BBC and the debate over Uganda homosexuality bill
The proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda has caused much debate across the world.
An online discussion forum on BBC World’s Africa Have Your Say programme debated the proposed Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill yesterday (16 December) – and both were greeted with much controversy.
The Ugandan MP for Ndorwa West David Bahati announced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill on 13 October 2009, which proposes death for “aggravated homosexuality”, including committing the “offence” against those minors under 18, the disabled and if the offender is HIV positive.
Those caught in the act of homosexuality will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and anyone found to be promoting homosexuality or withholding information of offenders will also face a prison term. The key driver behind the laws are to preserve the “traditional family” unit of a marriage between a man and a woman.
This new legislation is stated as: “An Act to prohibit any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex; prohibit the promotion or recognition of such relations and to provide for other related matters.”
In response to the proposed act, the BBC Have Your Say forum initially posed the question, “Should homosexuals face execution?”, but this was later changed to, “Should Uganda debate gay execution?” Within hours it had generated a total of 633 comments, 189 of which were rejected by moderators.
Editor of the programme David Stead then posted an explanation of the thinking behind the decision, saying that the programme makers had “thought long and hard about using this question which prompted a lot of internal debate.”
He continued: “We agree that it is a stark and challenging question, but think that it accurately focuses on and illustrates the real issue at stake. We published it alongside clear explanatory text which gave the context of the bill itself.”
The bill is intended to strengthen Uganda’s existing laws against homosexuality under its Penal Code Act, and has been widely condemned by world leaders and human rights groups, who fear it will trigger a witchhunt against the gay community.
Canon Gideon Byamugisha, a leading member of the Ugandan Anglican Church, said the bill would breed violence and intolerance through all levels of society, “I believe that this bill [if passed into law] will be state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans, however few they may be.”
Activists have raised concerns that the bill will hinder the country’s fight against HIV/Aids among the gay community and legal experts have said it will undermine freedom of expression and association.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government called the proposed law “vile and hateful”, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the issue with President Museveni during the recent Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
On 3 December, the Swedish government, calling the bill “appalling”, said that it would rethink its $50 million development aid to Uganda if it is passed.
It has been reported that the Rwandan Parliament is also now considering legislation that would amend the country’s penal code to criminalise homosexual acts.
Just last Thursday (10 December), Uganda’s Parliament unanimously voted to outlaw female genital mutilation, imposing a 10-year penalty on anyone who conducts the procedure and life in prison for those who physically force a woman to submit to the act.
So while it would appear that there are some highly-valuable and essential laws being passed in the Ugandan Parliament, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is likely to divide opinion across the world.
Share your thoughts with us. Do you think it was right of the BBC to ask the question?
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I do believe that the BBC´s question was absolutely disgusting, misfortunated and offensive. It is hard to believe that it was even made…
December 17th, 2009 at 4:04 pmAs an African myself, I fully understand that African culture is threatened by the new global ethic which aggressively seeks to persuade African governments and communities to accept new and different meanings of the concepts of family, marriage and human sexuality. This is a cultural challenge. We face a second wave of colonialism, both subtle and ruthless at the same time. We Africans have a duty and obligation to protect ourselves from Western contamination and intellectual cynicism.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:32 pmJust as we defeated slavery, colonialism, and apartheid, this challenge will be overcome. A few people will always side with these colonial agents. The
aim of Bahati’s Bill is to give these agents a final blow and restore our values.
As usual, in the end –AFRICA WILL PREVAIL
I wonder if Olal Otunu has ever heard of the phrase “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face”. He has illustrated its definition beautifully with his comment above.
Let’s prove that we are independent from colonial interference by criminalising and executing a significant proportion of our own population. That’ll show them! Round of applause for the idiot.
December 17th, 2009 at 7:06 pmI agreed with what Bahati the Ugandan MP said whoever be found doing that probident thing will be sentence to life imprison because it seem to dishonor the African culture
December 18th, 2009 at 9:51 amThe claptrap about cultural this and traditional that keeps ignoring that homosexuality is as ancient as human nature itself. But the sanctimony of those who dare characterize it as a western phenomenon–yes the hullabaloo is intended to paint African culture as ‘endangered’–keep forgetting boudoir pages, a phenomenon as common in the West as it is in East, and Africa. There are always paranoid streaks that over-react to guilt-ridden minds with celibate, or even monogamous, worlds in which recreation is feared a venture into ‘alternative lifestyles’.
Some advocates of the LGBT fall into the trap of broad-brushing those whose tendencies are hypocrisy as fear. They tend to characterize this as ‘fear of the unknown’. This is a silly characterization because those who condemn homosexuality know what it is, which is why they condemn it. Were it true they didn’t, for instance assuming it involved only playing footsie, one might argue, “They know not what they condemn.” But they know quite well they condemn a sexual act they claim is ‘unnatural’ simply because to them sex is for procreation alone.
I would like to hear one who advances this ‘procreation-alone’ nonsense explain whether felatio a woman gives her husband, or sex other than the traditional (missionary) genre is sinning or defilement, since none of it could result in procreation.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a majority of militants against homosexuality fight against temptations to engage in the same. They then take out their frustrations–really angry jealousy–on those without inhibitions or fear of what for those who have it must bee a very natural tendency the way sex, if one is inclined toward it, is a very natural feeling.
December 21st, 2009 at 4:49 amI totally agree that Africa should not be forced into changing their laws because the western world does not agree with them, althought I do feel personally that the law is very harsh and would definately not vote infavour myself but the point is I’m not ugandan so don’t have a say!
January 18th, 2010 at 10:22 pmThe real people who will suffer here are the everyday citizens living with AIDS and HIV, I’ve heard that ARV medication ,once provided to Uganda free of charge through western AID, is being removed as a way to put pressure on the Ugandan government over this issue. I would argue that this puts those western democrats in a much worse moral position than the Ugandan government, this in effect is a death sentence to millions of ugandan who can not afford the medication they need to stay alive. I am praying that the politician involved in this see sense and stopping putting the lives of innocent people at risk in an attempt to impose a law in a culture they likely don’t understand!