Ugandan gay rights group says new bill will place them in danger

Feb 14, 2012, 10:42 GMT

Kampala - Members of a Ugandan rights group criticised parliament on Tuesday for considering a draft bill that foresees the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality' - defined as acts in which one of the participants is a minor, disabled or is infected with the HIV virus.

Gay communities in the African nation fear that the bill will exposed them to more danger. Its discussion follows the death last year of a leading member of the country's gay community.

'This bill, if passed, will show that the state is not committed to protecting minority groups within its borders,' Dennis Wamala, the vice president of Leaders of Sexual Minorities - Uganda (SMUG), said in a statement.

'We shall fight it to the end,' Wamala added.

The bill was first read by legislator David Bahati in 2009. Following an international outcry it was never debated in the previous parliament, but Bahati has re-introduced it in the new session.

The proposals also include prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years for several offenses, including sheltering or renting out premises to gays or failing to report homosexual activities.

In January 2011, leading activist David Kato was murdered after a local tabloid, Rolling Stone, published his name in a list of 100 people, saying they were gays and calling for their death.

Western governments late last year threatened to withdraw vital economic aid to the eastern African nation if the bill was approved.

Bahati last week was quoted as saying that he will remove the death clause from the new bill. But SMUG slammed the draft in its entirety.

'The bill is not only about homosexuality, but it can also target the heterosexual community, who, for instance, fail to disclose people who are homosexual,' SMUG said in the statement.

Uganda's government distanced itself from the bill in 2011. The information minister told dpa this month that although cabinet did not support the draft, it cannot do anything to stop it from being debated in the legislative house, owing to freedom of expression provisions.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, in what is considered a leftover from colonial law.