Uganda MP seeks death penalty for homosexuals even Boy Scouts!

 

By D. Kevin McNeir GBMNews Sr. Correspondent & Editor

 

Here Ugandan Member of Parliament and the chairman of the Uganda Scout Board, David Bahati(R) is decorated with a scout scarf by a member of the African Scouts Committee, Gilbert Musumba(L). Mr. Bahati has inferred that his new anti-gay legislation would allow for the execution of boy scouts found to be active homosexuals.

Controversy has swirled around the United States' largest private youth organization, The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), since 1991 when the group officially prohibited openly gay individuals from leadership positions.  At that time, BSA, in its position statement indicated: "We believe that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirement in the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight… clean in word and deed, and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts." Thus the Scouts decided that a known or avowed homosexual was an inappropriate role model based on the Scout Oath and Law. As their policies continued to evolve, interested boys (ages 11-18) were also denied membership if they were avowed homosexuals.

But not everyone has agreed with the Scouts' discriminatory policy, which also prohibits atheists and agnostics from membership in scouting programs.

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Uganda: Even Scout children to be hanged under proposed law

World scout movement urged to expel Uganda

 

By Peter Tatchell, Human rights campaigner GBMNews Contributing columnist

 

London, UK - 17 February 2010 - A leader of the scout movement in Uganda is demanding the execution of anyone who is convicted of repeated homosexual acts or related offences. This could include the execution of gay scouts and scout leaders.

Chairman of the Scout Board of Uganda, David Bahati, is proposing that all serial homosexual offenders should be sentenced to death. This could include young people, such as scouts.

Mr Bahati is a Ugandan MP. His Anti-Homosexuality Bill is currently before the Ugandan Parliament. It stipulates the death penalty for serial offenders who have previous convictions for same-sex relations or for related non-sexual offences such as aiding and abetting homosexuality, funding gay advocacy groups, having a same-sex marriage or promoting homosexuality. Some of these related offences could also be committed by heterosexual Ugandans. They would also be liable to a death sentence for repeat offences. In other words, a person does not have to be gay or to have gay sex in order to be sentenced to death under the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Serial offending and previous convictions for the non-sexual offences are sufficient grounds for execution.

The Bill also specifies life imprisonment for minor same-sex acts, such as kissing, touching or caressing with homosexual intent.   Boy Scout in Monrovia, Liberia

Although Mr Bahati and his Anti-Homosexuality Bill do not explicitly mention or target the scout movement, the draconian clauses and punishments threaten all lesbian, gay and bisexual Ugandans, including members of his own scouting movement. A person in authority who fails to report an offender to the police within 24 hours will face three years in jail, which could apply to scout leaders who fail to inform on gay scouts. Likewise, the promotion of homosexuality carries a sentence of five to seven years jail. This could criminalise any scout leader who provides affirmative, supportive advice to a gay or bisexual scout. The offending scout leader does not have to be gay. They could be heterosexual. Mr Bahati's proposed legislation promotes extreme prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and violence, contrary to scout principles. See a summary and link to the full text here:  Anti-Homosexuality Bill

 

Lisa SchleinVoice of America The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay denounces Uganda's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill as draconian and in breach of international human rights standards. She urges the Ugandan government to shelv...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is pushing a bill that would impose the death penalty on HIV positive gay men. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 seeks to impose the death penalty on gay men who are HIV-positive for "aggravated homosexuality". In Uganda today, homosexuality is already a crime punishable by a prison life term. This proposed law would not just condemn HIV positive gay men and "repeat offenders" to death, it would also jail for three years anyone who knows a gay man but refuses to report them to the authorities. In addition to that, anyone who defends gay rights in public will be sentenced to seven years in prison. 

The insidious role of a fundamentalist U.S. Christian organization, The Family, has been linked, is behind and supports the bill making its way through the Uganda legislature, which seeks to criminalize homosexuality. Recent published reports, substantiated by the book, The Family, written by Jeff Sharlet, stated that the Washington, D.C.-based organization, The Fellowship, also known as The Family has, for several years, been grooming the Ugandan president, as well as members of the cabinet and legislature, and supplying millions of dollars through untraceable links to the government.

The Commonwealth convenes for a summit this week amid growing furor over a proposed law that would impose life imprisonment on homosexuals in Uganda, whose President is chairing the gathering.The law, proceeding through Uganda's Parliament and supported by some of its top leaders, would imprison anyone who knows of the existence of a gay or lesbian and fails to inform the police within 24 hours. It requires the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” – defined as any sexual act between gays or lesbians in which one person has the HIV virus.

I am writing to you to call on the Church of England and the wider Anglican community to condemn Uganda's proposed anti-homosexuality bill, which will make gay relations between disabled people and those under 18 a capital offence. "Carnal knowledge against the order of nature" – as homosexuality is termed in Ugandan law – is already punishable with life imprisonment. However, if passed, the new bill will widen the scope, including promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house "for purposes of homosexuality". This means that the relatives and friends of gay couples could face execution if they allow them to stay in their homes.

Earth Times

Kampala - A Ugandan official said Friday that the country will not bow to international pressure to ease its laws against homosexuals, but that it will instead make such laws even tougher. Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo also told a news conference that the East African state has instructed its ambassador at the United Nations to oppose any countries that may try to force it to legalize gay activities.

 

"Yesterday, I spoke to (Uganda's UN)ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda and reminded him of Uganda's position, which opposes legalization of homosexuality. It is the duty of Ugandans to be vigilant because agents of immorality are busy using all lies and deceptions to hurt our society," the tough-talking minister told reporters. Ruhakana Rugunda

The Ugandan government has been under increasing pressure from several international and local organizations to stop harassing homosexuals. Same-sex relationships and marriages are illegal in Uganda and a person found guilty can be sentenced to life imprisonment. But no person has ever been convicted of same-sex relations in the country's courts.

Nsaba Buturo said Uganda was being pressed "to allow gay rights." "Many lies are being peddled. Such lies include foolish claims that some people are born as homosexuals. They are busy enticing Ugandans to join them. This is causing great concern among Ugandans," he said.   Nsaba Buturo

Uganda's population is believed to include several tens of thousands homosexuals. They have recently featured in the country's national press, urging the government to restore their rights. The current anti-gay laws are weak as it is not easy to successfully prosecute culprits. But the government is drafting tougher legislation to curb the practice, Nsaba Buturo said. Source link

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today condemned the arrests of three Ugandan LGBT activists and called for their immediate and unconditional release. The three -- Onziema Patience, (an FTM transgender, 28), Valentine Kalende (female, age 27) and Auf (male, age 26) -- were arrested yesterday morning by the Uganda Police Force at the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting currently taking place in Kampala, Uganda. Along with other LGBT and HIV and AIDS activists, they were peacefully protesting statements made by a Ugandan government official that no funds would be directed toward HIV programs targeting men who have sex with men. SMUG and IGLHRC have fears for the safety of the three activists.

Victor Mukasa, SMUG

On 2 May, 2008, Kihumuro Apuuli, Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, stated that, "gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time." The SMUG activists staged a peaceful protest at the HIV Implementers meeting to protest the Minister's statements and gross neglect on the part of the Ugandan government in responding to a growing HIV epidemic among the country's LGBT community. They were arrested and detained at the Jinja Road Police Station immediately after taking the stage at the meeting, distributing leaflets and holding up small placards demanding attention to HIV vulnerability among LGBT.

"Today I realized how dangerous it is for us LGBTI people to express our constitutional rights," said Frank Mugisha, Co-Chairperson of SMUG. "I am worried about my comrades who are in police custody."

According to a recent report by the University of Nairobi and the Population Council, gay men in neighboring Kenya have a sero prevalence rate of 26%. Twenty-six years since the beginning of the epidemic, Uganda hasn't implemented a single program to prevent transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men in the East African nation.

"The remarks made by the head of the AIDS Commission were very disturbing to members of the LGBT community," said Kasha Jacqueline, Chairperson of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a lesbian organization in Uganda. "If they want us to die, let them ask themselves if they wish themselves the same. Excluding us is just going to make the situation worse."

The HIV Implementer's Meeting is an annual event described as an opportunity for HIV program implementers to share lessons learned and best practices in the scale-up of HIV/AIDS programs. It is co-sponsored by the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, the World Bank, the Global Fund, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+). IGLHRC is also requesting that the co-sponsors of the Implementers' Meeting contact the Ugandan Government to demand the release of these activists.

"Gay men and lesbians are not 'drivers of disease'," said Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of IGLHRC. "Homophobia drives HIV. Silence drives HIV."

In November 2004, the Ugandan government fined a local broadcaster, Radio Simba for airing a program that discussed anti-gay discrimination and the need for HIV/AIDS services for lesbians and gay men. The government claimed that Radio Simba had violated federal law promoting broadcasting that is contrary to "public morality."

Human rights group Amnesty International has strongly condemned the arrest of three homosexual rights activists at a Ugandan Aids conference.

Amnesty said it was concerned for the safety of those arrested because of a "history of harassment and degrading treatment" of gays by the police.

The three got past security outside the conference and started distributing leaflets to delegates.

A police spokesman said they could face charges of criminal trespass.

But Amnesty UK director Kate Allen called for their immediate release.

"We consider these three to be prisoners of conscience, detained for their peaceful activism," she said.

The activists were demanding that more be done in Uganda to help homosexuals with HIV/Aids.

"Gay Ugandans also need HIV prevention," read one of their placards, reports the New Vision newspaper.

Another said: "Since 1983 up to 2008 zero shillings to HIV prevention for gay Ugandans."

Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda.

The Aids conference has drawn some 1,700 delegates from 70 countries
 
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