A report from blogger Gay Uganda indicates that hearings on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill may be taking place now in a committee of Uganda’s Parliament.
Other sources tell me that the bill is certainly not dead, even with the unrest which has rocked the country over food prices. Gay Uganda believes the bill could be used as a distraction from the rioting. In any case, there is concern among GBLT advocates there that the bill could be scheduled for vote next week. If hearings are indeed taking place, then the Committee could fast track the bill to the floor on Monday or Tuesday. The Parliament is slated to end on May 11, with the Presidential inauguration on May 12.
Category: sexual orientation
AP report: Bahati says death penalty to be dropped from antigay bill – UPDATED
He told me this months ago, but Bahati seems to be wanting to get some attention back on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
at 11:25 on April 26, 2011, EDT.
AP Interview: Death penalty provision in Uganda’s anti-homosexual bill likely to be dropped
The Associated Press
KAMPALA, Uganda – The Ugandan parliamentarian behind an anti-homosexual bill that attracted worldwide condemnation says the most controversial part of the proposed legislation — the death penalty provision — is likely to be dropped.
David Bahati says if the committee the bill currently sits before recommends that the provision be removed, that he would concede the issue.
Stephen Tashobya, the chairman of the parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that he would try to bring the bill up for a vote before parliament’s current session ends May 12.
After Bahati’s bill was proposed in 2009, it attracted international condemnation, including from President Barack Obama. The bill has since languished in committee.
UPDATE: The full AP article is much longer than this short version.
Read it here.
It does sound like Stephen Tashobya intends to get the bill a vote. Given the information, I have been getting from close to the Cabinet, this will not be viewed favorably by the ruling party. An alternative view is that a focus on homosexuality might take the minds of the people off of the recent riots and arrests of opposition party leaders.
Ugandan ex-gay recants, says Ssempa paid him to say he changed
Not sure how I missed this one, but yesterday Josh Kron reported that one of Martin Ssempa’s poster children for gay change recanted his story saying that Ssempa paid him to claim change.
George Oundo said he had changed orientation and that Uganda’s Parliament should pass David Bahati’s antigay bill at a news conference reported by the Parliament.
However, within a short time, he met with Kron and recanted everything saying Ssempa had paid him well to tell a false story.
“I used to call myself the Queen Mother and Lady of the City,” Mr. Oundo said. “I was recruited into homosexuality many years back, when I was 12.”
“When I joined Mr. Ssempa, I told him all my problems,” he said. “I had to come out and join the struggle.
“Please help us; let the bill pass,” he said.
But an hour later, in a quiet hotel, Mr. Oundo recanted much of what had been said at the meeting.
“David Kato was murdered; it was a plot,” Mr. Oundo said. “I don’t support the bill.”
As for being a “former homosexual,” that, too, was not true.
“I’ve always been gay,” Mr. Oundo said, in a timid but growing voice. “I didn’t choose it.”
“David Kato was the first one who taught me to protect my human right,” Mr. Oundo added.
Mr. Oundo said that his presence alongside Mr. Ssempa at Parliament had been to “protect” himself and that he had been contacted only that morning by Mr. Kagaba about the meeting and offered about $42 to attend. He said Mr. Ssempa had offered him about $2,000 in 2009 to repent and switch sides in the debate, but later reneged. Either way, Mr. Oundo became a poster-child for Mr. Ssempa’s anti-homosexuality movement.
Not sure how Oundo is doing right now, I suspect he may have trouble finding friends at this point. However, whatever is going on, the situation as laid out by the NYT is about what I have been reporting here. After some possible signs of life after the election, the clock will probably run out barring a signal from the govt that they want to move it.
Ugandan government negotiates with Bahati over antigay bill
According to an AllAfrica summaryof a Daily Monitor article that I cannot find, members of the Ugandan Cabinet met with David Bahati, author of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and asked him to withdraw the bill in favor of other legislation which would do the same thing.
A Cabinet sub-committee formed to study the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2010 and report back to Cabinet, yesterday added a spin into the Bill and called for its withdrawal.
In a closed-door meeting with Mr David Bahati, the mover of the Bill, the sub-committee said some of the penalties proposed in the Bill could be catered for by the Penal Code Act and the yet-to-come Sexual Offences Bill.////
Sources, who attended the meeting, said the sub-committee, chaired by First Deputy Premier Eriya Kategaya, suggested that if Mr Bahati did not mind a lot, he could withdraw the Bill. “They said Cabinet doesn’t agree with the death penalty which the Bill proposes,” a source, who cannot be named because they are not authorised to speak on behalf of Cabinet, said. “They asked Bahati to drop the Bill if he doesn’t care much.”
I have spoken to David Bahati on several occasions, and I know he cares a lot, so I am not surprised by his reported take on the meeting.
Sources also said Mr Bahati went with Commissioners Denis Obua and Justine Lumumba and MPs Beatrice Lagada, Wilfred Niwagaba and Fred Nkaayi. Mr Bahati acknowledged meeting the subcommittee but refuted claims that he had been asked to withdraw the Bill. “The meeting was purposed to build a win-win situation so that we improve on the Bill but we continue upholding the values of our country.”
Early last year after meeting Cabinet over the Bill, Mr Bahati said he was willing to amend the proposed law but “without putting the values of the country at risk”. The sub-committee was set up by President Museveni after pressure from the US and other countries in Europe to drop the Bill.
Earlier today I had an email exchange with a member of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee who told me that the committee will raise the issue before Parliament as a matter of urgent concern next week. However, he added that the bill would probably not be considered this session in part due to an upcoming Easter recess.
According to these minutes of Parliament from 2004, the Sexual Offences Bill has been discussed since about 2001.
On the issue of defilement, Sir, Sexual Offences Bill has been pending for more than three years. We had hoped that it would come to Parliament sooner than later…
I have asked several insiders there for a copy of the SOB but none of them have seen it. International observers who assume that the end of the Parliament will bring the end of the effort to toughen laws against homosexual behavior and free speech are probably wrong. The govt’s call for withdrawal is more of a political maneuver than an expression of a difference over outcomes.
Uganda's Parliament confirms news reports of support for antigay bill
Yesterday, I posted three sources which reported that religious leaders were calling for the consideration of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill before the end of Uganda’s 8th session of Parliament in May. In what may signal a more serious intent to move forward, the website of Uganda’s Parliament reported on the petition, confirming 2 million signatures had been presented to the lawmakers.
Anti homosexuality crusaders have petitioned Parliament calling for urgent consideration of the anti-homosexuality bill that is before Parliament.
The crusaders led by Dr.Pastor Martin Sempa have expressed concern that recruitment of youths into homosexuality is ongoing and children need protection from this type of trafficking.
In a petition to Parliament signed by over two million crusaders May 6, Pastor Sempa urged Members of Parliament to shun pressure and threats from countries of the Western world as they consider the bill.
They told the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Edward Ssekandi that many Ugandans are worried that the bill may not be considered by the Eighth Parliament whose term elapses in May.
Bishop Julius Oyet one of the key petitioners decried homosexuality arguing that it proves a threat to culture and civilization. He re-echoed the need to protect the institution of marriage that has served as a social contract for many civilizations.
The petitioners also named nineteen non-governmental organizations accused of promoting homosexuality in Uganda through several fora.
Speaker of Parliament Rt.Hon.Edward Ssekandi says Parliament will consider the bill once the legal and parliamentary affairs committee of parliament tables its report.
Ssekandi could be relying on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee to stall the situation. He may know that there are too many bills to consider and that he will never see the report which he told the petitioners would trigger a vote in parliament. However, note that he did not reject the bill or say it was shelved.