Uganda: MPs back call for anti-gay bill’s revival

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Condemning homosexuality and calling Western interference a threat to Uganda’s values, the country’s MPs passed a resolution backing the revival of fellow MP David Bahati’s “anti-homosexuality bill” in a parliamentary session, Gay Star News reports.

The motion, reportedly tabled by Chris Baryomunsi, MP for Kinkiizi West, “received widespread support,” according to the report, which says that parliamentarians also called on the committee for legal and parliamentary affairs to table the bill for general debate.

A Nov 1 post on the Denkross’ Life in Uganda blog states that committee chairperson Steven Tashobya says the report is “almost done and will be brought to Parliament before it breaks off for Christmas recess.”

The blog notes that Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was among the MPs who praised parliamentary speaker Rebecca Kadaga for countering Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s speech at a recent Quebec City conference where he condemned the anti-gay legislation.

“I rise to add my voice to state clearly that you represented Uganda
effectively in Canada. You represented our right to do what we want to
do as a country. We have made a point very clearly that we abide by the
country’s Constitution which guarantees the right of members and back
benchers to move private members Bills and MP Bahati exercised that
right,” Mbabazi is quoted as saying.

Upon her return to Uganda after the Quebec City conference, Kadaga called for the legislation to be revived so that “Uganda can take a position.”

The measure has been dubbed the “Kill the Gays” bill because its author proposed the death penalty for cases of so-called “aggravated homosexuality,” but there have been reports that legislators may instead support a penalty of life imprisonment.

Landing image: softpowereducation.com

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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