Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has stopped a bill that would have jailed gay people for life. The Ugandan President has argued there are better ways to cure the “abnormality”.
The President who is a devout evangelical Christian wrote to the country’s parliament and told them her would approve the proposed law.
The President argued that homosexuality was a case of “random breeding” or a need for money, while lesbians were due to “sexual starvation” and the failure of women to marry a man.
Advocates for gay rights in Uganda have welcomed the statement from the President, noting that while he still displays a great deal of homophobia they welcome the law not being passed and the President’s acknowledgement that people are born with their sexuality. Previous government officials in Uganda have always claimed that people chose to be gay.
“The president’s view is evolving but he needs to get more scientific information, more information from us and our partners the activists,” said Frank Mugisha the country’s most prominent gay rights activist.
Uganda has a high level of homophobia which is often linked to the growth of Evangelical Christianity in the country. In 2011 Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was bludgeoned to death at his home after a newspaper splashed photos, names and addresses of gays in Uganda on its front page along with a banner reading “Hang Them”. Women who are suspected of being lesbians have reportedly been subjected to ‘corrective’ rapes from gangs of men.
OIP Staff
Image: Russell Watkins DFID – UK Department for International Development
