By Paul Halsall
Everyone needs to try to raise the alarm over the Uganda effort to enact the death penalty for homosexuality. As Xan Rice in The Guardian explains:
"Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda's Parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a "person of authority" over the other partner, or if the "victim" is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty. Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail – a scenario that human rights campaigners say will result in a witchhunt. Ugandans breaking the new law abroad will be subject to extradition requests."
After the Prime Minister's meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago last week, campaigning activity and awareness are increasing: Ruth Gledhill in the Times reports of the Archbishop of Canterbury's "intensive" lobbying; one Ugandan gay blogger's post today is heart rending.
This is a former colony, with a UK political system not dissimilar to ours, but where homosexuality is illegal as a result of our imperial legacy.
So what can we do?
We need to pressure the Ugandan government. First, the UK gay movement needs to gear up for this fight now, and show its solidarity.
Second, one third of Uganda's budget comes from foreign aid; while that is still the case, our politicians hold influence. Sweden has already said it will cut aid. Our leaders should all - Labour, Liberal Demoocrat, Tory, SNP, Plyd, UKIP - be able to unite in protest and to officially oppose this unimaginable law. The issue must come into focus now, and the UK must act.
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****Any one think we could organized a demonstration about the effort to impose the death penalty in Uganda in Manchester. The entire aim would be to make the news, locally and in Uganda, to oppose this measure.
Targets are somewhat rare in tne NW of England, but Manchster Grammar School has an outreach to Uganda [ http://www.mgs.org/view_page.asp?link_page_id=463 ]
I think t is important to establish that we do not oppose aid to Uganda (a truly poor country), but help in this becoming a world wide embarrassment.***
UK and commonwealth groups can embarrass donors; Plus we can demo outside the Commonwealth offices.
Others can locate oil company offices.
The aim is to create a media storm.
This does have simerler ideas to how Homosexuals are treated in Iran , I suggest we should spend more time on human rights than grandstanding , We could leead the world on this , People persucted for there lifestyle is wrong .
ricki
We are calling for intervention by AID agencies, by churches, and via Commonwealth isolation or membership suspension.
I don't want to stop HIV or medical related aid to Uganda, but there are ways of influencing governmental elites. We apply these measures to Zimbabwe, and there every reason we should now apply them to Uganda. This means susepending travel visas, stopping their kids attending schools in the EU, and subjecting them to all the negativity we subjected South African whites to.
And, failing all else, we must make it clear we will provide asylum for gay Ugandans.
Yeah, Zimbabwe changed its' ways after we implemented those measures.
"And, failing all else, we must make it clear we will provide asylum for gay Ugandan"
A huge influx of HIV positive men will do wonders for the HIV infection rate here in the UK. Not to mention the additional cost of treatment the NHS will have to provide.
You are the kind of person who would have refused Jewish refugees asylum from the Nazis.
In other words, a failure as a human being.
At no point did I say that gay men equal HIV+. The majority of gay men in the UK are HIV negative. But you'd have to be an idiot to suggest that the risk of HIV infection in the UK is the same for heterosexuals as it is for gay men. Gay men in the UK are estimated to be 90 times more likely to become HIV+ than heterosexuals.
Mike Homfray's tells us that HIV is a heterosexual epidemic in Africa. Whilst it is true that all areas of Ugandan society have suffered infection, you can't make a blind statement suggesting it's just a heterosexual epidemic. Considering the attitude towards homosexuality in Uganda this article talks about, how many Ugandan HIV+ carriers would openly identify themselves as gay? I would hazard a guess that its not that many. So any statistical information pertaining to the sexuality of infected Ugandan men is not going to be accurate.
If you truly believe that allowing automatic asylum to gay Ugandan men won't increase both the cost to the NHS, and infection rate in the UK gay community you are special kind of cretin.
Like we did in Zimbabwe!
It appears to me a cause, noble enough for British Soldiers to die in battle for!
I saw this story on Mr Dales blog a week ago , This is wrong and disgusting , We cry about freedom in this country and on the blogs but when you see this then maybe we should relise how lucky we are , Whatever two men or two women do in there private time should never take away the fact that we are all humans , not something that can be labelled .
ricki
I do not know what it's like in Uganda, but i know one think no more bloody wars.