Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.
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The Ugandan government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are “repugnant to the Ugandan culture,” Buturo said. Still, it favors a more refined set of punishments, he said.
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In addition to formulating punishments for the gay people, the bill will also promote counseling to help “attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation,” said Buturo.
More refined? Even without the death penalty or life sentence, it's still a terrible bill. Read more commentary at Box Turtle Bulletin and Fr. Jake's.
I had a suspicion the death penalty would get dropped as a sop to the opponents so the main part of the law would pass. I suspect the key bit has always been the criminalization of those supporting LGBTI rights and possibly those who don't turn in gays.
ReplyDeleteStill dreadful. Now Rowan's attendant elves will smirk and say "See, our approach worked". Face it, this has sod-all to do with Rowan - does anyone for an instant suppose that Ugandan politicians - or archbishops - give a rat's ass what he thinks or says - by now he's despised by both the Left and the Right? - and much to do with strong behind-the-scenes warnings from North American and European governments.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I not relieved?
ReplyDeleteThe criminalization is still there for gays and those who won't turn them in.
ReplyDeleteLapin, as of last night, someone in Jake's comments already said that the change was all due to the quiet behind-the-scenes persuasion by Rowan and others.
Counterlight, you shouldn't be relieved. None of us should be. Those taken into custody will have the choice of jail or "counseling", hardly a choice.
There's nothing to cheer about here. I would guess the thinking is that we'll back off our opposition. Wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, motheramelia. This was likely done to appease those uppity Europeans, but putting perfume on a skunk doesn't make it stink less; it still just stinks.
ReplyDeleteEpiscopal Café has now linked a statement from the Media Centre, Office of the Ugandan President strongly suggesting, essentially as a PR issue, that the Ugandan Parliament drop the bill. Far greater forces than Rowan at play here. The statement includes the interesting statement "We ought to know that homosexuality community across the world is now 10% of the world population. Since we are part of the global community how feasible would it be to kill off 10% of the population". Given that the 10% figure sets the Loonie Right to frenzied carpet-grazing, could it be that we will see a "correction" to this statistic (deletion, more like) in the near future?
ReplyDeleteThe pressure will continue. That's a promise;
ReplyDelete