Tories slam Uganda’s anti-gay bill, but will they act?

The Conservatives have slammed Uganda’s anti-gay bill, but it’s still
unclear what action the Canadian government will take if the bill passes.

The Ugandan bill would impose a death penalty
for “aggravated homosexuality” and would criminalize anyone who fails
to report gays and lesbians to police. International outcry is growing ahead of
this weekend’s Commonwealth summit — an event that will be chaired by the Ugandan president. Some have called for Uganda to be suspended from the organization if the anti-gay bill passes.

In an interview with the Canadian Press,

Peter Kent — minister of state for foreign affairs — called the anti-gay bill
“vile and hateful.”

“At the Commonwealth summit, we’ll
convey Canada’s position that if that law is in fact passed, Canada would
consider it unacceptable and a gross infringement of human rights in
Uganda,” Kent told CP.

CP notes that Kent did not say what
concrete action Canada might take if the Ugandan bill passes.

Meanwhile, more links are being drawn between The Family, a secretive US-based evangelical group, and the Ugandan anti-gay bill.

Read an interview transcript between National
Public Radio and Jeff Sharlet, author of a book titled The Family: The Secret
Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.

Read more:

• Religious forces behind Uganda’s anti-gay bill
• One gay man’s adventure in Uganda