OPPOSITION TO UGANDA BILL GROWS

Around 40 people have protested against Uganda’s anti-gay bill in London, while the British government has said that it is “concerned” about the proposed legislation.

Pinknews.co.uk reported that the protestors outside Ugandan House included John Bosco Nyombi, a gay Ugandan man who recently won the right to stay in the UK as a refugee because of his sexuality.

Meanwhile, the UK has joined a growing chorus of voices speaking out against the bill which retains the current life sentence for homosexuality, would impose the death penalty for those who have gay sex with disabled or under age people and would ban any expression of support for gays and lesbians.

A statement from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are concerned by the introduction of a private member’s bill on anti homosexuality in Uganda.

“Adoption of the bill could do serious damage to efforts to tackle HIV and its criminalisation of organisations that support homosexuality could, in theory, encompass most donor agencies and international NGOs.

“The UK, alongside our EU partners, has raised our concerns about the draft bill and LGBT rights more broadly with the government of Uganda, including with the prime minister and several other ministers, the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, and senior officials from the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

Others that have condemned the bill include The French Government, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

The South African government seems to be continuing its ongoing policy of ignoring human rights violations in Africa, especially when it relates to LGBT people, and has to date not commented on the proposed law.