Hopes of religious leaders in Uganda for new legislation with severe punishments for LGB&T people in Uganda have been postponed to next year.
The now infamous Anti-gay Bill first introduced by David Bahati MP is back on the parliamentary agenda and some had called for it to be passed by Christmas as ‘present to the Ugandan people’ – a view echoed by the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament (see NTV report on All Africa).
But the parliament adjourned for the Christmas break without considering the bill again and will not reconvene until February.
There are conflicting reports about whether the Bill still contains the death penalty for some offences, but life imprisonment is certainly still there, as are prison sentences for individuals who fail to inform the police on homosexuals.
Perhaps a better Christmas present for the people of Uganda would be to sign one of the many on-line petitions which is calling for the Bill to be dropped? If you have not yet done so, here are some links:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/uganda_stop_gay_death_law/
http://www.change.org/petitions/citibank-and-barclays-condemn-uganda-s-kill-the-gays-bill
A good summary of the issues and comments can be found at Thinking Anglicans
Merry Christmas Everyone!