Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” bill, which would make life in prison or possibly death the penalty for being homosexual or having same-gender sex, is back on the table in the parliament of Uganda. A petition signed by a reported two million Ugandans was presented by anti-gay activists, led by a right-wing zealot, Pastor Martin Ssempa, to Speaker of the Uganda Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, on Wednesday. The “Anti-Homosexuality bill,” also known as the AHB, reportedly died an unexpected and sudden death exactly two weeks ago, when Uganda President Yoweri Museveni claimed the bill — which has been public since 2009 –is now “redundant.” MP David Bahati, who sponsored the bill and has been working on it for at least two years, at the time of the bill’s demise, did not appear to be willing to let the bill die.
Speaker Ssekandi said Wednesday, upon being presented with the petition, “even if the current Parliament doesn’t debate it, the new Parliament will do it,” leading some to believe the bill could find its way out of the Committee on Legal and Parliament Affairs and into Parliament, presumably at some point, for a vote.
“We as religious leaders and civil society are distressed that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is being deliberately killed largely by the undemocratic threats of western nations,” Pastor Ssempa, leader of Uganda’s Inter-Religious Taskforce Against Homosexuality, said, adding, “These same nations who promote democracy don’t want our representative to discuss laws to protect our children from the human trafficking of recruiting our children into homosexuality,” according to a report by Voice of America News.
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