Terrifying Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Committee in Ugandan Parliament

October 28, 2009

My first day at Makere University I got a hand-out describing a bill tabled in Parliament on Oct. 14, 2009 and currently in committee. According to this information,(over 20 Human Rights organizations participated in putting it together) the following are at risk:

any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities Failure to do so s/he will be fined 5,000,000 shillings ($2,500, a huge amount here) and or put away for three years

any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within 24 hours: Failure to do so s/he will be fined 5,000,000 shillings and or put away for three years

any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual risks seven years of imprisonment

any medical doctor who seeks to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through working with what are known as most at risk populations, risks his or her career;

any human rights activist who seeks to promote an understanding of the indivisibility and inalienability of human rights would be judged to be promoting homosexuals and homosexuality, and be punished accordingly

any media house that publishes “pornographic” materials risks losing its certificate of registration and the editor will be liable to seven years in jail

any Person alleged to be a homosexual is at risk of LIFE IMPRISONMENT and, in some circumstances, the DEATH PENALTY

Further, the bill asserts Extra Territorial jurisdiction. All of the offenses covered by the bill can be applied to a Ugandan citizen or permanent resident who allegedly commits them outside the country. The bill calls for Uganda to nullify any international treaties, protocols, declarations and conventions which are believed to be “contradictory to the spirit and provisions' of the bill.

It is all so amazingly regressive – I can't believe this dialogue is seriously going on. The level of homophobia that I am encountering in Africa is just out of the realm of anything I am familiar with. I am so disturbed by what I have read that I am thinking of committing some time to this issue while I am here.