Curiosity
Uganda paper outs “200 Homos”
A newspaper stand in Kampala displays Uganda’s local dailies on February 25, 2014, a day after the president signed a tough new anti-gay law (AFP, Isaac Kasamani)
On Monday, February 23rd, 2013, President Yoweri Musevini’s signed into law a bill that would mean life imprisonment for homosexuals in Uganda. As a result a tabloid newspaper printed up a “Top List” of the country’s most renown homosexual public figures. This is not the first time a “Top Gay List” has been published, but it is the first released to the media since such lists were banned in the media.
In 2009, the current president of Uganda, Musevini commissioned government scientists to study homosexuality and find out if it is a matter of choice or a genetic disorder. Ugandan scientists could find no proof of a genetic disorder, consequently the Ugandan government introduced a bill that included a death penalty for homosexual acts. The bill did not go into law, presumably because the punishment was to harsh. Later revised, and placed before the president in December, it was passed. This new refined version of the original bill simply replaces the death penalty clause for that of lifetime imprisonment. This new law also includes reprimands for those who perform same-sex marriages; a penalty that brings a punishment of up to seven years of imprisonment.
Advocacy groups are shocked by this new law and believe the repercussions of such acts are pontentially dangerous. In response to the new law, advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against these discriminatory acts. Members of the gay community in Uganda are stated as saying they would rather kill themselves than live under such a harsh law.