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Uganda president signs anti-gay law Uganda politicians celebrate passing of anti-gay laws
(35 minutes later)
Uganda's president has signed a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual sex, saying the bill is necessary because "arrogant and careless western groups" had tried to "recruit" Ugandan children into homosexuality. Defying international disapproval from western donor nations, Uganda's president signed a controversial law allowing those convicted of homosexuality to be imprisoned for life.
President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill at his official residence in an event witnessed by government officials, journalists and a team of Ugandan scientists. The scientists had produced a report saying there was no genetic basis for homosexuality – something cited by Museveni as his reason for backing the bill. At a public ceremony in a packed room at the State House in Entebbe, Yoweri Museveni formally initialled the Anti-Homosexuality Act which also outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires citizens to denounce to the police anyone suspected of being gay.
"We Africans never seek to impose our view on others. If only they could let us alone," he said, talking of western pressure not to sign. "No study has shown you can be homosexual by nature. That's why I have agreed to sign the bill," Museveni said in a speech at the presidential palace near the capital, Kampala.
Government officials applauded after he signed the bill, which was influenced by the preachings of some conservative American evangelicals. In its original form the legislation called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts. That was removed after an international outcry. "Outsiders cannot dictate to us. This is our country. I advise friends from the west not to make this an issue, because if they make it an issue the more they will lose. If the west does not want to work with us because of homosexuals, then we have enough space to ourselves here."
The new law calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for a category of offences called "aggravated homosexuality," defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults as well as acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV. Supporters clapped and laughed during the press conference. One MP sitting at a white table in the front row, said: "I hope the Obamas are receiving it live, Desmond Tutu, Cameron … [Museveni] has resisted them."
The bill is popular in Uganda, but international rights groups have condemned it as draconian in a country where homosexuality is already criminalised. Some European countries threatened to cut aid to Uganda if the measure was enacted, and the US president, Barack Obama, warned that signing the bill would "complicate" the country's relationship with Washington. The ethics and integrity minister, Simon Lokodo, said: "I feel very fulfilled, very elated, because at last my head of state has pronounced it on behalf of the entire nation, Uganda, that this is a bill that was worth putting in place."
Museveni said he had previously thought homosexuality was merely "abnormal" sexual behaviour that some people were born with and this was why he once was opposed to harsh penalties against gay people. Now, he said, he was convinced that it was a choice made by individuals who might try to influence others. Africans are "flabbergasted" by homosexual behaviour, he said. David Bahati, the MP who introduced the bill, added: "This is a victory for the family of Uganda, a victory for the future of our children, and a triumph of sovereignty of our country."
The bill was introduced in 2009 by an MP with the ruling party who said it was necessary to deter western homosexuals from "recruiting" Ugandan children. Ugandan activists challenged this account, saying the country's political and religious leaders were influenced by conservative US evangelicals who spread their anti-gay agenda in Africa. There had been warnings from Barack Obama that ties between Kampala and Washington would be damaged if the bill passed into law. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said: "I am deeply saddened and disappointed that the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda has been signed into law. The UK strongly opposes all discrimination on any grounds.
Pepe Julian Onziema, a prominent Ugandan gay activist, said he was disappointed that Museveni signed the bill without taking time to talk to the people targeted by the law. "We question the [law's] compatibility with Uganda's constitution and international treaty obligations. There can be no doubt that [it] will increase persecution and discrimination of Ugandans, as well as damage Uganda's reputation internationally. We ask the government of Uganda to protect all its citizens and encourage tolerance, equality and respect.
"The president is making this decision because he has never met an openly gay person. That disappoints me," he said. Museveni, a key African ally of the US and the EU, had already come under fire from key western donors for alleged corruption and had been under pressure from diplomats and rights groups to block the legislation.
Some in Uganda's gay community had repeatedly tried and failed to meet Museveni, he said. The anti-homsexuality bill passed through parliament in December after its architects agreed to drop a death penalty clause. The legislation requires those found guilty of repeat homosexuality to be jailed for life.
The president, whose popularity has been fading amid criticism that he wants to rule for life, has faced pressure from the ruling party to sign the measure. The South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu said at the weekend that the law recalled attempts by Nazi and apartheid regimes to "legislate against love". Amnesty International called the bill a "horrific expansion of state-sanctioned homophobia".
Some critics believe he has signed in hopes of galvanising political support within his party, the National Resistance Movement, before a meeting that is expected to endorse him as its sole choice in the next presidential election in 2016, when he will have been in power for 30 years. Homophobia, supported by many US-funded evangelical christians, has become more virulent in many parts of sub-saharan Africa. In 2011, a prominent Ugandan gay rights campaigner, David Kato, was bludgeoned to death at his home after a newspaper splashed photos, names and addresses of gay people in Uganda on its frontpage along with a yellow banner reading "Hang Them".
Museveni, a devout evangelical Christian, earlier this month also signed into law anti-pornography and dress code legislation which outlaws "provocative" clothing, bans scantily clad performers from appearing on Ugandan television, and closely monitors what individuals view on the internet.
A coalition of UK gay rights groups and charities has written to the Foreign Office calling on Britain to withdraw its high commissioner to Kampala in protest at the new legislation. Jonathan Cooper, chief executive of the Human Dignity Trust and one of those who signed the letter, said: "[This] law promises to tyrannise the lives of the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. This is a huge blow for anyone who values basic human rights.
"This bleak situation will have an immediate effect on countries like the UK, the rest of the EU, Canada and US, as people flee and seek sanctuary," he added.