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Demonstrators protest outside the Ugandan embassy
Demonstrators protest outside the Ugandan embassy in London after the anti-homosexuality bill was tabled in the Kampala parliament in 2009. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators protest outside the Ugandan embassy in London after the anti-homosexuality bill was tabled in the Kampala parliament in 2009. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images

Uganda's anti-gay bill is far from dead

This article is more than 12 years old
It may be temporarily off the parliamentary agenda, but local Anglican support for the Ugandan anti-gay bill continues

The infamous Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill, which earlier this week was thought likely to be voted upon on Wednesday as the current session of the Uganda parliament draws to a close, does not now appear on the order paper for the day. The bill, which is technically still at the committee stage, could, however, be carried forward into the next session of parliament.

Twitter and Facebook have been awash with links to petitions such as 12 hours to stop Uganda's anti-gay bill! or Uganda: Stop the "Kill the Gays" law now. The foreign secretary, William Hague, even wrote on Twitter: "We oppose this Bill and will continue to raise our concerns with Ugandan Government. We urge Ugandan MPs to reject it [...] Our embassy is lobbying Ugandan gov & the UK initiated a formal EU demarche to the Ugandan foreign minister on the bill."

Hilary Renner, on behalf of the US state department said: "The Department of State opposes the draft Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which we view as manifestly inconsistent with international human rights obligations … President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, and US Ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier have all spoken out in opposition to the bill. These public statements underscore the US government's strong support of the rights of the LGBT community in Uganda and throughout the world."

Has any of the international pressure made any difference? If the bill in some form is reintroduced in the next session, will weakening its provisions make it at all acceptable?

According to one American expert, Warren Throckmorton, the bill's author David Bahati said that the death penalty had been removed from the bill in the committee report. Bahati also said that the provision criminalising "attempted homosexuality" had been removed, and that the penalties for same-sex intimacy had been reduced from the current life sentence. Nevertheless, opposition to the bill in any form at all remains widespread. Graeme Reid of Human Rights Watch has said "it could be interpreted as an official incitement to commit violence against LGBT people".

Sadly, local Anglican support for the bill continues, even though on Tuesday of the archbishop of Canterbury issued a statement in which he opposed it, saying: "Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can't see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades. Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to turn pastors into informers."

This was not, in fact, a new statement, but rather a quotation from the interview in the Telegraph that he gave in December 2009 to George Pitcher, who has since become his secretary for public affairs. Pitcher also wrote: "He adds that the Anglican Church in Uganda opposes the death penalty but, tellingly, he notes that its archbishop, Henry Orombi, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last year, "has not taken a position on this bill."

That lacuna was remedied in February 2010, when the Anglican church of Uganda issued a detailed statement offering strong support for the bill. It has not made any further public statements on the bill since that time. Archbishop Orombi has continued his boycott of Anglican Communion events, including the latest primates meeting in Dublin, and to support the rival church body Gafcon, which has announced plans for expansion. There can be little chance of a change of heart on homosexuality by Orombi.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Uganda's Museveni sworn in as police fire teargas at protesters

  • Uganda anti-gay bill pushed out of parliament

  • Ugandan riots erupt after claims opposition leader barred from flight

  • Ugandan parliament yet to debate bill that would jail gay people for life

  • Ugandan opposition leader kicked off plane home from Kenya

  • Kizza Besigye promises more Uganda protests

  • Uganda unrest gathers pace despite bloody government crackdown

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