Rodney Muhumuza
Kampala
The government yesterday responded strongly to international criticism over the proposed anti-gay law, saying the process would continue uninterrupted.
Speaker Edward Sekandi told Daily Monitor that it was necessary to do whatever we can to stop homosexual liaisons in Uganda. We dont support that practice, Mr Sekandi said yesterday.
But international pressure was mounting on Uganda to rethink a law that would make this country one of the most dangerous places for gay people.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation that is hosting the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly raised the issue with President Museveni. And the Canadian government, which is conservative, reportedly described the proposed law as reprehensible, vile and hateful.
At the Commonwealth summit, well convey Canadas position that if that law is in fact passed, Canada would consider it unacceptable and a gross infringement of human rights in Uganda, said Peter Kent, Canadas minister of state for foreign affairs, according to a recent report in The Canadian Press.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill (2009), now before the Houses Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, proposes life imprisonment for acts of homosexuality and introduces a serious crime called aggravated homosexuality.
According to the proposed law, offenders must face death if they have sex with a minor or a disabled person, or are found to have infected their partners with HIV. The proposed law, if passed in its current shape, would also punish attempted homosexuality as well as the failure of a third party to inform the authorities of homosexual activity.
Kampala
The government yesterday responded strongly to international criticism over the proposed anti-gay law, saying the process would continue uninterrupted.
Speaker Edward Sekandi told Daily Monitor that it was necessary to do whatever we can to stop homosexual liaisons in Uganda. We dont support that practice, Mr Sekandi said yesterday.
But international pressure was mounting on Uganda to rethink a law that would make this country one of the most dangerous places for gay people.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation that is hosting the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly raised the issue with President Museveni. And the Canadian government, which is conservative, reportedly described the proposed law as reprehensible, vile and hateful.
At the Commonwealth summit, well convey Canadas position that if that law is in fact passed, Canada would consider it unacceptable and a gross infringement of human rights in Uganda, said Peter Kent, Canadas minister of state for foreign affairs, according to a recent report in The Canadian Press.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill (2009), now before the Houses Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, proposes life imprisonment for acts of homosexuality and introduces a serious crime called aggravated homosexuality.
According to the proposed law, offenders must face death if they have sex with a minor or a disabled person, or are found to have infected their partners with HIV. The proposed law, if passed in its current shape, would also punish attempted homosexuality as well as the failure of a third party to inform the authorities of homosexual activity.