A Ugandan government minister has questioned the need for new legislation which would intensify penalties for consenting homosexual acts.
Aston Kajara, minister of state for investments, the Agence France-Presse news agency: "The government's position is that the existing provisions in our penal code against homosexuality are strong enough and that this new bill is not necessary. The penal code already sufficiently covers this issue."
Homosexuality is already punishable by up to 14 years in prison in Uganda, but new legislation proposes the death penalty for an offence of `aggravated homosexuality` - rape of a minor or sex where one partner is HIV-positive. The bill also seeks life imprisonment of anyone convicted of same-sex relations, and introduces a raft of penalties for people seen as `promoting homosexuality`, including parents who do not report homosexual children and landlords and hoteliers who rent to gay men or lesbians.
According to The Scotsman newspaper, President Museveni of Uganda has told colleagues the death penalty clause is too harsh, and several leading politicians are quoted as saying the clause will be removed when the bill comes before the Ugandan parliament in February.
Public Eye website recently published a comprehensive account of the extent to which American Christian evangelists have fanned a climate of mounting homophobia in Uganda.
For example, Scott Lively, co-author of The Pink Swastika, met with Ugandan MPs during a visit to Kampala in March 2009 after a seminar entitled Exposing the Homosexuals' Agenda, in which he alleged a homosexual conspiracy to take over the world.
In an open letter to the Ugandan president and parliament issued today, the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society called on MPs to reject the proposals.
"Encouraging openness and combating stigma are widely recognised as key components of Uganda’s successful campaign to reduce HIV," infection,” said Society president Dr Francois Venter.