Uganda’s David Bahati rebuffs Kennedy human rights team
[Correction: The first version of this article stated that Ugandan legislator David Bahati refused to meet with visitors from the R.F. Kennedy Center. Apparently he did meet with them, but rejected their message that his Anti-Homosexuality Bill would violate human rights.]
Ugandan legislator David Bahati wants to throw homosexuals in jail or kill them, as shown by his continued advocacy of his Anti-Homosexuality Bill, better known as the “Kill the Gays” bill.
He’s not so keen on discussing human rights, as the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle, currently in Uganda, reports:
“As we go to press [for Ogle’s weekly column] David Bahati refused to meet with the daughter of Robert Kennedy and the delegation that had been received by president Museveni earlier this week in Uganda – civil rights is obviously not something he wants to talk about!”
Eventually, at least, Bahati did meet with the delegation behind closed doors.
Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in Washington, D.C., and niece of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, is leading the team of visitors to Uganda who are seeking an end to human rights violations there.
They met on March 18 with Uganda President Yoweri Museveni. (See the article “Uganda leader promises probe of anti-gay violence.”)
After their closed-door meeting with Bahati on March 20, Bahati spoke to the press about his continuing support for his Anti-Homosexuality Bill. After the meeting, Kennedy told journalists that her group would make a statement or hold a press conference before leaving Uganda, but would not take questions that day.
During the meeting with Museveni, Kennedy told the president that Bahati’s pending bill would violate human rights treaties that Uganda has signed.
The bill, which Bahati first proposed in 2009, has not yet been considered by the full Ugandan parliament. In the first version of the bill, which reportedly remains unchanged despite supporters’ statements to the contrary, people who repeatedly engage in homosexual behavior would be executed.
Ugandan law already provides for sentences of up to life imprisonment for homosexual activity.
The Bahati bill would require people to report suspected homosexuals to police. Parents would be required to report potentially gay children to police; doctors would be required to report potentially gay patients; priests would be required to report potentially gay parishioners.
Organizations serving LGBT people, including health services fighting AIDS, would be outlawed.
Ogle, who is president of the St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation, is in Uganda to work for improved health care for LGBT people and to consult with leaders of the foundation’s affiliated St. Paul’s Reconciliation and Equality Centre in Kampala.
In his weekly RGOD2 column, Ogle noted, “It has been two years since I was in Uganda, and the confidence and organization of the LGBT community is an inspiration. They have created one of the most powerful social movements in a very short time with the attention of the world upon Uganda’s every move.”
For more about his visit and his reflections on how Ugandan LGBT people’s experiences are similar to those of Jesus during Easter week, read Ogle’s column “Holy Week with Uganda’s LGBT community” in the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News.
Related articles
- Uganda: No ‘Kill the Gays’ bill until April (76crimes.com)
- ‘Kill the Gays’ bill moves ever closer in Uganda (76crimes.com)
- Ugandan President Museveni seems to make case against Anti-Homosexuality Bill in visit with Kerry Kennedy (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
- Uganda leader promises probe of anti-gay violence (76crimes.com)
- ‘Kill the Gays’ bill is harming LGBTs in Uganda already (76crimes.com)
- Ugandan LGBTI Community braces as Anti-Homosexuality Bill to be Debated in Parliament Tomorrow (oblogdeeoblogda.me)