 AM PST by markomalley
Ugandan lawmakers on Friday passed an anti-gay bill that calls for life imprisonment for certain homosexual acts, drawing criticism from rights campaigners who called it “the worst in the world”.
The legislations sets life imprisonment as the penalty for gay sex involving an HIV-infected person, acts with minors and the disabled, as well as repeated sex offences among consenting adults, according to the office of a spokeswoman for Uganda's parliament.
The bill also prescribes a seven-year jail term for a person who “conducts a marriage ceremony” for same-sex couples.
When the bill was first introduced in 2009, it was widely condemned for including the death penalty, but that was removed from the revised version passed by parliament.
The lawmaker behind the bill, David Bahati, said a death penalty clause was dropped from the final version of the bill. The approved text must now be given the green light by President Yoweri Museveni, himself a devout evangelical Christian.
"This is a victory for Uganda. I am glad the parliament has voted against evil," Bahati told AFP.
"Because we are a God-fearing nation, we value life in a holistic way. It is because of those values that members of parliament passed this bill regardless of what the outside world thinks," he said.
Parliamentary spokeswoman Hellen Kaweesa said the changes meant that it had secured "majority support" among MPs.
Deputies voted overwhelmingly in favour of the text, which has been widely condemned by rights activists and world leaders – with US President Barack Obama describing it as "odious" and Nobel Peace laureate archbishop Desmond Tutu comparing it to apartheid.
"Now anybody found practising, recruiting for or publicising homosexuality commits a felony," said Simon Lokodo, Uganda's Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity.
"We think this is an achievement for Uganda because the minors will be protected and the innocents will be saved from abuse and molestation," Lokodo said.
"We will get hold of all those encouraging others to become homosexuals or lesbians. Anybody we find recruiting or using materials to promote homosexuality, we will arrest."
Homophobia is widespread in Uganda, where American-style evangelical Christianity is on the rise. Gay men and women in the country face frequent harassment and threats of violence, and rights activists have also reported cases of lesbians being subjected to "corrective" rapes.
In 2011, prominent Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was bludgeoned to death at his home after a newspaper splashed photos, names and addresses of gays in Uganda on the front page along with a yellow banner reading, "Hang Them".
Anti-pornography bill
While homosexuality was already illegal, the new bill stiffens penalties and also criminalises the public promotion of homosexuality -- including discussions by rights groups.
After the vote, Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha declared himself "officially illegal" and also "outraged and disappointed".
"This is a truly terrifying day for human rights in Uganda," he said. "It will open a new era of fear and persecution. If this law is signed by President Museveni, I'd be thrown in jail for life and in all likelihood killed.
"We urgently need world leaders to call on President Museveni and demand he stops this bill of hate from becoming law."
Leslie Lefkow of Human Rights Watch said the law was "abhorrent".
"The bill's provision on the criminalisation of 'promotion' is a direct attack on the legitimate work of national and international activists and organisations working to defend and promote human rights in Uganda," HRW added in a statement.
Amnesty International said the "wildly discriminatory legislation" was "a grave assault on human rights".
One Ugandan MP, Fox Odoi, was also critical.
"Fundamentally, there is the human rights issue. It's a bad law and it doesn't serve any useful purpose," he said.
"If a man has sex with a woman and penetrates her anus, there's supposed to be nothing wrong with that. How can you apply two different standards to what is much the same thing? I can't quite understand that."
The vote also comes a day after the Ugandan parliament passed an anti-pornography and dress-code law that bans anything that is deemed sexually suggestive.
"Anybody that dresses in very short skirt or a very opened shirt that allows people to see the breast, anybody that dresses in a way that we can see the buttocks, is condemned by this law," Lokodo said.
It also outlaws "any erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement or any indecent act or behaviour tending to corrupt morals".
In 2008, former ethics and integrity minister James Nsaba Buturo tried to pass similar legislation claiming a woman wearing provocative clothing risked causing traffic accidents by distracting drivers.
President Museveni caused an uproar in 2012 when he told female school students to "keep a padlock on your private parts until the time comes to open them when you have a husband."
In addition to outlawing "provocative" clothing, the anti-pornography bill will result in scantily dressed performers being banned from Ugandan television. It will also closely monitor what individuals watch on the Internet.
A British man, Bernard Randall, is currently facing trial in Uganda and a possible two-year sentence if convicted for "trafficking obscene publications" after police found pictures of him having gay sex.
I was gonna move to Russia but now I’m thinking Uganda.
“Homophobia is widespread in Uganda, where American-style evangelical Christianity is on the rise.”
What exactly is “homophobia”?
What is a “rights campaigner?”
Does he advocate for my right to live and govern myself and my country as I see fit?
Does he advocate for my right to legislate in order that I may live in a nation free from disease and death?
Does he campaign for my right to live in accordance with the will of my Maker and under the unwavering, transgenerational, trans-historical laws of health and happiness?
Nope.
A “rights campaigner” tells me that I mustn’t watch that old bearded fellow on TV, because he has certain opinions and might offend somebody.
Is that an Obama reference in green on a sign?
Indian Supreme Court upholds homosexuality ban
The decision reversed a 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that found that the penal code’s section 377, which prohibits people from engaging in “carnal acts against the order of nature”, infringed the fundamental rights of Indians.
“It is up to parliament to legislate on this issue,” said Supreme Court Judge G.S. Singhvi after the ruling.
The decision has shocked the gay community in a country that has gradually seen the emergence of an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights movement and the development of a gay cultural scene in urban areas.
As the decision was delivered on Wednesday, some gay rights activists and lawyers burst into tears and were embraced by their colleagues outside the Supreme Court.
Reporting from New Delhi, FRANCE 24’s Mandakini Gahlot said the verdict had surprised India’s gay rights community.
http://www.france24.com/en/20131211-india-supreme-court-upholds-ban-criminalises-homosexuality/
What I don’t understand is why the liberals go all ape-s**t when a majority Christian nation like Russia or Uganda implements some anti-gay law, but they are strangely silent about the entire Muslim world, much of which have far more oppressive anti-gay laws than any Christian nation. That tells me their “outrage” is based more in anti-Christian sentiment than in any concern for gays...
That, and fear of having your head lopped off.
Homophobia is a word developed by the homosexual gestapo to make anyone who believes that homosexual acts are wrong sound like a deranged nut.
Basically, if you’re against homosexuality, you must be certifiable. No fair, reasoned person could possible take issue with two people, regardless of gender, “loving” each other. Or something like that.
If one bites you, you start foaming at the mouth every time you see a normal man and woman sharing affection for each other.
Kampala
The U.S. Mission in Kampala, Uganda, mourns the tragic death of human rights defender and Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Advocacy Officer David Kato, who was murdered yesterday at his home in Mukono. The U.S. extends its sympathies to David's family, friends, and human rights colleagues. David's courageous devotion to promoting the universal human rights of members of Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community improved the lives of minority populations in Uganda and throughout Africa, and his selfless dedication to defending human rights and speaking out against injustice served as inspiration to human rights defenders around the world. In recent months, several Ugandan government institutions reaffirmed the constitutional rights of members of Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. In October 2010, the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) determined that Uganda's draft "anti-homosexuality bill," which David so effectively opposed through his public statements and advocacy, violates international human rights standards and the Ugandan Constitution. On January 3, Uganda's High Court supported David's argument that the publication of names and photographs of individuals suspected to be gay or lesbian by local media violates constitutional provisions safeguarding all Ugandans' right to privacy and the preservation of human dignity. These important statements by Ugandan government institutions would not have been possible without David's selfless dedication to fighting for the rights of LGBT persons. The United States calls on Ugandan authorities to actively investigate David's murder and bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice. The U.S. Mission in Uganda calls on Ugandan authorities to join with us and other members of the international community in speaking out against hate speech that contributes to discrimination, harassment, and intimidation of Uganda's LGBT community and other minorities."
The same issue exits for women’s rights and femi nazi’s femi nazi’s do not support women’s rights, only the destruction of the West
So the Leftist gaystapo come out for the continued spread of AIDS, child molestation, and exploitation of the mentally impaired all in the name of a male on male butt screw.
“The legislations sets life imprisonment as the penalty for gay sex involving an HIV-infected person, acts with minors and the disabled”
Hmmm...curious what the 0bama sign was?
We sponsor a child in Uganda. God bless that country and its president.
You get Freeper post of the day.
Remember when Shepherd was killed over drugs and the left turned it into a hate crime meme? Nobody knows why this man was killed. In a country like Uganda, it could be literally anything.
David Kato was killed by a homosexual prostitute he had refused to pay.
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