Peter Tatchell

To coincide with International Human Rights Day, this Thursday December 10, SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) has called for worldwide protests against the draconian Anti-Homsexuality Bill currently being debated by the Ugandan parliament.  A protest will be held on that date at the Ugandan High Commission, 58-59 Trafalger Square, Charing Cross, London between 12pm and 2pm.

Under the proposed new law, gay Ugandans will face execution for certain homosexual acts.  

Those who can't attend Thursday's protest can lobby their MP and MEP by asking them to write to the Ugandan High Commissioner, Joan Rwabyomere, urging that the legislation is dropped.

You can email your MP and MEP at:
www.writetothem.com  

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of Outrage! said:
"The new Anti-Homosexuality Bill, if passed, proposes the death penalty for 'aggravated' and 'serial' homosexual acts and extends the existing penalty of life imprisonment for anal sex to all other same-sex behaviour, including the mere touching of another person with the intent to have gay relations. Life imprisonment is also the penalty for contracting a same-sex mariage."

Out Rage! is backing the London protest, which is being coordinated by the GAAI (Gay Activists Alliance International), with the support of Gay Uganda and Ugandan LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) exiles.

Mr Tatchell added:
"Membership of LGBT organisations and funding for them, advocacy of LGBT human rights and the provision of condoms or safer sex advice to LGBT people will result in a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of seven years for "promoting" homosexuality. A person in authority who fails to report violators to the police within 24 hours will incur three years behind bars.

"Astonishingly, the new legislation has an extra-territorial jusridiction. It will also apply to Ugandans who commit these 'crimes' while living abroad, in countries where such behaviour is not a criminal offence. Violators overseas will be subjected to extradition, trial and punishment in Uganda."

According to Dennis Hambridge, GAAI global coordinator:
"The bill is likely to be detrimental to the fight against HIV/AIDS by denying gay and bisexual men access to condoms and safer sex advice and driving countless numbers of  them further underground. It will create even more stigma, discrimination and oppression.

"Activists in Uganda have reported to GAAI that there are eight gay people currently awaiting trial or sentencing in Uganda.  

"With immense pressure being put on the Ugandan Government to drop the bill, by human rights groups, governments and religious groups worldwide, we call on our people in the UK to support this protest."
 
GAAI are also hoping that gay Ugandan John Bosco Nyombi will be able to attend Thursday's protest. Earlier this year, the British courts ordered the return of John Bosco Nyombi to the UK after he was illegally and forcibly returned to Uganda while seeking asylum in the UK.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists and the World AIDS Campaign.  

It violates the Commonwealth principles of human rights and human dignity. You can email the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, at secretary-general@commonwealth.int  

For details of the legislation view:
www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/09/Nov/Bill-No-18-Anti-Homosexuality-Bill-2009_Uganda.pdf 

For more information about Peter Tatchell view:
www.petertatchell.net