Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill Toned Down

Friday, 30 April, 2010

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Evelyn Matsamur

Some of the more controversial elements of an anti-homosexuality bill before the Ugandan parliament could be dropped following widespread condemnation from the international community.

The two aspects of the proposal now under review are the introduction of the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” (where the offender is infected with HIV/AIDS or has sex with someone under 18) and penalties for those who do not report homosexual behaviour to the authorities.

Instead, the bill will now focus on introducing tougher measures for those who actively promote homosexuality, according to Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's minister of ethics and integrity and one of the main proponents of the bill.

“Detractors have misled the world and claimed that [the bill] is about killing gays,” he said. “That's nonsense. It's about making it hard for homosexuals to spread this vice to society.”

The minister said that the bill should include measures that will help homosexuals reform, rather than punish them.

“If you report on homosexuals, then you do not give them the chance to change,” he said.

However, the minister declined to say what tough new measures might be introduced against gay rights campaigners.

Having sexual intercourse with members of the same sex is already illegal under the Ugandan penal code, and is punishable with life imprisonment.

Although some gays have been imprisoned for sodomy, such punishment is rare, which is one of the reasons why legislators favour a tougher law that would make the crime more explicit.

Homosexuals in the country say that they already face regular bullying and persecution, and fear that if this bill goes through parliament, even in a weaker form, things will only get worse.

One 26-year-old gay man, who lives in a one-room shack in Kalerwe, a slum on the outskirts of Kampala, told IWPR that he has faced persecution ever since the bill was presented in the Ugandan parliament in October.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, “Since the bill was put forward, the people in my neighbourhood call me a criminal. They want me to leave. They used to listen to my views during the village council meetings. Now they just ridicule me.”

He says that, over the past few months, he has been attacked and beaten by gangs four times because of his sexual orientation. His said his last beating was so severe that he lost a tooth.

The man said that, although local people knew he was gay, it had never been a big problem for him until the bill was put forward. He says that many citizens think the bill is already law, and occasionally want to take justice into their own hands.

Gay activists say that reports of violence against homosexuals have become more widespread since the bill was introduced.

Homosexuals claim that they are often stoned, beaten, spat at and ridiculed by society. Some have had their homes set ablaze. Known lesbians report that they have been raped by men who say they are teaching them how to be a woman. Many have since fled the country.

Pepe Julian Onziema, one of the country's few outspoken homosexuals, says that the gay community is increasingly living in fear.

“Just by this bill being announced in parliament, society has already declared it a law,” she said. “Now they think they can do what they want to us. Even without a new law, gay people are being discriminated against and harassed. So what will happen when a law is passed?”

Onziema is the programmes coordinator for Sexual Minorities Uganda, SMUG, a civil society group that advocates gay rights in the country.

She says she regularly faces discrimination and is often arrested by the authorities just for being gay.

In June 2007, she was detained, along with two others, for protesting at the exclusion of gays from national programmes that offer support to sufferers of HIV/AIDS. She was charged with unlawful trespassing, although the charges were later dropped.

Onziema says the police treated the protesters harshly after realising they were gay.

“When they discovered we were homosexuals, they changed the tone of the interrogation,” she said. “It became harsher and they started to ridicule us. They told us they were going to beat the homosexuality out of us. They started preaching to us about the Bible and asking us to show them how homosexuality is practised.”

She says that she now has a phobia of the police, and tries to avoid going into town unless she really has to.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Henry Kalulu says that, although homosexuality is a crime, persecution of gays is not tolerated by the authorities.

“I have not heard of any cases of homosexuals being assaulted by the public [or the police],” he said. “We are not aware that this is happening to them. We can only act based on facts.”

However, Kalulu recognised that some crimes may go unreported, since homosexuals could be too afraid to come forwards for fear of being arrested themselves.

Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, one of the few lawyers in Kampala prepared to defend gay rights in the country, strongly criticises the government for its stance on homosexuality. He says that reform is needed to repeal current anti-gay legislation, not to introduce a new bill that seeks to strengthen the hand of the authorities in persecuting gays.

“We are talking about consenting adults choosing to engage in sexual activity and there is nothing to be gained by criminalisation of that kind of activity,” he said. “People have the right to make their own decisions on how to live their adult lives.”

Rwakafuuzi said the new bill, which is now being redrafted to focus more on prosecuting those who promote homosexuality, could make it harder for him to defend those accused of having sexual intercourse with members of the same sex.

Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi is an IWPR-trained reporter based in Kampala.