Edwin Sesange, gay rights activist, gives the whole picture of what is going on with Uganda’s new anti-gay bill…
The Anti-Homosexuality Act is dead. Out of the ashes comes the Prohibition of Promotion of Unnatural Sexual Practices Bill. If this is passed, it will be one of the most evil and draconian anti-LGBTI laws in the world.
It seems lawmakers have learned their lessons when it came to drafting a bill, forcing us to jump a lot more hurdles.
In the preamble of the leaked bill, unnatural sexual practices are defined as ‘a sexual act between a person of the same sex, or with or between a transsexual person, a sexual act with an animal, and anal sex within the meaning of section 145 of the penal code act.’
In this definition homosexuality is in the same category with bestiality. This exact wording is not accidental but it has been well thought through. It is well known that most people against homosexuality always scapegoat gay people for the diseases that are somehow related to animals.
“In this definition homosexuality is in the same category with bestiality.”
In the African culture, a person who has sex with an animal is deemed insane, an outcast, demonic, unnatural and they face the most severe punishment that is often death. Such a practice is believed to bring a wrath from God and the goddess of the land and therefore it is upon the community to excommunicate such people from the society.
Using the term, ‘prohibition of unnatural sexual practices’, it is aimed at bringing on board even those who were becoming liberal towards homosexuality. Are you against this bill? Well then do you support having sex with animals?
By forcing us to oppose this bill with people who have sex with animals, it will only create more hatred towards LGBTI people and their allies in Uganda.
The bill goes further to specify a person ‘shall not promote or aid or abet the promotion of the performance of unnatural sexual practices’. This means any involvement in any advertising, publishing, use of the internet, mobile phones, dating websites, transports, or leasing a property for the purposes of engaging in unnatural sexual practices leads to imprisonment for seven years.
Are you a taxi driver unknowingly transporting an LGBTI person in your car? Jail. Are you their landlord? Jail.
The timing of this is not insignificant. In early 2016, Uganda will be voting for its president. If Museveni succeeds, he will have spent 30 years in power.
Most of his challengers are aware the current surveys indicate 96% of Ugandans oppose homosexuality, so they are of course going to support this bill.
So while Museveni appears to be faltering over a reintroduction of a new anti-gay law, possibly concerned over Uganda’s standing on the world stage, this will likely not last for long.
But what can we do?
Instead of fighting against the entire bill, we could appeal to government to delete the words ‘same-sex’ and ‘same-sex marriage’ from the document. If we do, we would support a bill banning the promotion of bestiality.
We should appeal to the courts, urge them to deliberate on the constitutionality of the bill.
We need to empower LGBTI people, both in Uganda and around the world, to fight against it. Work with international companies in order to implement global equality standards inclusive of gay, bi, lesbian, trans and intersex people.
We have won one battle, but we haven’t won the war.
They want to scapegoat the LGBTI community, force us to disappear. But we will not as we will work. They want to make an example of us, so let’s deny them the opportunity.
• This article was previously featured on www.gaystarnews.com