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Ugandan president feels the heat

by Rex Wockner

International News Briefs

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is feeling the heat over a bill pending in the nation's Parliament that would jail gays for life and punish some with the death penalty.
"The prime minister of Canada came to see me, and what was he talking about? Gays," Museveni told The New York Times on Feb. 12. "Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to see me, and what was he talking about? Gays. Mrs. Clinton rang me. What was she talking about? Gays."
The "Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009" would imprison for life anyone convicted of "the offense of homosexuality," punish "aggravated homosexuality" – including repeat offenders and anyone who is HIV-positive and has gay sex – with the death penalty, forbid "promotion of homosexuality" and incarcerate gay rights defenders and jail individuals for up to three years if they fail to report within 24 hours the existence of all LGBT people and LGBT sympathizers they know of.
Remarkably, given the situation, more than 200 LGBT people gathered Feb. 14 in the capital city, Kampala, at a conference organized by the International Day Against Homophobia Committee.
The gathering, "Standing on the Side of Love: Reimagining St. Valentine's Day," featured keynote addresses by retired Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda's West Buganda diocese, IDAHO Committee President Louis-Georges Tin, and U.S. Unitarian ministers Patricia Ackerman and Marlin Lavanhar.
"This strong focus on religions during the meeting was aimed to show that religious arguments, so often used by homophobic people against LGBT citizens, can be defeated, including by religious arguments," organizers said.

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