Ugandan Parliament Passes Anti-Homosexuality Bill
December 20, 2013 7:50 AM   Subscribe

After years of speculation and stagnation, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was reportedly passed by Uganda's parliament. Early reports indicate the bill passed despite a possible lack of quorum. A full history of the bill and additional context on LGBT rights in Uganda can be found here.
posted by duffell (26 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
It is as yet unclear which of the bill's original provisions are included, including the clause mandating the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," but it should be noted that past reports of this clause's death have been greatly exaggerated.
posted by duffell at 7:57 AM on December 20, 2013


This is a country that cannot manage to repave the streets of its own capital, such that entire cars could get lost in the potholes. A capital where garbage is burned on street corners because no trash collection infrastructure exists. Where you cannot drink the tap water because there are visible particles of human feces floating in it. A country with huge inequalities and a still-unresolved legacy of genocides and mass persecutions.

But instead of dealing with any of that, this is the nonsense they're focused on, persecuting a tiny group of people who aren't hurting anyone. Priorities, guys.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:03 AM on December 20, 2013 [16 favorites]


And don't forget the miniskirt ban also passed this week.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:17 AM on December 20, 2013


Priorities, guys

What, do you hate traditional family values? Because that's what this bill does, say its supporters - protect those values. Which are under attack from gay rights activists from the West, and the only recourse is to jail gay people, people other people say are gay, and anyone who knows gay people but doesn't report them. Obviously!

/this message brought to you by Hamburger InternationalTM.
posted by rtha at 8:27 AM on December 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Actually, it's anti-gay activists from the west bringing this to Uganda. This sort of hatred is not traditional, being only a few generations old even in America.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:32 AM on December 20, 2013 [3 favorites]


Russia is watching closely. And how about that 'sustainable death industry' thing from the other day, where they were liquefying bodies for easy disposal. Next thing you know, someone will come along and decide that's just the thing to come built-in to the back of a truck. Same shit, different century.
posted by Goofyy at 8:34 AM on December 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is a country that cannot manage to repave the streets of its own capital, such that entire cars could get lost in the potholes. A capital where garbage is burned on street corners because no trash collection infrastructure exists. Where you cannot drink the tap water because there are visible particles of human feces floating in it. A country with huge inequalities and a still-unresolved legacy of genocides and mass persecutions.

Cut them some slack. It's not like Jesus is going to show up and help them fix their problems if there are gays running around loose. Jesus thinks gays are icky.
posted by dortmunder at 8:37 AM on December 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


"This was a very hard decision indeed, something we all pulled for. Members of the parliament had to pound their point, and truly stand behind their convictions, not just give lip service. And of course they kindly reached around to those not immediately convinced of this decision, giving this bill the necessary push needed to bring it to completion."
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:54 AM on December 20, 2013 [1 favorite]




There should be a Rick Warren Body Count website along the same lines as the Jenny McCarthy Body Count (or I suppose Christian Conservative Body Count, if we're going to generalize it as they did).
posted by dirigibleman at 9:07 AM on December 20, 2013 [3 favorites]


Meanwhile in Bizarro world, I just heard someone on the Diane Rehm show appeal to Pope Francis to talk some sense into Uganda.
posted by charred husk at 9:18 AM on December 20, 2013




Let us all remember this when they beg us for foreign aid.
posted by Renoroc at 9:50 AM on December 20, 2013


uganda be shitting me
posted by Teakettle at 10:06 AM on December 20, 2013


Let us all remember this when they beg us for foreign aid.

US Aid to Uganda
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:16 AM on December 20, 2013


Looks like Uganda got religion.
posted by Vibrissae at 10:21 AM on December 20, 2013


"the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was reportedly passed by Uganda's parliament..."

41.9% of Ugandans are Catholic. 35.9% are Episcopalian... and it's well past time that BOTH religions spoke out against this.
posted by markkraft at 11:26 AM on December 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Let us all remember this when they beg us for foreign aid.

If you could explain why everyone in the country should be punished more for what asshats in the USA are persuading them to do I am all ears.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:02 PM on December 20, 2013 [5 favorites]


41.9% of Ugandans are Catholic. 35.9% are Episcopalian... and it's well past time that BOTH religions spoke out against this.

Anglican, not Episcopalian. Not totally interchangeable. Either way, it's well past time. It's my understanding that the Anglicans have treaded oh-so-lightly on the issue of gay rights globally for fear of prompting a schism. I speak here of the Anglican church writ-large; local leadership, meanwhile, has been loudly cheering this bill on from the beginning.

Throughout the course of this bill's development, the response of the Catholic Church in Uganda has been somewhat inconsistent. Rome, meanwhile, has been tepid in its opposition to the legislation.
posted by duffell at 12:07 PM on December 20, 2013


Not unexpected, but absolutely enraging and heartbreaking.
posted by treepour at 2:14 PM on December 20, 2013


Google Andrew Waiswa lgbt, please.

Andrew, who is friends of friends-and-activists Marchinho Savant and Amy Culver and is head of the very courageous underground organization GEHO Uganda, was abducted by unidentified thugs last month who disturbingly demanded biometrics of GEHO clients and allies.

Why? Because what GEHO does is hide LGBT Ugandans who are on the run for their lives. And why are Ugandans who are LGBT in hiding? Because the fact of the matter is that LGBT citizens are openly hunted in Uganda.

When he refused to give up the information, Andrew Waiswa was then assaulted, beaten, tortured ...and then abandoned. He was left to die. Here is Marcinho's audio blog describing the turn of events, what Waiswa calls "the beating of his life". [Report begin at 14:14—warning: audio depictions of graphic violence].

Since that report, Andrew's health declined and two weeks ago he was forced to undergo surgery in the face of internal injuries and bleeding. A campain to support GEHO and now to offset cost of Waiwa's surgery goes on.

Recently, actor/writer/activist Stephen Fry visited Uganda as part of the BBC series Out There. Here Fry interviews an unnamed woman who suffered "rehabilitative rape" when it was discovered she was a lesbian. [Warning: very graphic description of sexual violence.] She was impregnated, forcibly aborted, and infected with HIV as a result of the rape.

Still more recently, this month the manager of Uganda's national footbal team, Uganda Cranes football team was arrested for an expose on accusations having sex with team members. This was based on unconfirmed photos, which notoriously anti-gay Red Star newspaper published on its front page along with the caption, “SMOKED OUT! Uganda Cranes boss nabbed sodomizing players – Shocking pictures inside.”

It's Africa, it doesn't matter, it's a joke, how could it really be happening, etc ect.

Except it is really happening. It is a culling. And all it takes to be selected for persecution is accusation.

The absolute worst part? This hatred is not indigenous. It was imported from the US, to a large extent by "veteran" [sic] anti-gay American evangelical pastor Scott Lively, who brought found a receptive audience in Uganda to his message of fear and loathing (as spelled out in the widely-acclaimed documentary God Loves Uganda [previously].

These are not nameless, unknown people, though there are countless who are being murdered without acknowledgement. These are human beings with friends and families who are being systematically—that is, methodically and programatically—being massacred in large part due to the intentional dissemination of hate values by Western demagogues.

Some of our own US citizens and organizations are literally exporting hate values under the guise of Christianity and charity to educationally and resource starved Ugandans. And what is being whipped up is nothing short of an purge or inquisition. It is fear-based, mob-driven, and ongoing. What these US-based and funded groups are doing is illegal in nearly all Western countries. Yet in Uganda, these misanthropes have found a receptive terrain to create a killing ground for our modern times.

What I pray for—as I myself am both bisexual and a believer—is intervention. In the mean time what I do is become informed, support the cause of acceptance, and spread the word by speaking up.

Uganda as a nation may need help. In the meantime, however, Ugandans who are LGBT definitely do. Find a way to ally those who need help. I have posted any number of links here that lead that way.

Lastly, we as Americans must step up and speak out against these fellow US citizens who are cowardly fostering harm to others in another land where they would be incarcerated here.

Speaking as an LGBT American, when I think of bigots from this country going abroad to seed discrimination and persecution of gay people I have to wonder aloud, "How long is it before any one of us here decides enough is enough and is 'a huckleberry to your persimmon'?"
posted by Mike Mongo at 5:11 PM on December 20, 2013 [12 favorites]


Speaking of Anglicans, however: Desmond Tutu is calling the anti-gay bill a new form of apartheid.
posted by duffell at 5:34 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


If you could explain why everyone in the country should be punished more for what asshats in the USA are persuading them to do I am all ears.

Uganda is a democracy.
By definition, the electorate is responsible for the selection and actions of their representatives.
If we ever get the chance to rub what they did in their faces, I'm all for it.
posted by Renoroc at 7:03 AM on December 22, 2013


K so I'm going to start rubbing the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in your face, since you're responsible for them.

You see how that doesn't work?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:13 AM on December 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Richard Branson: Boycott Uganda over gay rights

"UK business tycoon Richard Branson has called on companies and tourists to boycott Uganda after its parliament approved a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts.

It was against his conscience to support a country which carried out a "dreadful witch hunt against the gay community", he said on his website."

"Mr Branson said he had been seriously considering investing in Uganda after being "courted" by government officials.

However, he had decided not to "support" Uganda because of its "witch hunt" against gay people.

"I would urge other companies worldwide to follow suit. Uganda must reconsider or find it being ostracised by companies and tourists worldwide," Mr Branson said.

Mr Branson is the founder of Virgin Group, which has more than 400 companies worldwide, focusing mainly on travel, entertainment and telecommunications.

He is also a leading philanthropist who supported charities set up by South Africa's first black President, Nelson Mandela."
posted by VikingSword at 12:33 PM on December 24, 2013




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