Harry Cohen MP

Labour MP Harry Cohen's EDM (Early Day Motion) condemning Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and calling for it to be scrapped, has been signed by 118 MPs. The Bill proposes the death penalty for certain categories of same-sex acts, including for repeat offenders, and life imprisonment for merely touching another person with homosexual intent.  

Peter Tatchell of LGBT human rights group OutRage! said:
"This Bill violates Article 21 of the constitution of Uganda, which guarantees equality and non-discrimination.

"It also breaches the equality and anti-discrimination provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which Uganda has signed and pledged to uphold.

"We are very grateful that Harry Cohen has tabled this EDM. He is a long-standing ally of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community and has championed gay equality for two decades. Way back in the early 1990s, he was one of the few MPs to ask Parliamentary Questions and write to Government Ministers, pressing for the repeal of homophobic laws. We thank him."

The EDM states:
"This House calls on the British Government and the European Union to press the government of Uganda not to proceed with its Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which violates the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights."

To read the EDM in full visit here

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