Museveni Signs Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill into Law

It is interesting how Africans are beginning to assert their independence...

Yoweri Museveni

Ugandan President Signs Anti-Gay Bill, Defying The West

Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, has signed a law imposing harsh penalties for homosexuality on Monday, defying protests from rights groups, criticism from Western donors and a U.S. warning that it will complicate relations.

The new bill strengthened existing punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for “aggravated homosexuality” – including sex with a minor or while HIV positive.

It criminalized lesbianism for the first time and made it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts. Gay rights activists in Uganda said they planned a legal challenge.

Ugandan officials broke into loud applause as President Yoweri Museveni put his signature to the document in front of foreign journalists at his State House outside the capital.

“There’s now an attempt at social imperialism, to impose social values. We’re sorry to see that you (the West) live the way you live but we keep quiet about it,” he said.

The legislation exposes the wide gulf between the continent’s often culturally conservative administrations and many of the foreign donor states that support them. Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh last week called homosexuals “vermin”.

Western donors immediately criticized Uganda. Norway and Denmark said they were withholding or diverting aid money and Austria said it was reviewing assistance. Britain, a big donor, condemned the new law but did not mention aid cuts.

“I feel sick. The degrading words the president has use…my country is in a state of insanity right now,” said Ugandan gay activist, Kasha Nabagesera, adding that the gay community expected to challenge the bill in the courts.

Gay and lesbian organizations fear the bill will encourage other governments to strengthen penalties, increase harassment, discourage people from taking HIV tests and make it impossible to live an openly gay life.

“Disapproval of homosexuality by some can never justify violating the fundamental human rights of others,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a statement.

Source: Channels TV

Nigeria Insists on Death Penalty and Anti-Gay Law

Nice one from the Federal Government, it is very annoying to see the way the West seeks to impose its decadent values on the rest of the world...

No going back on death penalty, anti gay bill – FG

The Federal Government has rejected the recommendation by the United Nations Human Rights Council on the protection of same sex marriage and the abolition of death penalty.

This was contained in a draft report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on resolution 16/20 discussed at a Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on the second cycle of Nigeria’s Universal Periodic Review in Abuja on Friday. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, stated that same sex marriage was against the tradition and customs of the nation, so it could not be imposed on the country by external forces. Ashiru who expressed shock why gay rights had generated interest from the United Nations, queried the negative campaign against polygamy, which, according to him, was allowed in African tradition.

He said, “You should not shy away from defending what you believe is right. Whatever is in our constitution, you must defend it. We must stand by our constitution. We must stand by our customs and tradition. “If you want to have gay right in your constitution; fine, but we have our own constitution. The same human rights they want to protect for gay people; how about people who want to go into polygamy if they so desire and women are willing to marry them. Polygamy is human rights in our tradition.”

On the abolition of death penalty, the Minister said Nigeria should not be blamed becausethe Criminal Code in use was enacted by the colonial masters, saying, “If anything is wrong
about it, why are they blaming us?”

Ashiru also denied allegations of extra-judicial killings by the military against the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, where emergency rule had been proclaimed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Source: Daily Post