Yesterday, the Ugandan Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee issued a report recommending passage for the Anti-Homosexuality or “Kill a Gay” Bill, which calls for the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality,” for engaging in same sex relations with someone who is HIV positive, and life imprisonment for having sex with someone of the same sex. The bill would also would make same-sex marriage and officiating at such a ceremony criminal offenses. The report is scheduled to be resented before the Ugandan parliament today.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill went before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on Friday and was originally scheduled for a vote on Wednesday but was dropped from the Parliament’s agenda following condemnation from the President, the Secretary of State, members of Congress, and human rights groups. David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan Parliament and one of the leaders of the Family or Fellowship of C Street fame (see Jeff Sharlet’s latest book on C Street), first introduced the bill in 2009.
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries with the exception of South Africa, which recognizes gay marriage, but even there, anti-gay practices such as “corrective rapes” on lesbians, are commonplace.
