Ugandan activists call for arrest of "gay porn pastor"

Feb 18, 2010, 11:56 GMT

Kampala - Ugandan activists on Thursday called for the arrest of a pastor who screened gay porn in his church in an attempt to drum up support for legislation that could see some gay people given the death sentence.

'He (Pastor Martin Ssempa) should be arrested because he is promoting pornography,' the leader of gay and lesbian rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda, Julian Pepe, told the German Press Agency dpa.

'The fact that he showed this film to people below 18 years means he has committed a crime.'

But Ssempa defended showing the pornographic film to over 300 people in his church on the outskirts of Kampala.

'If you promote homosexuality, you are bringing a curse,' he told dpa. 'Uganda is in the process of debating legislation against homosexuality but you need to give information to the people so that they know the behavior that will be regulated.'

'We are not going to stop there, but will move to parliament to show the same film,' he added.

Lawmaker David Bahati in October tabled a bill outlining harsh anti-gay regulations, with sentences ranging from three years to life in prison or hanging.

The bill proposes a death sentence for a convicted gay or lesbian who infects his or her partner with HIV/AIDS or performs a sexual act with a juvenile or an invalid person.

Uganda has been widely criticized for even contemplating the bill, with US President Barack Obama calling it 'odious'.

President Yoweri Museveni has tried to distance himself from the bill, telling parliament that the international response had made it a foreign policy issue.

Support for the legislation has been mostly fronted by Ugandan religious leaders who, led by pastor Sempa, staged a march attended by thousands of people in the eastern town of Jinja on Monday.