…it sets life imprisonment as the penalty for a homosexual act in which one of the partners is infected with HIV, for sex with minors and the disabled, and for repeated sexual offenses among consenting adults, according to the office of a spokeswoman for Uganda’s parliament.
The bill also prescribes a seven-year jail term for a person who “conducts a marriage ceremony” for same-sex couples.
Lawmakers passed the bill unanimously, with no one voicing an objection.
President Yoweri Museveni must sign the bill within 30 days for it to become law.
I very much hope this bill is not passed into law.
I am with PM in hoping that it falls away. First we may note reports that the parliament was not quorate at the time. Second, it polarises attitudes. Any reasoned critique of gay marriage will be lost against the charge that opponents are bigotted homophobes. Third, the bill seems to me to be reactive. What I mean is this: Ugandans are defining themselves by what they are NOT. They are not in moral decline like the West as they perceive it, not indifferent to Christian faith, not sitting lightly to the importance of the family, not unfaithful to scripture, etc. Finally, there is the fact, which must have influenced them, that the Kabaka of Buganda, the king in the 1880s, was inclined to demand sexual favours of his pages. Some who had become Christian rejected him and paid for it with their lives. This particular fact of Ugandan history must have had an ongoing impact up to today.
The Ugandan people are sovereign and run their own affairs, we respect that. But inescapably we also live in a world where as St Paul reminds us, each of us has an influence on the life of others, and the influence of this bill is likely to bring a good deal of harm, ranging from persecution of gay and lesbian people to cancellation of important international aid for the country.
I agree with Pageantmaster and Terry Tee on this matter. Whatever the special cultural situation of Uganda may be, this kind of legislation is simply unjust within the context of Christian fairness. It does terrible damage, furthermore, as Terry notes, to attempts by Christians to argue persuasively against the tide of gay affirmation, marriage, and the rest. I cannot find any news of official or vocal opposition to this bill and its signing by the leaders of the Anglican Church in Uganda (earlier statements of over a year ago are not relevant at this stage — but perhaps I have missed them) — something which makes other statements issuing from the Ugandan Archbishop’s office seem hollow.