LONDON PROTEST AGAINST UGANDAN BILL

A demonstration will take place in London on Thursday, International Human Rights Day, to protest the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill currently being debated by the Ugandan parliament.

The protest follows a call by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) for worldwide protests against the legislation.

The event is being coordinated by the Gay Activists Alliance International (GAAI), with the support of Gay Uganda and Ugandan LGBT exiles.

GAAI said that it is hoping that gay Ugandan John Bosco Nyombi will be able to attend Thursday’s protest. Earlier this year, the British courts ordered the return of John Bosco Nyombi to the UK after he was illegally and forcibly returned to Uganda while seeking asylum in the UK.

According to Dennis Hambridge, GAAI global coordinator: “Activists in Uganda have reported to GAAI that there are eight gay people currently awaiting trial or sentencing in Uganda.

“With immense pressure being put on the Ugandan Government to drop the bill, by human rights groups, governments and religious groups worldwide, we call on our people in the UK to support this protest,” he said.

Peter Tatchell of the LGBT human rights group OutRage!, who is backing the protest, said that Uganda’s President Museveni “is fast turning into another Robert Mugabe.”

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill would retain the current life sentence for homosexuality, would impose the death penalty for those who have gay sex with disabled and HIV positive people and would ban any expression of support for gays and lesbians with penalties of seven years in jail. A person who fails to report violators to the police within 24 hours will incur three years behind bars.