HUMAN RIGHTS
Uganda's Anti-Gay Death Law
Bill calls for those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality" to receive the death penalty.
Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®
The Ugandan government says their new anti-homosexuality bill seeks to strengthen "the nation's capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family." But the bill amounts to state sponsorship of the execution of gay and lesbian people.
A legislator in Uganda wants to impose the death penalty on gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape.
Landlords who rent rooms or homes to gays also could get seven years in prison if they fail to report them to authorities. Anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the law faces three years in prison if convicted.
Christian leaders who are themselves divided over homosexuality jumped in joining forces to oppose the proposed Ugandan law.
"Our Christian faith recognizes violence, harassment and unjust treatment of any human being as a betrayal of Jesus' commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves," reads the statement released Monday and signed by dozens of leaders.
David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said the measures are necessary to stop gays from recruiting children.
The bill calls for those convicted of involvement in homosexual acts to be sentenced to life in prison and those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality" to receive the death penalty.
Uganda's ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said the death sentence is needed to counter foreign influence. Homosexuality "is not natural in Uganda," he said.
© 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. The Star Raconteur™. All Rights Reserved.
Uganda's Anti-Gay Death Law
Bill calls for those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality" to receive the death penalty.
Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®
The Ugandan government says their new anti-homosexuality bill seeks to strengthen "the nation's capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family." But the bill amounts to state sponsorship of the execution of gay and lesbian people.
A legislator in Uganda wants to impose the death penalty on gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape.
Landlords who rent rooms or homes to gays also could get seven years in prison if they fail to report them to authorities. Anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the law faces three years in prison if convicted.
Christian leaders who are themselves divided over homosexuality jumped in joining forces to oppose the proposed Ugandan law.
"Our Christian faith recognizes violence, harassment and unjust treatment of any human being as a betrayal of Jesus' commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves," reads the statement released Monday and signed by dozens of leaders.
David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said the measures are necessary to stop gays from recruiting children.
The bill calls for those convicted of involvement in homosexual acts to be sentenced to life in prison and those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality" to receive the death penalty.
Uganda's ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said the death sentence is needed to counter foreign influence. Homosexuality "is not natural in Uganda," he said.
© 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. The Star Raconteur™. All Rights Reserved.
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