Uganda's Anglican Church Loves the Kill The Gays Bill. Except the Part That Could Imprison Priests

The Church of Uganda, the branch of the Anglican Communion there and led by the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, has at last joined the chorus of voices on the nation's Anti-Homosexuality Bill. So let it be known, once and for all, the Church does not support the bill. Well, they don't support one tiny, self-serving part of it. All the rest, they like!

The Church is just fine with the bill's calling for the death penalty for gays who have sex with minors, the disabled, or while HIV-positive. The one thing they don't want lawmakers to do is allow prison time for anyone who fails to report alleged homosexuals, which could put doctors and — egads! — church pastors in jeopardy of going to jail if they dare stumble upon A Gay and, rather than turn him in, try to counsel him with Jesus's message.

Otherwise, besides a clause recommending "language that strengthens the existing Penal Code to protect the boy child, especially from homosexual exploitation; to prohibit lesbianism, bestiality, and other sexual perversions; and to prohibit procurement of material and promotion of homosexuality as normal or as an alternative lifestyle, be adopted," the Church of Uganda, which counts about a third of Ugandans among its flock, says in its statement that it wants to "ensure that homosexual practice or the promotion of homosexual relations is not adopted as a human right."