An anti-gay bill that was originally brought before the Ugandan parliament in 2009 was reintroduced yesterday. The bill has never come before the full legislative body for a vote due to opposition from international rights groups, including President Obama speaking out against it. Though homosexuality is is already illegal under Uganda’s penal code, if passed, the law would most likely enforce the death penalty for homosexual citizens.
The bill is supported by Pentecostal clerics who believe Ugandan youths are in danger of being swayed into gay lifestyles by visiting European and U.S. citizens, but some pastors oppose it because they don’t believe police would be able to enforce it.
From the CBS News piece:
“I’ve rejected it because it does not address Uganda’s homosexuality problem,” said Solomon Male, a Pentecostal cleric who has been dragged to court for accusing another pastor of sodomy. “The system can’t permit any good law to be enforced.”
Male said that an existing law against homosexuality, inherited from the colonial days, had not been enforced.
“It is a big problem-homosexuals are in our schools, in our churches, everywhere, and we don’t even know where to start,” he said. “Sensitization is the best.”
