A new 'Kill the gays' bill resurfaces – and it threatens to be even more draconian than the last

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ETHICS and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo, above, said that the purpose of the new bill is to take account of the ‘promotion and recruitment’ of homosexuality by strengthening the existing law that criminalises homosexual practices.

He is quoted here as saying:

Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.

The majority-Christian country got international attention when it first presented the bill in 2009. It eventually passed in 2013 but was struck down in 2014 by Uganda’s Constitutional Court for a procedural issue.

Lokodo  said:

Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that.

Currently, homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and punishable with seven years in prison.

President Yoweri Museveni supports the bill and Lokodo said that it will be formally introduced in parliament in a few weeks. He said he is confident that the bill will pass because they have already been lobbying members of parliament.

We have been talking to the MPs and we have mobilised them in big numbers. Many are supportive.

The bill was dubbed the “Kill the Gays” bill the last time it was introduced and passed in Uganda’s parliament. At the time, activists noted amount of time Christian conservatives from America were spending in attempts to influence Uganda’s government to oppress its LGBTQ people more.

And there was at least one from the UK, Paul Shinners, above, of the Charity Passion for Souls, who travelled to Uganda to encourage lawmakers to enact the “Kill the Gays” bill. Shinners vehemently denied the visit, and threatened me and other bloggers with legal action – until footage of him addressing an anti-gay religious rally emerged.

Later this month, the anti-LGBTQ organisation World Congress of Families will hold a regional conference in Ghana, and several American anti-LGBTQ activists like Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage and Sharon Slater of Family Watch International plan to attend.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn